Each year, the Clinical Research Forum honors outstanding clinical research studies. Two papers led or with major contributions by CHTI members were 2025 finalists making the organization’s Top 20 list for the Clinical Achievement Awards.

“A randomized trial of behavioral interventions yielding sustained reductions in distracted driving,” published in PNAS, found that gamification yielded a 20 percent reduction in handheld phone usage while driving – rising to 28 percent when a financial incentive was added – that continued even after the study intervention was over. The research was covered by Ars Technica and The Doctor Will See You Now. It is the second of two recent collaborations with Progressive Insurance using smartphone-based nudges to reduce distractive driving. The study was led by the Nudge Unit and had interventions delivered through Way to Health; CHTI authors include lead author Jeff Ebert, PhD, senior author Kit Delgado, MD, MS, Aria Xiong, MS, Aaron Leitner, and former members Neda Khan, MBA, Dina Abdel-Rahman, and Roy Rosin, MBA.

Way to Health also partnered with researchers led by Alexander Fanaroff, MD, MHS, to conduct the BE ACTIVE study, which used gamification and financial incentives to raise step counts among patients at risk for heart disease. The work received coverage on The Today Show, Medscape, and other outlets. The Circulation article describing the randomized controlled trial, “Effect of gamification, financial incentives, or both to increase physical activity among patients at high risk of cardiovascular events,” was a Clinical Research Forum finalist.

View the full list of Clinical Research Forum awardees in the February 2025 press release.