Fully-remote coronavirus antibody study

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching consequences since its emergence in December 2019 and a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities. Formation Bio (formerly TrialSpark) partnered with the Harvard School of Public Health to implement a proof-of-concept for at-home sample collection logistics for large-scale seroprevalence studies.

I co-authored a scientific paper, published on MedRxiv and PLOS ONE, which provides additional details on the study approach and learnings.

My Role:

I led the cross-functional study team, which included Operations, Data, Marketing, and Technology. In addition, I was responsible for study enrollment and overall participant experience.

What I'm Proud of:

• Enrolled ~2,000 participants in <2 months of active recruitment. Volunteer recruitment methods included partnerships with trusted Massachusetts-based organizations (e.g., for-profit and nonprofit employers, symptom tracking apps) and targeted digital ads.

• Set and accomplished cohort-defined enrollment targets to drive sample diversity: 20% non-white, 13% Hispanic or Latinx and 50% living in rural areas.

• Generated overwhelming interest as demonstrated by the waitlist of approximately 8,000 volunteers who can be engaged in future public health efforts, in addition to the ~2,000 enrolled participants.

• Achieved >90% at-home sample kit return rate. Built in nudges and reminders (text, email, phone) to help drive completion.

• Received an overwhelmingly positive response from study participants. 96% of respondents (N=538) reported they were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the enrollment experience in an end-of-study feedback survey.