Denver, Colorado  ·  MPH  ·  Open to new roles

Kristen
Autret

UX Researcher & Research Technologist

Clinical researcher. UX practitioner. I've spent six years embedded in the problems most designers only read about.

I came up on the science side of healthcare — managing clinical research programs, designing longitudinal study infrastructure, and working daily alongside physicians, nurses, and coordinators in regulated, high-stakes environments. That foundation gives me something most UX researchers don't have: I understand the clinical context, the data behind it, and the systems that have to hold it. I'm looking for roles where the research is serious, the users are complex, and getting it right actually matters.

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Kristen Autret

Six years embedded in clinical research. Now bringing that depth to UX.

I came up on the science side of healthcare — managing clinical research programs, designing longitudinal study infrastructure, and working daily alongside physicians, nurses, and coordinators in regulated, high-stakes environments. That foundation gives me something most UX researchers don't have: I understand the clinical context, the data behind it, and the systems that have to hold it.

Over six years at the LEAD Center (University of Colorado Anschutz), I've owned the full research and product lifecycle for health data platforms — from stakeholder discovery with clinicians and scientists, through data architecture and delivery, to the automated systems that keep complex multi-site studies running. My work sits at the intersection of UX research, cardiovascular health, and regulated research infrastructure.

BS in Public Health with a minor in Chemistry (pre-med track), followed by an MPH in Environmental & Occupational Health — earned while working full-time as a researcher. Formal training in epidemiology, health systems, and research methods, combined with six years of applied research in cardiovascular and chronic disease.

Current Role Principal Professional Research Database Specialist & Project Manager
LEAD Center, CU Anschutz
Education MPH, Environmental & Occupational Health
University of Colorado Anschutz | Colorado School of Public Health
Earned while working full-time as a clinical researcher
Education BS, Public Health · Minor in Chemistry (pre-med track)
University of Colorado Denver
Domain Chronic disease epidemiology · Biospecimen operations · Regulated research infrastructure · Environmental health
Location Denver, Colorado · US/French dual citizen · Open to relocation
Expertise

What I bring to a research team

Six years embedded in regulated clinical environments — conducting discovery, designing systems, and turning user input into better products.

User Research & Discovery

I conduct stakeholder interviews, usability evaluations, contextual inquiry, and literature reviews to understand what users actually need. I've led discovery sessions with MDs, NPs, and research coordinators — translating clinical workflows into design requirements.

Clinical Stakeholder Research

Six years of daily collaboration with physicians, nurses, investigators, and research staff across Colorado, Ohio, and South Carolina. I understand clinical roles, workflows, and the institutional constraints that shape what's usable in practice.

Research Documentation & Iteration

I document, track, and act on user feedback in continuous cycles. I maintain formal update logs capturing stakeholder requests, rationale, implementation status, and site-specific context — turning ongoing user input into a living design record.

Product Discovery & Roadmap

I've built data products from scratch — starting with stakeholder interviews, translating clinical needs into requirements, and owning execution through delivery. I define what gets built and why.

Data Platform Architecture & Delivery

REDCap database architecture, SAS-based ETL pipelines, QAQC automation, and multi-site data governance. I build the infrastructure and write the logic that keeps it honest.

Cross-Functional Stakeholder Alignment

I've driven buy-in from PIs, site coordinators, and leadership across Colorado, Ohio, and South Carolina — getting teams aligned on tooling, process, and priorities without direct authority.

Analytics & Reporting

Tableau dashboards for study metrics, SAS automation for monthly PI reports, and a 30-year legacy data migration to enable longitudinal analysis. I turn messy research data into decisions.

Regulated & High-Stakes Environments

IRB compliance, audit readiness, biospecimen chain-of-custody, and NIH reporting standards. I understand what it means to build in a regulated context — and how to ship within it.

Scientific Communication & Program Reporting

I translate complex data systems and research operations into clear narratives for PIs, leadership, and funders. Monthly reporting, stakeholder documentation, and the ability to make technical work legible to the people who make decisions about it.

