Melissa Harris is Global Head of Patient Recruitment, Engagement and Modelling at Fortrea, with more than 25 years’ experience accelerating representative recruitment across all phases of clinical research. She leads programmes that reduce study burden and integrate participation into everyday life, while advancing health literacy, diversity and inclusion, and patient access equity.
Melissa’s personal passion, Fortrea’s Voice of Patient, channels patient and site insights into protocol design and study support, ensuring trials are feasible, compassionate and aligned to real world needs. She partners with sponsors, investigators and communities to embed equity and literacy into strategy, so trials better reflect the populations they intend to serve.
She also heads Fortrea’s Modelling team, developing Agentic AI capabilities that unify recruitment trajectories with participant visit forecasts. These tools power scenario projections, test operational assumptions and inform delivery planning—enabling earlier risk detection and more confident, data driven decisions throughout study execution.
Across portfolios and therapeutic areas, Melissa has built cross functional approaches that combine behavioural insights, digital engagement, site enablement and performance analytics to improve enrolment and retention. Her work demonstrates that representative recruitment is achievable when innovation and empathy meet rigorous execution.