Her Story
About Josefina
My career in clinical research began unexpectedly right out of high school when I started working as an assistant at a small research company. It definitely wasn't the plan, but I quickly became passionate about learning everything I could about regulatory work and how clinical trials operated. I spent about four to five years there in dermatology research, then moved to psychology research at another small firm where I was exposed to mental health studies, which was really impactful. After that, I joined one of the large hospitals in South Florida where I began my oncology research work, starting with tissue acquisition and eventually managing and building the team that helps the cancer center run their trials. For the past 6 years, I've been at the University of Miami, where I started as a manager for radiation clinical trials and now serve as one of the executive directors overseeing clinical trial operations on our main campus and our clinical research lab. Today, my main area of expertise is leadership. For the last 10 years, I've really focused on building leaders, whether they're new leaders or leaders of leaders. I currently oversee 5 directors who manage about 16 managers total. I believe strongly that being a good performer doesn't automatically mean someone should become a leader, and I work hard to prepare people properly for leadership roles. I'm actually graduating this Monday with my Master's in Leadership from UM, which represents my commitment to this work.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Josefina
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
It's a man's world. Anything medical is very doctor-driven, and still to this day, the majority of physicians are males. My advice would definitely be to know your information, stand your ground, and when you're right, you're right. Use the data to back you up. Don't silence yourself to make other people comfortable. I think that's something that has maybe separated me, or even at one point may have not been the most popular decision for others, but if I know what I'm talking about and I have the facts to state it, I'm not gonna stay quiet. I'm not afraid of titles. You're an expert in your field, and I'm an expert in mine. Make sure that you feel confident, because you're gonna need it. They will respect you, but it's gonna take a little bit. You need to have a voice for yourself and advocate for yourself.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is that it's moving so quickly and is ever-changing. We now have the integration of AI into everything, and the challenge is how do you integrate AI safely into things that have HIPAA compliance and patient records? It's super important to be extremely mindful. But the AI tools are a very good way to become efficient in some things that don't necessarily require all the time that they used to before, so I'm a huge advocate for it. I think it just needs to be used wisely. I do think that there's so much opportunity there. I really do feel that if you don't learn to kind of embrace it in a way that makes you feel comfortable, you're gonna get left behind. It's one of those things that's coming, it's here, and it's only gonna continue to evolve.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Partnership and shared decision-making are extremely important to me. My husband and I really make all financial decisions together, and we do everything very together. I wouldn't make an investment or a decision that's going to impact us both without discussing it with him. There are decisions that I make when I'm married with my husband that are conversations we have together. While I strive a lot for independence, there are certain decisions that we make together as a partnership.
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