Douglas Logan, MD, recently retired from Velocity, but his presence is as big as ever. Talk to our U.S. PIs about their route into research, or their experience at Velocity, and his name is likely to come up.
For Matthew Wenker, MD, that story goes back nearly two decades. When he first stepped into clinical research in the mid-2000s, the Phase I unit he joined was still under construction. On his first day, he walked in and saw a familiar face. “If I’d ever had a mentor in my life, it was him,” Wenker recalls. “So I knew I was in the right place when I saw him.”
Even then, Dr. Logan had a reputation as a capable, thoughtful, and intelligent investigator. He was known for being prepared, for thoroughly reading protocols and not being shy about asking difficult questions during sponsor visits. He was also known for the time he dedicated to supporting his team and, for someone early in their research career, he demonstrated that being a PI was not simply a name attached to a study, but a responsibility that required judgment, discipline, and consistency.
Training the Next Generation
What Dr. Wenker experienced informally in those early years is now built into Velocity’s Principal Investigator Onboarding and Training program (PIVOT). The program was designed to ensure that new investigators do not have to rely on chance encounters with experienced PIs for support. Instead, they are immersed in a structured mentorship pathway that pairs operational discipline with clinical oversight.
Daniel Williams, DO, came up through the PIVOT program. Coming into research from emergency medicine, he describes the transition as both exciting and disorienting. “There was so much to learn and take in once I started that was so different,” he says. The language, the processes, and the responsibilities were all new.
Through PIVOT, he shadowed PIs at other sites, observing how experienced investigators manage their workload. “The most helpful part was seeing how other PIs set up their day and schedule to get all their tasks done,” he explains. “It was also helpful to see the role each PI plays as part of their team and how they support everyone.”
Dr. Wenker played a direct role in that transition. When Dr. Williams joined Velocity, it was Dr. Wenker who took responsibility for his training through PIVOT. The lessons that had once been modeled for him by Dr. Logan, he could now pass on directly to a new wave of PIs.
And that mentorship did not stop once Dr. Williams was established in the role. “He routinely checks in with me to see how things are going and is always open to questions,” Dr. Williams says. Even now, as he adds studies and expands his responsibilities, that line of support remains. It is not oversight in the formal sense, but rather a senior investigator taking an active interest in the development of the next.
That thread — from Dr. Logan to Dr. Wenker to Dr. Williams — is exactly what PIVOT is designed to strengthen. The program ensures that new investigators are not left to figure things out alone, nor dependent on proximity to more experienced investigators. Instead, mentorship is a given and training is structured, embedding the exceptional standards of PIs like Dr. Logan across the network.
Codifying Consistency
Abbie Youkilis, MD is a more recent PIVOT graduate and one of Dr. Logan’s last mentees before retirement. After decades in internal medicine, she joined Velocity as a sub-investigator under his guidance. “You can’t ask for a better person to mentor you,” she says. In him, she saw what many others had seen before her: preparation, intellectual rigor, and an expectation that protocols be read carefully and understood fully before a single patient is enrolled.
When she later took on responsibility as PI for his studies, the transition felt natural. The expectations she needed to meet were clear; she had a firm handle on the standards she needed to meet and an established support structure around her.
PIVOT ensures that studies are not built around a single personality, but are supported by investigators who have been trained, observed, and mentored within a consistent framework. When a PI retires, steps back, or expands their responsibilities, the transition is smooth because everyone has been trained to the same standard and understands their responsibilities.
Dr. Logan’s influence looms large, not because one PI — however exceptional — is indispensable, but because the values he and others bring to the role are codified through PIVOT. Each new investigator benefits from decades of collective learning, and no one is left wondering how best to succeed in their role.
