Kristi Williams

Kristi Williams is a clinical research coordinator with experience managing, implementing, and providing regulatory oversight in research studies. During her career, Ms. Williams has worked on observational trials, behavior health interventions, and clinical trials in specialty areas including medical genetics, psychiatry, cellular therapy, surgery, community health, and more. In each of her project roles, she has proven her ability to train others and effectively contribute to various types of research teams. Her excellent communication skills and organization strategies enables productive working relationships with internal colleagues as well as external clients and stakeholders. 

Ms. Williams has expertise in both sponsor-initiated and federally funded research studies, partnering with agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She currently serves as the Study Managers for the Collaborating Network of Networks for Evaluating COVID-19 and Therapeutic Strategies (CONNECTS). She supports the administrative coordinating center (ACC) at RTI—which is funded through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)—and is the liaison between the investigators, study team, data management sub-contractors, regulatory authorities, and NHLBI. As an extension to her experience on the CONNECTS project, she has recently supported the construction of the Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) biorepository, managing the standard operating procedure and workflow creation for the central web-based virtual. The virtual biorepository acts as a warehouse for biospecimens that investigators can access to continue to improve diagnostic and treatment interventions for COVID-19. 

Ms. Williams has also been a critical member for several other networks, including the Pharmacotherapies for Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders Alliance (PASA), conducted with support from the Department of Defense Congressionally directed Medical Research programs. In addition, Ms. Williams helps to support multiple studies that are funded by NIH institutes, including the Neonatal Research Network (NRN) and the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network (PFDN)—both funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shrive National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). For these networks, she provides knowledge in project development and study coordination, which fortifies these large-scale, multi-institutional coordinating center investigations. Outside of her research study participation, Ms. Williams has functioned as a RTI Safety Desk coordinator, monitoring the safety events for multiple studies across the organization and completing event submissions for review.

Prior to joining RTI in 2020, Ms. Williams worked at Duke University. In her most recent role, she was the Associate Project Lead for Duke Clinical Research Institute where she planned, led, and facilitated regular cross-functional project team meetings, developed detailed task lists and work effort assessments, and established and maintained business relationships with key partners.