“Medpace worked one-on-one with me to find a solution that would help me to the best of their ability, and I felt less like a small fish in a big pond,” Clinical Trial Manager Dr. Kilee DeBrabander says. While venturing outside of her comfort zone in academia in search of a full-time laboratory setting, Kilee realized that research opportunities weren’t the only forces that led her to Medpace.
While earning her PhD in Cognition and Neuroscience, Kilee researched the cognitive mechanisms behind social disability in autistic adults. The lab that Kilee worked in accommodated niche fields like hers, so when her tenure-track plan wasn’t falling into place, she found herself logging hours on job board sites in search of laboratories to continue studying these topics. Kilee “knew [she] loved research and wanted that to be part of whatever future position [she] took.”
In the midst of her dissertation, Kilee received an offer for an Associate Clinical Trial Manager role with Medpace. In the chaos of her final weeks of grad school, Kilee accepted the offer. Finally coming up for air after a successful defense, Kilee graduated. Once she was able to take in the world around her, Kilee could really absorb what her new position would mean for her career. She now reflects back on what was going through her head when she accepted, “I felt ready for a fresh start in a new field.” However, new beginnings can also bring uncertainty, and Kilee wasn’t sure what she should expect from a clinical research environment, let alone a corporate environment.
“Clinical research was not part of my plan,” Kilee recalls. She was confident that research would remain a key factor in her next career move, but she also had to consider the outcome of the interactive process under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – these were Kilee’s two must-haves.
Throughout the interview process, Kilee was met with complete candor over Medpace’s ADA process. Kilee knows her potential and doesn’t plan on coming up short, so joining a company that is transparent about their accommodations processes was essential in helping her achieve her goals.
During her onboarding, Kilee met with Medpace to discuss the ADA process and possible accommodations based on her role requirements. Medpace worked with Kilee to find a specialized device for her Auditory Processing Disorder. Performing tasks with her Auditory Processing Disorder can be difficult if she’s in loud settings, so Kilee practices advocating for herself to ensure her needs are met with appropriate accommodations so she can carry out her job duties comfortably and confidently. While this disorder can affect people differently, Kilee experiences difficulty processing speech in noisy environments, which can pose as an obstacle during phone calls with Sponsors, study teams, and other phone communications. To mitigate as many barriers as possible, Medpace provided Kilee with a headset specifically designed to cancel out background noise during calls. Kilee reports that, with the assistance of this accommodation, she is able to better perform critical job functions.
Now, just a few months after her one-year anniversary with Medpace, Kilee reflects on her past year. Not only has she seen an improvement of her work/life balance, but she’s also felt a notable change in her quality of life. “I am much happier,” she shares. Through the mentorship of her supervisor, Kilee has flourished in her role and watched her passions actualize. A driven researcher with a desire to teach others, Kilee now has the opportunity to mentor a handful of employees in her department, which has proven to be one of the favorite parts of her job. She is proud to not only “learn a lot throughout the process [but] also get to watch others succeed.”
After spending a number of years in academic settings, Kilee was unwavering in her two must-haves in her new workplace. Maneuvering through a corporate environment for the first time can be daunting, but Medpace worked with Kilee to support her through accommodations and mentorship, which has allowed her to progress her career in such a short time; “the Medpace team I worked with truly cared about providing me with the best resources to help me succeed, and that was a really nice change.”
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