Kirsti Autio: In the Spotlight
Connect Study Manager at Henry Ford Health, Kirsti Autio.
Meet Kirsti Autio, Connect Study Manager at Henry Ford Health
Connect Study Manager at Henry Ford Health (HFH), Kirsti Autio, shares how being a trusted partner with the National Cancer Institute, HFH patients, and community members can help shape the future of cancer prevention.
The Road to Connect
As one of ten partner health care systems participating in Connect, Henry Ford Health provides health care services primarily to the residents of Southeastern and Southcentral Michigan. Kirsti joined HFH in 2016, shortly after completing her Master of Social Work, where her studies were centered around behavioral health and survey research. This included mood disorder and medication related projects, and interviewing patients who were using opioids when dealing with chronic pain to better understand how their moods and lifestyles were affected.
She then transitioned into more project management work that eventually led her to her current role as a Connect Study Manager. Interestingly enough, Kirsti joined Connect around the same time her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The good news is the cancer was caught early and her dad is doing well.
Her Work as a Study Manager
In her role, Kirsti consults on study design and implementation. She also serves as a focal point of communications and the sharing of information to HFH clinicians and other staff involved with Connect. According to Kirsti, this work has given her a chance to understand science from a different realm, particularly in cancer prevention and epidemiology. For her, it has been an opportunity to engage with HFH colleagues across several departments – like the laboratory system and the biospecimen team that handles participant samples – to learn more about how their health system works. The added bonus has been engaging with professionals across the nation through HFH’s partnership with NCI.
Building a Partnership with Participants
What immediately became apparent to Kirsti is the partnership Connect is looking to build with participants- “To see in action that we are not just recruiting people whose results will be hidden behind an academic curtain, but there are real opportunities for participants to help shape the study,” she said. An example of this is the Participant Experience Survey that was recently sent to a subset of study participants. The Connect team wants to understand how participants view their journey and what hurdles they may come across. Their responses will help the team improve the study for current and future participants.
“We are not doing things to people but working with them to help shape the future of cancer prevention.”
Kirsti also credits the role of the Participant Advisory Board, a group of advisors who represent each of the partner health care systems, in ensuring that diverse voices are included in considering important study decisions. She adds that having insight from the community’s perspective has been invaluable for developing resources and recruitment strategies relevant to them.
Share Your Story
Kirsti is motivated by being part of a cohort that may benefit future generations of her family. Her excitement stems from the fact that Connect is active in diverse areas of the country, including places where she has a personal connection. Her mother’s family is from a farming community outside of the Chicago suburbs in an area where extended family members worked as dial painters and were exposed to harmful radiation. Her father’s side is from Michigan where some family members worked in an industry that was using asbestos. These unique exposures affecting her family members and their communities are important to study to understand how they may affect health. Having HFH as well as University of Chicago Medicine as partner sites involved in Connect gives her hope that participants in those areas can help shape what we may learn about the causes of cancer and how best to prevent it.
Like Kirsti, a person in your life or specific experience may motivate your participation in Connect. Consider sharing your story by contacting our team at the Connect Support Center. We would love to feature you in an upcoming spotlight!