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Julie L. Aker began her career looking through a hospital microscope. Now, as president and CEO of Indianapolis-based Concentrics Research, a clinical research firm, she is focused on the big picture.
"I've learned that you can accomplish anything through persistence and passion," she said. "That is the key to my success. Those are the things that have taken me down my path. And never, never settle for second-best."
For Aker, who spent much of her early career working in large hospital systems in Colorado Springs, Colo., a career in medicine was inevitable. Her mother was a pediatric nurse practitioner and her father had a 36-year career with locally based pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Co.
"It's in my blood," she said. "It's what I heard around the dinner table when I grew up."
Aker originally wanted to be a doctor. She earned a bachelor's degree in medical technology from Ball State University. Although she chose to become a medical technologist, she admitted it had its frustrations.
"Most of the laboratory medicine is very automated. I wanted more involvement," she said.
When a position opened up in quality assurance and management - dealing with regulations and standardizing health outcomes to maximize patients' outcomes - Aker jumped at it. Unwittingly, she fell into the position that would prepare her for a seamless transition into the world of pharmaceutical research.
The beauty of the Colorado landscape was intoxicating, but the ties to her family were stronger. She came back to Indianapolis (where she grew up) in the mid 1990s, starting out as manager of quality assurance, process improvement and strategic development in the local office of New Jersey-based Covance Inc., a pharmaceutical research...