Domain Expertise

Where I work

Five years at the intersection of health data, clinical research, and regulated infrastructure.

Cardiovascular & Cardiometabolic Health

Direct experience with cardiovascular signal data from the SEARCH CVD study — including SphygmoCor pulse wave velocity, central blood pressure, echocardiogram data, and HRV. I understand what these measures mean clinically and what it takes to collect, validate, and analyze them at scale.

Diabetes & Chronic Disease Epidemiology

Five years managing data infrastructure for longitudinal adult cohort studies focused on type 1 and type 2 diabetes. I understand the complexity of long-term follow-up, multi-site coordination, and the data quality demands of federally funded chronic disease research.

Environmental & Occupational Health

MPH concentration in Environmental & Occupational Health. Research background includes climate resilience and indigenous food systems work. I bring a systems-level perspective on how environment shapes health outcomes.

Health Equity & Social Determinants

Published research on socioeconomic status and obesity in youth. I approach health data work with an equity lens — understanding that the communities research represents must be centered in how products are designed and deployed.

Research Ethics & IRB Governance

Deep familiarity with IRB protocols, human subjects protections, and NIH/CDC compliance requirements. I've operated in regulated research environments where data governance isn't a checkbox — it's a core product constraint.

Biospecimen & Lab Data Systems

I've built the data infrastructure behind biological sample collection — tracking custody, reconciling records across sites and systems, and catching discrepancies before they become compliance problems. I know what it takes to keep lab data clean, auditable, and trustworthy at scale.

How I Research

Research Methods

The methods I reach for — chosen to fit the question, not the other way around.

Stakeholder Interviews Contextual Inquiry Usability Evaluation Iterative Prototyping Competitive Analysis Literature Review & Systematic Search Journey Mapping Workflow Analysis Cross-functional Synthesis Continuous Discovery
Work

Case Studies

Selected projects from five years of research data product work.

Research Data Platform · Multi-site · 2022–Present

SEARCH CVD Study — UX Research & Clinical Data Platform

Led end-to-end UX research and platform design for a multi-site cardiovascular study following adults with diabetes. Conducted stakeholder interviews, workflow analysis, and iterative discovery sessions with MDs, NPs, and site coordinators to design a clinical data system that 3 sites actually use. I was the entire research and product team.

3,543 Fields architected across 30 clinical instruments
77 Documented design iterations with named stakeholders
3 Sites coordinated (CO, OH, SC)
30 yrs Legacy data migrated for longitudinal analysis

Problem

  • Previous database was built without any user research — it couldn't capture what clinicians actually needed
  • No standardized workflow across sites; data entry was inconsistent and error-prone
  • 30 years of historical data trapped in MS Access with no path to longitudinal analysis
  • No visibility into recruitment or visit progress for PIs or coordinators

Research & Design Process

  • Conducted discovery sessions with PIs, site coordinators, and clinical staff across all three sites to understand role-specific workflows and data needs
  • Mapped user types (PIs, coordinators, data entry staff, participants) and designed form architecture and navigation to serve each
  • Iterative design process: 77 documented update cycles incorporating feedback from 10+ named stakeholders including MD PhDs, nurse practitioners, and site coordinators
  • Designed 30 clinical instruments covering consent, cardiovascular signals (SphygmoCor, echo, HRV), biospecimen tracking, lab results, and participant communication workflows
  • Built automated QAQC pipeline to catch data discrepancies before they reached clinical staff — designing data quality into the system rather than bolting it on
  • Migrated 30 years of longitudinal data from MS Access to enable cross-study analysis
Research Insight

"The biggest product mistake in research is building the database after the study design is locked. I pushed to get the database team into planning early — so when the data started coming in, the system could actually hold it. That decision alone saved months of rework."

Analytics & Reporting · Tableau · 2023–Present

Study Metrics Dashboard — Translating Research Data into Decisions

Designed and built Tableau dashboards to give PIs and site coordinators real-time visibility into recruitment progress, visit completion, and study metrics across three sites. Before this existed, progress updates required manual compilation. I identified the reporting gap through stakeholder conversations and built the solution.

