No pain, no gain. Alice Jackson, CEO and co-founder of Lifetree Clinical Research, has spent most of her career battling other people’s pain—first, as a nurse and later as a member of clinical research teams for small and large companies. Today, she’s branched out with business partner and Lifetree co-founder Dr. Lynn Webster—and she couldn’t be happier about her job. “I love it, love it, love it,” she says.

According to Jackson, there’s a great deal to love about clinical research. There’s the altruistic side, the prospect of helping people suffering from chronic pain. Yet, as she recounts her path from nurse to CEO, it’s also the intellectual challenge of the business that fuels her passion.

At Lifetree, Jackson and her colleagues help biopharmaceutical companies study the efficacy and safety of new drugs, primarily painkillers. Since its inception six years ago, Lifetree has sprouted quickly, under the Jackson-Webster leadership. After an initial 242 percent growth the first year in business, the company has experienced between 23 percent and 97 percent annual revenue growth.

Though entrepreneurship may be a relatively new endeavor for Jackson, the industry has been her stomping ground for two decades. She has worn virtually every hat in the clinical research business—even that of a study subject.

“I’ve filled every role that I employ,” she says. So when a staff member approaches her with a frustration or question, she can empathize and offer guidance. “I’ve been there. I understand it,” she says.

The native Utahn began her career as an RN, administering pain meds at LDS Hospital. She was working for an allergist when she answered a classified ad for a research nurse. “I knew, on that first day, that I had found my niche,” she says.

For 10 years, Jackson worked for a small clinical research site, learning every angle of the business from project management to finance. She later moved to Scirex (now known as Premier Research), a contract research organization (CRO), and rose through the corporate ranks. She’s particularly proud of helping develop a post-operative bunionectomy model while working with the CRO, which is used worldwide as an approved model for researching acute pain.

Given her diverse experience in the field, Jackson says that she has done research on most of the pain medications that have come out over the past 20 years. She attributes her business success in part to “intuition” and an ability to pull the different pieces of the project puzzle together and move it forward.

“She’s a can-do woman,” says Dr. Lynn Webster.

Jackson and Webster balance each other’s skills. She credits his extensive medical background and sought-after speaking skills for allowing Lifetree to branch out into new markets by developing boutique services. He lauds her knowledge and precision in a field where attention to regulatory details and safety are vital.

“She’s intelligent. She can see into the future as far as the direction some of this medical research is headed, but her personality more than anything [is an asset to Lifetree],” says Webster. “People like Alice.”

Jackson has a knack for putting people at ease with a light sense of humor. And Jackson knows her stuff. She’s adept at communicating complicated medical information at whatever level necessary, whether it’s to a lay person or the FDA. When she needs a little expert help, she’s not afraid to ask for it.

“I surround myself with people that are smarter than me,” she says. “Most people get intimidated by that. I’m not.”

Her drive and business development skills have helped create a company with services that are sought by emerging biotech or pharmaceutical companies as well as what she refers to as the “big boys,” large corporations like AstraZeneca.

A hands-on CEO, Jackson focuses on business development, but still manages to juggle the day-to-day operations of a 32,000–square-foot facility complete with a 50-bed clinic and a staff of 50.

Lifetree began as a site, which means that clients would hand them a protocol and a study and ask them to execute the clinical trial. In 2006, the company began to branch out into CRO services, offering everything from data management to testing cerebral spinal fluid to see if drugs passed the blood-brain barrier or to track biomarkers (something Lifetree can offer because Webster is a board certified anesthesiologist).

“I really didn’t want to be another CRO,” explains Jackson. “I wanted to be a boutique provider, a niche provider. I didn’t just want to spin it,” she says, “I really wanted to be different.”

So, Jackson and Webster have used their combined experience to offer new services. For example, since Webster is qualified to oversee addiction studies, drug companies trying to develop the “next OxyContin” can come to Lifetree to help ascertain whether or not new compounds are less “abuse-able” than those currently on the market, explains Jackson.

While acute and chronic pain will always be the main focus of Lifetree, Jackson says that the company is branching out into other areas of research such as neuroscience. Since some pain medications are used to treat depression and vice versa, the addition of two physicians with psychiatry and neuroscience expertise is a natural progression for the company, she says.

As the biopharmaceutical industry rapidly transforms, Jackson and her company transform with it. She’s constantly managing resources and processes while learning something new every day.

When she has a few moments to breathe, Jackson spends time with her husband of 31 years, two children, four grandchildren and the individual who “rules the house,” her beagle Penne (pictured on her Blackberry for all dog lovers to see).

Jackson serves on several industry boards and wishes she had more time to commit to causes like the Utah Technology Council’s Life Science Advisory Council and mentoring women in business. Her own frustration with the proverbial glass ceiling served as a catalyst to start her own business.

“It’s a man’s world out there, always has been, always will be. That’s kind of my soapbox,” she says. Jackson doesn’t consider herself a feminist, but believes that men and women bring different and complimentary skill sets to the business table. “There need to be more women in business,” she says.

A dynamic woman in a burgeoning field, Jackson’s efforts in clinical research show that there is a lot to gain without pain. After all, as her company’s tagline advocates, Jackson’s work is about “growing a better quality of life.”