Antonia Petruse has been named Executive Director of the University of California Biomedical Research Acceleration, Integration, & Development (UC BRAID), bringing more than 15 years of experience in clinical and translational research, healthcare innovation, research operations, and the development and implementation of large-scale research programs. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA), complementing her extensive research leadership experience with additional expertise in organizational leadership, strategic planning, and stakeholder engagement.

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Antonia currently serves as Director of Embedded Clinical Research and Innovation (ECRI) within the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). For more than a decade, she has led the growth and operations of ECRI, a centralized clinical research and innovation unit that she established to support investigators and research programs through recruitment infrastructure, digital health integration, operational design, participant engagement, and strategic implementation. In this role, she oversees a diverse portfolio of institutional and grant-funded initiatives spanning precision medicine, smart health technologies, research recruitment, community engagement, and clinical research operations.

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Throughout her career, Antonia has focused on building innovative and scalable research infrastructure and translating complex initiatives into sustainable operational models. Her experience includes developing and implementing research programs across hospitals, ambulatory settings, a broad range of clinical specialties, and countywide and community-based settings, where successful implementation requires close collaboration among investigators, clinical operations, information technology, regulatory teams, health system leadership, and frontline clinical staff. This work has provided her with extensive experience navigating complex academic health systems and embedding research processes and technologies into real-world clinical environments.

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Antonia has contributed to and led numerous large-scale research and innovation initiatives at UCLA. Her work has included the Athena Breast Health Network and WISDOM Study, where as director of the program, she helped advance personalized approaches to breast cancer screening and pioneered the use of the patient portal for research recruitment; UCLA’s Depression Grand Challenge and research registry initiatives; and UCLA’s Universal Consent program, which integrated electronic research consent processes across clinical settings and specialties. Across these and other programs, she has helped develop recruitment networks, patient engagement strategies, digital research tools, registries, and operational infrastructure designed to expand research participation and enable studies to operate more efficiently and at greater scale.

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As Executive Director, Antonia will work closely with UC BRAID leadership and partners across the University of California system to advance collaborative initiatives that improve research operations, strengthen shared resources and infrastructure, support multi-campus research teams, and expand partnerships across the UC system. She brings to the role a combination of strategic leadership and hands-on experience building and operationalizing research programs, with a strong commitment to translating innovative ideas into solutions that meaningfully support investigators, research teams, patients, and communities. Her leadership approach emphasizes identifying shared priorities, developing practical solutions, building sustainable infrastructure, and creating models that can be adapted and scaled across programs and institutions.