Patty’s training as an optometrist in hands-on patient care, combined with her passion for leadership, competitive drive, and interest in making a positive impact for patients make her well suited as a clinical research manager at ZEISS Medical Technology. She heads a team that provides clinical expertise for product conceptualization and development of ophthalmic diagnostic equipment. Their products equip doctors to diagnose and effectively manage patients with diseases such as diabetes, glaucoma, and macular degeneration, which affect a large amount of the population.

Patty is incredibly proud of the team she manages. They must be both adaptable and efficient as they work on a large variety of projects, from providing feedback on new product features to offering expertise on user workflows to executing clinical studies. They also work with customer complaints and run studies with external partners and key opinion leaders. They work on both prototype and commercial devices, perform studies on human eyes, and ensure that the studies are being performed in a safe and ethical manner.

“I love being able to support my team as they deliver on their respective projects. They’re the ones performing the studies, writing the reports, analyzing the data, giving feedback on features, and being a part of the concept and development process. Being able to support these people as they contribute to these projects has been great. We’re about being efficient and getting it done.”