Greenbook Future List Spotlight: Maria Muccioli

Editor’s Note: The following interview features a 2024 Greenbook Future List honoree, Maria Muccioli. The Greenbook Future List recognizes leadership, professional growth, personal integrity, passion, and excellence in the next generation of consumer insights and marketing professionals within the first 10 years of their careers.

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Maria Muccioli, Research Lead at Thrivable, immigrated to the U.S. as a child, shaping her dedication to assisting others. Through her role at Thrivable, she partners with significant diabetes med-tech firms, advocating for marginalized healthcare communities. Her collaborations with the ADA have led to impactful outcomes and fulfilling contributions.

She works with leading Med-Tech firms, focusing on including patient insights, specifically in diabetes. She enhances research data quality, expands participant pools, detects fraud, and maintains panel quality control to drive effective business decisions. Thrivable enables those impacted by diabetes to influence healthcare advancements directly.

Maria, a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Ohio University, boasts extensive research expertise in diabetes, cancer, and multiple sclerosis. With a rich professional history at renowned institutions such as Ohio State University, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, she has excelled in roles at Diabetes Daily and as a consultant. Maria's impactful career reflects a unique combination of research acumen, advocacy, and leadership in healthcare innovation.

Outside of insights, what are your passions and interests?

Family is everything. I am a wife and mom to two youngsters– age 7 and 4. Outside of work, much of our time is spent together as a family, exploring nature, biking, gardening, cooking, playing with our dogs and cats, playing video games, watching movies, going to amusement parks, working on projects together, or just plain hanging out. It's been really fun seeing my kids learn through experiences doing all kinds of projects together. I find immense joy in watching them develop into who they are becoming. It is a fun reminder of how nothing stays static, and I cherish the honor to support their growth and development. 

Since starting your career in MRX, what would you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?

Putting in place a multi-pronged proprietary fraud detection system for the Thrivable Patient Panel particularly stands out. 

The validity and quality of online patient panels is notoriously difficult to ascertain and maintain. We decided to utilize a multi-step approach of auto-screening via SEON, in conjunction with “custom flags” which are based on patient reported data (for example, non-sensical therapy combinations or frequently changing answers over time). Over the past year, we have continued to refine the approach and have achieved a very high-quality validated panel as a result. 

I am very proud that with cross-functional teamwork and several iterations on the process, we now have a robust system with a low false flag rate, ensuring our customers can trust the validity of their data. 

If you could go back in time to when you first started your career, what advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t be afraid to speak up – whether it’s asking questions or making suggestions. Coming from a background of academic science research and teaching, I was at first hesitant to make my voice heard in the market research space. I initially thought it may be best to search out the answer for myself if I didn’t quite understand something, and I worried that making suggestions to improve on a project or process may not be the best idea since I did not have formal training in the field. 

What I learned eventually is that it’s not only OK to ask for clarification from the source in real time, but also it will often yield a more thorough and nuanced understanding of the topic at hand than a more general search could provide. As far as speaking up about alternative ideas or potential improvements, I learned that I often have something unique to contribute that has not been considered and can make an important difference in the outcomes.  

What are three skills you believe to be crucial to succeed in market research and why?

In market research, three crucial skills for success are:

1) Understanding underlying goals to optimize research design:

It's essential to grasp the underlying objectives of a research project. This skill allows for tailored research design to most precisely meet the goals, ensuring that every aspect of the study contributes meaningfully to the desired outcomes. 

2) Storytelling with data:

The ability to tell a compelling story with data is paramount, as it enriches the understanding of complex research outcomes. It's not just about presenting numbers but weaving a narrative that brings insights to life and helps communicate findings in a way that is impactful and resonates with stakeholders. Importantly, optimizing research design (#1) is a critical component to be successful in accurate and impactful storytelling. 

3) Transparency:

Transparency is the foundation of trustworthy research. I prioritize openness in every stage of the research process, from sampling to specific research methodology to data interpretation. For instance, dealing with data from non-representative populations can present a challenge. Being upfront about the limitations and demographics of the sample ensures honesty in the interpretation of findings. This transparency not only maintains integrity but also enables stakeholders to contextualize the data accurately within its unique population parameters.

Where do you see the future of insights heading in the next 10 years?

I think one of the biggest differences we are likely to see is a much more widespread adoption of AI-assisted research platforms, with qualitative research taking more of a central stage as a result. AI-assisted research platforms are already on the rise, making qualitative data analysis faster and more reliable. Unlike the old days of tedious manual coding, AI allows for quicker and scalable analysis of open-ended data, even in real-time during focus groups.

This shift promises not just efficiency but a deeper exploration of human behavior and preferences. AI's role isn't just about speeding things up; it's about uncovering hidden connections within qualitative data, enriching insights, and advancing our understanding.