Reaching New Heights in Clinical Research
With two large campuses in Berlin, New Jersey, and Marlton, New Jersey (both just twenty minutes from Philadelphia), CenExel HRI, formerly Hassman Research Institute, is a leading clinical research organization that conducts studies in a wide variety of therapeutic areas.
Center Leadership
Howard Hassman, D.O., AOBFP
Chief Scientific Officer and Principal Investigator
Dr. Hassman has over 37 years of experience in clinical research. His strategic vision and commitment to the highest standard of quality has helped establish HRI as a leading clinical research organization since its founding in 2015. The growth of HRI is highlighted by the opening of the Marlton location, where Dr. Hassman currently conducts trials, 2019.
With decades of experience as an investigator and an extensive background in psychopharmacology, pain management, and addiction medicine, Dr. Hassman provides scientific leadership and operational expertise to ensure the success of each trial. He also provides a broad range of expert consulting services to clients for early drug development, developing creative, de-risked solutions for a variety of clinical programs.
Larry Brownstein, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Larry joined HRI with decades of experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry and a demonstrated ability to build businesses, accelerate growth, and operationalize strategic goals. He works with the leadership team to set company performance goals and develops and implements strategies to achieve them. He works collaboratively across functions, levels, and departments to improve systems, processes, and controls that enhance the overall efficiency of HRI and ensure excellent client service. Larry fosters a success-oriented, accountable environment within the company, coaching and developing the team to ensure they are delivering against key business metrics.
Meet Our Physicians / Investigators
Cassie Blanchard, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Blanchard joined HRI in 2020 with significant clinical experience and a wealth of expertise in conducting a variety of psychological assessments. She had most recently worked as a Therapist for Childhood Solutions in Fort Washington, PA. Her focus there was counseling in ADHD, autism, depression, and behavioral disorders. Prior to that, she was a Therapist/Evaluator at Assurance Behavioral Health in Cherry Hill, NJ. In addition, she has served as a Counselor in several schools, conducting academic and behavioral interventions and psychoeducational evaluations. Dr. Blanchard obtained her Ph.D. from Syracuse University and her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan.
Elan Cohen, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Cohen joined HRI in 2016 as a Sub-Investigator and Lead Psychometrician before becoming a Principal Investigator upon earning his psychology license in New Jersey in early 2018. He had been licensed for over 10 years in Pennsylvania prior to his licensure in New Jersey. His expertise extends to writing clinical trial protocols, psychiatric scale management and administration services, integrating regulatory compliance matters with rater training programs, implementing systemic strategies aimed to reduce the placebo and nocebo effects, and applying working memory evaluations into clinical trial methodologies.
Steven Glass, M.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Glass joined HRI in early 2019 with a wealth of experience in clinical research and a strong background in psychiatric indications. Dr. Glass has over 17 years of experience as a principal investigator, executing and overseeing early phase trials in both healthy and disease state subjects, as well as late-stage trials.
Michael Hassman, D.O., AOBFP
Principal Investigator
Dr. Hassman has been in his current role with HRI since it was established in 2015. He serves as a principal investigator for studies conducted at the Berlin location. His responsibilities include overseeing medical procedures and patient care teams to ensure complete medical continuity throughout the research process. Dr. Hassman provides expert medical review of safety protocols, assessing medical, scientific, and clinical feasibility.
Djouher Hough, PsyD
Principal Investigator
Dr. Hough, Director of Addictions and Pain Management Research, is a licensed clinical psychologist who joined HRI in 2019 with extensive experience in counseling and research in the areas of addiction, psychedelics, and pain. She provides leadership of clinical services at both the Marlton and Berlin locations as well as expert support for study design. Dr. Hough oversees the dedicated psychedelics, pain and addictions units and staff, regularly providing training sessions and workshops on topics such as the neurobiology of addiction, ways to effectively manage biases and implement sensitivity when interacting with SUD populations, and de-escalation strategies to employ if patients become uncooperative or agitated. Dr. Hough has additionally served on advisory boards for addictions studies. Dr. Hough is a psychedelic-assisted facilitator who has guided patients on several dosing trips. Her expertise has enabled HRI to expand its capabilities in pain and addictions as well as psychedelic therapies, ensuring it can successfully execute highly demanding and complex trials.
Allen Salm, M.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Salm joined HRI as a Principal Investigator in January 2022. He is a clinical pulmonologist having spent 35 years working with Virtua Pulmonary and the last decade as MDO at the Virtua Marlton Hospital. A former president of the medical staff at Virtua, Dr. Salm brings a wealth of clinical and administrative experiences as well as decades worth of provider and patient relationships in our communities.Dr. Salm and the team are excited to expand clinical research in the COPD world as well as establish work in the medical and behavioral health spaces. Dr. Salm can be contacted at a.salm@cenexel.com.
Safety and quality are paramount
Our physicians have extensive backgrounds in their respective medical specialties and always prioritize patient safety.
Board-certified
200+ years of collective clinical trial experience
Assisted by expertly-trained medical staff
Trust our state-of-the-art facilities
BERLIN, NJ
14 Exam Rooms
8 CRA Monitoring Rooms
5 Rater Offices
3 Drug Storage Rooms
2 CLIA Approved Laboratories
Schedule 1 DEA License
Nuclear / Cardiac Stress Testing – Pharmacy with blinded/unblinded Storage
MARLTON, NJ
60 Inpatient Beds
3 CLIA Waived Processing Laboratories
Pharmacy With Laminar Flow Hood
Private Dosing Rooms
EEG, PSG and ERP Rooms
Secure Inpatient Unit with Patient Population Segregations Wards
Locations
We’re a CenExel
Center of Excellence
Centers of Excellence provide unparalleled attention to detail to assure consistent and first-class quality in patient care. We have supported tens of thousands of studies, the variety and complexity of which have resulted in a great depth of experience for the principal investigators and research staff at each Center.
We deliver engagement, expertise, and results.