3,543 Data points tracked across 30 instruments
3 Sites with unified reporting
100% Automated report delivery replacing manual PI updates

Problem

  • PIs had no real-time visibility into recruitment or visit completion across sites
  • Monthly progress updates required manual data compilation by coordinators
  • No standardized way to track study metrics across CO, OH, and SC
  • Leadership could not easily monitor multi-site study health

Design Process

  • Identified reporting needs through conversations with PIs and site coordinators
  • Defined key metrics that mattered to each user type — PIs needed high-level progress; coordinators needed task-level tracking
  • Built SAS ETL pipeline to transform REDCap exports into analysis-ready format
  • Designed dashboard layout to surface the right information at the right level of detail for each audience
  • Made the ROI case to leadership to secure Tableau adoption
Research Insight

"The reporting gap wasn't a data problem — it was a communication design problem. PIs didn't know what was happening across sites because no one had designed a way to show them. I asked the right questions, then built what the answer required."

Automation & Data Governance · SAS · 2023–Present

Biospecimen QAQC Pipeline — Automated Cross-System Reconciliation

Built a fully automated QAQC pipeline reconciling biospecimen records across three systems and three sites — catching discrepancies before they became audit findings. This is what data governance looks like when it's built into the product, not bolted on afterward.

2 Systems reconciled
3 Sites covered
0 Manual QA steps

Problem

  • Biospecimen records lived in two separate systems — REDCap (clinical data) and FreezerPro (lab inventory) — with no automated way to verify they matched
  • Discrepancies between the two systems could create compliance failures and invalidate samples
  • Manual cross-checking across three sites was time-intensive and inconsistent
  • No systematic way to flag issues before they became audit findings

What I built

  • Defined the full QA logic: what constitutes a discrepancy, how to classify severity, and what triggers a flag
  • Wrote SAS automation to export, transform, and join records across both systems
  • Built output reports that surface discrepancies by site, sample type, and severity for coordinator review
  • Designed the process to run repeatedly — so QA is a continuous check, not a one-time audit

Outcome

  • Discrepancies flagged and resolved before reaching the audit stage
  • Coordinators at all three sites now use a consistent, shared QA process
  • Pipeline runs on export — no manual intervention required between cycles
  • Documentation provided a model for future multi-system QA across other LEAD Center studies
PM Insight

"Most research teams treat QAQC as a manual review step at the end. I built it into the pipeline so discrepancies surface automatically — before they become protocol deviations or audit findings. That's the difference between reactive data management and proactive product design."

Explorations

Side projects & concept work

Things I built because I saw a gap and wanted to solve it.

Passion Project · Figma Concept · March 2026

Libby App — Rate, Review & Reading Memory

Libby is an app I use constantly for library ebooks and audiobooks. I noticed three gaps that make the experience frustrating for heavy readers: no way to remember what you've read, no way to avoid already-read titles in search, and no in-app path to support your library. I defined the problems, designed a three-layer solution in Figma, and wrote a full product pitch for the OverDrive team.

820M Checkouts in 2025
0 Native review features today
483 Titles I've personally borrowed

Interactive mockup showing the full Rate & Review flow — post-completion prompt, star rating, shelf tags, and reading log entry.

Problem

  • No reading memory — finish a book and nothing is retained: no rating, no note, no reaction
  • Discovery dead ends — search resurfaces already-read titles with no flag; patrons waste holds on books they've borrowed before
  • No way to support your library — the most loyal patrons have no in-app path to contribute
  • Sharing is clunky — recommending a book requires leaving the app entirely

Proposed Solution — Three Layers

  • Personal Reading Log — post-completion prompt captures a star rating, shelf tag (Loved it, Recommended, Want to reread), and optional short review. Lives in the existing Timeline. Fully private by default.
  • Smart Discovery + Sharing — "hide already read" filter in Search. Recommended tag unlocks a native share flow with deep links to the hold queue.
  • Library Support — voluntary donations split across active library cards, prompted at earned moments (50th book, one-year anniversary) — never pushed. Nonprofit pass-through model.

