SA’s innovative strategies address common pitfalls in clinical trial management, particularly around site activation and patient recruitment. Our commitment to excellence and executing value is encapsulated in our site selection and consulting practices, ensuring that high-performing sites are prepared and activated efficiently. These practices are informed by operational experience and evidence-based assessment, allowing studies to maintain momentum during critical early phases. By aligning execution with proven site capabilities, SA supports consistent study initiation while preserving quality and patient-centered priorities.

Sharon Williams– Co-Founder &  CEO

Sharon is a healthcare strategy and innovation leader who helps organizations navigate complexity, strengthen payor alignment, and improve system performance across evolving care environments. With experience spanning health plans, consulting, digital health, and behavioral health, she brings clarity to uncertainty and helps leaders build scalable operating models that advance value-based, community-centered care.

Her background includes executive leadership across statewide and national organizations, with deep expertise in commercial, Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid growth strategy; multimarket performance improvement; and enterprise-level payor relations. Sharon has guided health plans and health systems through product launches, operational stabilization, multistate contracting, and major organizational transitions. She also advises digital health innovators as they scale care models across the United States and internationally.

Known for identifying patterns others miss, Sharon connects policy, operations, financial drivers, and community needs to elevate strategic decision-making. She brings a systems-level perspective that aligns CEOs, boards, clinical leaders, and community stakeholders around clear priorities and focused execution.

Throughout her career, Sharon has stabilized a financially distressed statewide health plan and guided its board through decisions related to a potential sale or a multi-year, orderly wind-down. She has led multimarket growth and payor strategy initiatives, including launching Medicare Advantage products, redesigning Medicaid operations, and strengthening oncology payor strategy across three states, securing new contracts and improving rate performance. She has strengthened governance across behavioral health, civic, and public-sector organizations and provided strategic insight to equity and consulting partners. She has also supported U.S. and international expansion, investor readiness, and operating model development for digital health platforms.

Sharon thrives in purpose-driven environments that demand disciplined execution, cross-sector alignment, and strategies that strengthen both health system performance and community impact.

Ray Knight– Co-Founder &  Partner

Ray Knight is the founder of Scientific Amici (SA), a healthcare consulting firm built to help organizations operate smarter, scale responsibly, and unlock value without losing sight of patient impact.

With more than two decades of experience across healthcare, life sciences, financial services, and the public sector, Ray brings a rare combination of strategic rigor, operational depth, and talent insight. His work sits at the intersection of organizational effectiveness, leadership, and execution helping hospitals, health systems, and healthcare-adjacent organizations turn complexity into clarity.

Prior to founding Scientific Amici, Ray held senior leadership roles at global executive search and advisory firms, including Managing Partner at DHR Global, where he led the firm’s Life Sciences and DE&I practices domestically and internationally. He has advised boards, CEOs, and executive teams on leadership strategy, succession planning, talent due diligence, and organizational transformation often during moments of rapid growth, change, or constraint.

Earlier in his career, Ray served as Deputy Director and CIO for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, overseeing large-scale technology, research, and operational initiatives across a $230M budget and a workforce of 350+. He has also led and founded multiple consulting and executive search firms, driving growth, market expansion, and operational turnarounds across healthcare, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and financial services.

What differentiates Ray and Scientific Amici is a systems-first mindset. He understands that performance gaps are rarely caused by a single issue. They live in the connections between people, process, data, and incentives. SA engagements are designed to surface those friction points quickly and deliver practical, measurable improvements.

Ray holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from The University of Chicago, with advanced finance coursework, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Oberlin College. He is a former Military Intelligence Officer in the United States Army Reserves.

At his core, Ray believes healthcare organizations perform best when patient impact leads and financial performance follows—and that sustainable improvement requires both strategic vision and disciplined execution.

Julius Pryor III – Innovator & Executive in Residence

Julius Pryor helps companies accelerate innovation and drive business results. Having created and led groundbreaking strategies at seven global corporations, Julius practically created the role of the modern Strategic Diversity Officer.

Julius is currently Head of Global Health Equity Strategy at biotech innovator BeOne Medicines.

He has held executive roles at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Roche, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), Russell Athletic, Abbott, Takeda, and Cerner. He served as Vice President of Global Diversity at both J&J and CCE. Julius also served as Head of Innovation, Diversity & Inclusion at biotech leader Genentech (Roche). He is Chair of the Board of Directors at the Center for Healthcare Innovation, an independent nonprofit research institute dedicated to driving health equity by leveraging technology, data analytics, and innovative marketplace platforms.

Julius is not a traditional diversity officer. His focus is leveraging foundational principles to drive revenue, market share, new products, and unique services. He builds organizational diversity maturity, which drives ideas across lines of demarcation and enables leaders to make better decisions.

Julius learned a great deal about agility, driving outcomes, and clarity of mission during his service in the U.S. Navy. He notes that “The Navy is a requirement-driven culture. You can delegate authority, but not responsibility.” He is a U.S. Navy Captain (retired), Surface Warfare Officer, and instructor for the Navy Officer Leadership Development Program. He held leadership roles in both Atlantic and Pacific fleets, including Unit Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and Fleet Staff Officer. He had the honor of serving on the recommissioning crew of the historic USS Missouri (BB-63).

Julius is a graduate of Morehouse College and The Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts. He serves on the boards of the Dr. Ernest Everett Just Life Science Society, AArete Corporation, and the Center for Healthcare Innovation, where he is Board Chair.

He was initiated into the Psi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity while at Morehouse College.