MERIT Employee Spotlight is a series featuring team members introducing themselves and explaining why they chose to work in the clinical trials industry and at MERIT.
What is your role at MERIT?
In my role at MERIT, I work as part of the Quality Assurance and Compliance department, with a specific focus on software. MERIT facilitates clinical trials across the world, which require adherence to clinical trial regulations, medical device regulations, and helping support the production of high-quality software and data to our clients.
What do you like about working at MERIT?
As an organization, MERIT has a diverse staff that work together collectively as a team and have a high amount of autonomy for their work. In my role I get to learn about many people’s jobs and expertise, which I enjoy and can apply to my own work. In addition, I can learn and apply new concepts in the software industry and clinical trial space to MERIT.
Why did you get into clinical research?
One of my first jobs after university graduation was a statewide project to gather data from state residents. I traveled around the state to recruit participants and collect data from Wisconsin residents, including biometric, health, and socioeconomic data. In addition, working in research in the hospital setting, I had a special interest in image data collection and preparing images for central lab analysis. I truly see that the outcomes in clinical trials can lead to a longer health span and appreciate all the contributions of clinical trial participants.
What do you do in your free time?
I am located in Madison, Wisconsin, and I am a part of our local social dance community. As a forever beginner, I enjoy mentoring my community members and continuing to grow my dancing. I love dogs (although cats are now growing on me, too) and trying new local foods and cafés. I would love to spend more time backpacking outside the US.
Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn
