QuartzBio’s team has deep experience in technology-enabled solutions for the life science industry. In this blog series, we invited you to get to know a member of the QuartzBio team.

This month, we are delighted to talk with Katie Berola, Director of virtual Sample Inventory Management. After learning about Katie here, please feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn.

1. In your own words, what do you do? 
   I build tools that take a process that is necessary and time-consuming and make it better and faster.
   
   Subjects in clinical trials are volunteers. Some patients consent without knowing if the treatment will help them. Others consent knowing the treatment will likely not help them, but they volunteer anyway. At the end of the trial, the samples and the data are all that is left. Building tools to take all that knowledge gained, even in failure, and make it useful for the future is a part of respecting the patients’ sacrifice. For some patients, that sacrifice can be precious hours in the last weeks and months of their lives.
   
   I am passionate about data quality, making research better, and helping patients have better outcomes.
   
   
2. What is your fondest memory of working at QuartzBio?
   My fondest memory was when I came to this company and realized they encourage innovation and creativity.
   
   The priority to deliver our clients’ expectations is high, but equally high is the expectation to continuously improve and develop our tools. It is inspirational to know that if improvement is possible, I will be encouraged to pursue that improvement even if a different method already exists.
   
   
3. Complete this sentence: QuartzBio is _________ because _________.
   QuartzBio is cutting-edge because we do not stop creating solutions. The team here faces new challenges frequently and strives to solve them.
   
   
4. Complete this sentence:  QuartzBio customers are _________ because _________.
   QuartzBio customers are an opportunity to enhance or expand our tools because there are always new challenges and different needs. Some of the best product features we have developed originated from QuartzBio customers, and those features have then been used to benefit all customers.
   
   
5. What piece of art – book, movie, music, artwork, etc. – inspired you the most and why?
   It was very hard to choose as I am inspired by many things!
   
   My favorite example is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Taking what is one of the best fantasy stories ever written and blending artistry and technology to bring it to life is truly amazing. It’s a beautiful combination of human creativity and scientific advancement.
   
   
6. What’s the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
   There are ten solutions to every problem. The first solution, while functional, may not be elegant. It is our responsibility to keep working to find the other nine solutions to achieve both functionality and elegance.