14 Mar Team Spotlight: Kristi Schaeve
Kristi Schaeve is the Industry Liaison, Biohealth & Clinical Research for the Clinical Trials Institute.
PLEASE SHARE A BIT ABOUT YOUR PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY. HOW DID YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR CURRENT POSITION?
After graduating college, I began working at a contract research and testing laboratory doing pre-clinical assays for pharmaceutical studies. From that job, I gained the solid research fundamentals that allowed me to join the UW-Madison spin-out company Stratatech. During my tenure there, I took on many different roles, starting in R&D and laboratory management, dabbling in Quality Assurance and Quality Control, and eventually transitioning to Clinical Operations. After helping the company to successfully navigate phase II and phase III clinical trials, I was eager for a new challenge, and joined UW in 2019 to manage Investigator-Initiated Trials. When SMPH’s Office of Biohealth Industry Partnerships was hiring for an Industry Liaison in 2022, I was excited to put my 20+ years in industry and experience working with researchers to good use!
WHAT MOTIVATIONS FUELED YOUR CAREER PATH?
Positively impacting patients in need through the advancement of innovative research has motivated my career. Being part of the process to develop life-saving medicines and therapies and seeing those technologies translated to real world effect is extremely fulfilling. I had the privilege while at Stratatech to be part of an amazing bench-to-bedside journey, and that patient-centric focus is front and center in clinical research at UW as well. I am also continually motivated by opportunities to collaborate with and contribute to strong teams.
WHAT ARE SOME PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TOOLS OR RESOURCES THAT YOU WOULD RECOMMEND TO OTHERS IN YOUR POSITION/FIELD?
I would recommend attending scientific and industry-specific conferences as an excellent way to learn what’s new in the landscape and make useful contacts. And, joining professional groups (like BioForward and Women in Biohealth locally) to build your network and take advantage of development opportunities is invaluable.
HOW IS SUCCESS DEFINED IN YOUR FIELD?
Success can be measured by the increase in collaborations with biohealth companies, initiation of new research projects and the addition of more industry-sponsored clinical trials. And the foundation for all those outcomes is successful relationship building. To promote collaboration between internal teams and external partners, it’s critical to be able to work across functional areas, communicate effectively with diverse groups, and navigate different research settings.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR ROLE?
In my current role, I essentially serve as an ambassador for all the unique resources, talent and services at both UW SMPH and UW Health. I like being able to help facilitate research opportunities for the school, and really enjoy assisting faculty and departments progress their innovations. Interacting with such a wide variety of brilliant stakeholders makes for very stimulating work.
WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES YOU FACE IN YOUR ROLE?
It can be challenging to make inroads with large industry partners. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to identify the right champion within an organization. But being persistent and advocating for UW’s renowned faculty researchers, departments and centers/institutes usually goes a long way in making progress.
HAVE ANY MENTORS IMPACTED YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT? HOW DID YOU DEVELOP THESE RELATIONSHIPS?
I feel lucky to have had fabulous mentors in my career. Supervisors, CEOs, colleagues, and friends have impacted my professional development by encouraging me to take on new work endeavors, serving as sounding boards to talk through problems, and providing opportunities for me to grow my career. I developed these relationships by being willing to ask questions and seek advice, putting in effort to maintain connections and friendships, and providing my support when it was needed.
WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU HAD KNOWN WHEN YUOU STARTED YOUR CAREER PATH?
I wish I had known sooner that all work experience contributes to some type of usable knowledge and expertise. When I started my career, and even up until recently, I often felt like I needed to pick a specific career path and stick with it. Now I realize that having a wide array of varied skillsets is extremely valuable.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR SOMEONE PURSUING A SIMILAR CAREER PATH TODAY?
My advice is to be open to new opportunities that may not necessarily be on your career radar. Before I transitioned to clinical research, that was not an area I had considered pursuing. It took our company leader suggesting that my abilities would translate well to the Clinical Operations team for me to take that leap. Looking back, I’m so grateful that she was willing to offer her wise guidance!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT WORKING WITHIN UW’S CLINICAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY?
The passion shared by so many for contributing to groundbreaking research and prioritizing patient participants is my favorite part of working with this tremendous community. I feel honored to work with the talented, dedicated clinical research professionals in the Clinical Trials Institute and at UW SMPH!