Our Story
Founded in 2014, built inside a working cardiology practice.
Dr. Asif Ali, MD founded Cena Research Institute in 2014 in Houston, starting as a single-site research effort attached to his own cardiology practice, Houston Cardiology Consultants. The idea was simple: pair rigorous, trial-grade research with an active clinical population, rather than build a research organization from the outside in.
Over the following decade, that single-site effort grew into a full-scope organization. Today CRI operates across the whole research lifecycle — a clinical trial site for pharmaceutical and device sponsors, full-service CRO support for teams running their own protocols, and a developer of original diagnostics and technology in-house — while staying rooted in the same integrated practice and physician-led referral base that started it.
Our work spans therapeutics, devices, diagnostics, and AI, grounded in one of the country’s most representative patient populations and held to regulatory-grade standards. That same model now extends into training the next generation of researchers through the Cena Research Institute Foundation.
Dr. Asif Ali, MD founded Cena Research Institute in 2014 in Houston, starting as a single-site research effort attached to his own cardiology practice, Houston Cardiology Consultants. The idea was simple: pair rigorous, trial-grade research with an active clinical population, rather than build a research organization from the outside in.
Over the following decade, that single-site effort grew into a full-scope organization. Today CRI operates across the whole research lifecycle — a clinical trial site for pharmaceutical and device sponsors, full-service CRO support for teams running their own protocols, and a developer of original diagnostics and technology in-house — while staying rooted in the same integrated practice and physician-led referral base that started it.
Our work spans therapeutics, devices, diagnostics, and AI, grounded in one of the country’s most representative patient populations and held to regulatory-grade standards. That same model now extends into training the next generation of researchers through the Cena Research Institute Foundation.
