The Sunshine Score
The Sunshine Score is SunshineMD’s proprietary measure of clinical trial investigator performance, designed to help sponsors and CROs identify proven performers and reduce enrollment risk before a study begins.
It distills years of real-world study activity into a clear, comparable view of investigator enrollment behavior—grounded in historical data rather than assumption.
One clear signal of investigator performance
The Sunshine Score is a 1–100 percentile score that reflects an investigator’s real-world enrollment performance across industry-sponsored, U.S.-based clinical trials.
In simple terms:
- A higher score indicates consistently strong enrollment performance
- A lower score indicates a higher risk of under-enrollment, delays or added cost
By standardizing performance across studies and sponsors, the score makes it easier to compare investigators who would otherwise be difficult to evaluate side by side.
How teams use the Sunshine Score
Clinical development teams use the Sunshine Score to:
- Identify investigators who have consistently enrolled patients across multiple trials
- Flag repeated underperformance early in feasibility
- Optimize site footprints by opening the right number of sites with greater confidence
- Support faster enrollment by prioritizing investigators more likely to deliver
Two complementary performance signals
The Sunshine Score framework includes two related metrics that together provide a fuller picture of investigator performance:
Sunshine Score (overall performance)
A percentile score summarizing how an investigator has historically enrolled patients across all of their trials.
Startup Enrollment Score
A measure of how quickly an investigator begins enrolling during the first quarter of a study—an early indicator of overall performance.
Together, these metrics highlight investigators who enroll well and enroll early.
Why teams rely on the Sunshine Score
Sponsors gravitate toward the Sunshine Score because it turns years of complex, inconsistent data into a signal that is:
- Easy to apply during feasibility
- Easy to share internally
- Easy to explain to leadership
When investigator performance varies widely, a clear signal matters.
See the Sunshine Score in Action
The best way to understand the Sunshine Score is to see how it applies to your investigators and indications.
Request a demo to explore how the Sunshine Score can support site selection and enrollment planning for your next study.