Sylvia Baedorf Kassis, MPH, first joined the MRCT Center as a Program Manager in January of 2018.  She brought with her more than 20 years of clinical research-related experience in Canada and the United States of America. Her expertise includes ethical/regulatory review of research, clinical trial workforce training and capacity building, and study coordination, management and oversight.

Sylvia assumed her role as MRCT Center Program Director in June 2022. Sylvia champions efforts to make clinical research more understandable and accessible to patients, participants, and caregivers through her work on Health Literacy in Clinical Research and the first-of-its-kind, plain language Clinical Research Glossary. In addition, she supports other MRCT Center initiatives in applying health literacy principles to their outputs.  Sylvia is passionate about patient/participant engagement, and as such strives for inclusivity in the programs she leads so that patient/participant voices are prioritized.

Sylvia’s clinical research interests include: understanding study participants’ experiences in research and incorporating their insights into study processes; supporting research coordinators through networks and training; and ensuring all research stakeholders have the resources they need to conduct ethical and compliant studies involving study participants and their data/samples.

Sylvia earned a Master of Public Health degree in Global Health from Boston University School of Public Health (2008) and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto (2001).