Why Libby Can Own This

  • Already where readers are — no new account or platform required
  • Anonymous by default, privacy-first architecture aligned with library confidentiality values
  • Goodreads is owned by Amazon and identity-required — Libby can permanently occupy the trust-aligned alternative
  • Ratings connect directly to the holds queue, making them immediately actionable in a way Goodreads reviews never are
Research Insight

"The most engaged readers Libby has — the ones borrowing dozens of titles a year — currently keep their reading logs in spreadsheets, on Goodreads, or not at all. That's an unserved need sitting inside an already-captive audience. I noticed the gap as a user, defined it as a researcher, and designed what closing it would look like."

Product Pitch · March 2026

In 2025, Libby patrons borrowed over 820 million titles. When they finish a book, the app offers nothing — no rating, no note, no memory. The most engaged readers keep logs in spreadsheets or on Goodreads. That's an unserved need sitting inside an already-captive audience.

The Opportunity

90% of US public libraries are on OverDrive. The infrastructure exists. The audience exists. The trust exists. Libby doesn't need to become a social network — it needs to give its most loyal patrons a way to remember what they've read and give something back to the institutions that make it possible.

Three Layers. One Coherent Experience.
MVP
Personal Reading Log

Post-completion prompt for a star rating, shelf tag (Loved it / Recommended / Want to reread), and optional short review. Lives in the existing Timeline — no new tab, no new infrastructure. Fully private by default. A profile stats card surfaces reading totals at the top of the Shelf screen.

2
Smart Discovery + Sharing

"Hide already read" filter in Search prevents wasting holds on already-borrowed titles. Recommended tag unlocks a native share flow — a deep link to the title with your rating and an optional note, sent via text. Recipient goes straight to the hold queue.

3
Library Support + Community

Voluntary donations split across the patron's active library cards. Prompted at earned moments — 50th book, one-year anniversary — never pushed. A nonprofit pass-through model, not an upsell. Optional public profiles and social reading feeds are later-phase, always opt-in.

Privacy Architecture

Borrowing records and review activity are stored in separate, non-joined systems. A review is text + rating + timestamp — never linked to a library card without explicit per-item consent. Reviews default to private. This keeps Libby aligned with library confidentiality law and removes the most significant legal risk from the feature entirely.

Why Not Goodreads

Goodreads is owned by Amazon, identity-required, and trust-compromised. StoryGraph requires a separate account with no connection to library availability. Libby is already where readers are, anonymous by default, and connected directly to the holds queue — making its ratings immediately actionable in a way no third-party app can replicate.

Success Metrics
>20%
Rating submission rate
>50%
Log return visits
>15%
Hide-read filter use
2–4%
Donation conversion
Tools & Platforms

Technical proficiencies

REDCap
SAS
SAS
Tableau
Figma
FreezerPro
Python
SQL
Microsoft 365
Adobe Creative Suite
Claude
Cursor
v0
v0
Research

Publications & Presentations

Socioeconomic Status and Obesity

Autret, K., & Bekelman, T. A. · Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2024

doi.org/10.1210/jendso/bvae176 ↗
Published

Physical Activity and Dietary Intake Among Children During COVID-19: A Longitudinal ECHO Cohort Study

Bekelman TA, Knapp EA, Wu G, Autret K, et al. · Journal of Pediatrics · Under review

Under Review

Changes in Physical Activity and Sedentary Time from Early to Middle Childhood: Associations with BMI and Body Composition

Diaz Barreiro R, Dabelea D, Autret K, et al. · Healthy Start Study · Under review

Under Review

Urinary Metal Levels Among Pregnant People with Biomarker-Confirmed Cannabis Exposure

Poster presentation · 2025 Cannabis Research Conference · Portland, Oregon

Conference
Contact

Let's work together.

Open to PM roles, research partnerships, and science program management opportunities — especially at the intersection of health data, equity, and technology. Based in Denver, Colorado. US/French dual citizen, open to relocation.

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