In this Q&A, senior project manager Lauren Ariniello reflects on her journey from summer intern to digital trial innovator, the lessons lacrosse taught her about mentorship and why she still finds science just as exciting now as the day she first picked up a pipette.

Could you describe your role at the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center?

In my role at the Digital Trials Center, I work alongside study coordinators, scientists, physicians, and partner organizations to design and implement digital clinical research studies. Our goal is simple but ambitious: enable anyone, anywhere, to participate in a study. We obsess over participant-centric design, which means creating engaging experiences through smartphone apps, wearable devices and at-home sample collection kits. By giving people tools they can use at home, we reduce burden and open the door to richer, longitudinal data collection that paints a far more comprehensive picture of health than a single clinical visit ever could.

My primary focus in recent years has been putting these tools to work to better understand women’s health and healthy aging. For too long, women were largely excluded from clinical research, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of conditions that affect them specifically. I’m also particularly drawn to advancing aging in place, using at-home monitoring and supportive care to help older adults live well on their own terms.

What made you want to pursue a career at Scripps Research?

Science grabbed me early. In high school, I had an AP chemistry teacher who had a real knack for making chemistry fun and exciting, and I went on to intern at a startup developing continuous glucose monitors—early exposure that planted the seed for a career in research. During my undergraduate work at UCLA, a genetics professor introduced me to the emerging field of epigenetics, and I couldn’t learn fast enough.

That curiosity eventually led me to Scripps Research, where in 2009 I joined as a summer intern on the Wellderly project, exploring the genomics of healthy aging. It might sound a little sentimental, but I loved the feel of a pipette in my hand. After that summer, I knew this is where I wanted to be. The science is cutting edge, the people are brilliant and the mission feels genuinely meaningful.

I’ve since traded the pipette for a computer, but the excitement hasn’t faded. Precision medicine is also deeply personal to me. Navigating my own health conditions has been quite the medical odyssey, and Scripps Research has given me both the support and the tools to pursue questions that matter to me and to so many others.

What does mentoring mean to you, and what do you enjoy most about it?

Playing and coaching lacrosse at elite levels taught me a lot about mentoring. You can offer guidance, share your experience and show them what’s possible, but at some point, it’s on the athlete to take what they’ve learned and run with it. I’ve approached mentorship at Scripps Research the same way.

Having started here myself as a summer intern, I know firsthand how formative the right opportunity at the right time can be. It’s been incredibly rewarding to help our internship programs grow, and to play a small part in so many students’ journeys. Each person arrives with their own path, goals and spark, and being trusted to contribute to that is something I don’t take lightly.

Like on the lacrosse field, it’s also about more than individual skill. The best teams figure out how to collaborate, lift each other up and achieve things together that none of them could pull off alone. It’s a spirit I try to bring to mentorship and everything else I do here.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Outside of work, I stay active in the AI space, reading constantly and working with the UC San Diego AI Alumni Council and Rady School of Management Alumni Network. I also consult for GSD Health Research, a Scripps Research spin-off focused on advancing clinical research in women’s health.

But as much as my professional life runs on digital platforms, my personal life has gotten pretty analog. I spend as much time outside as possible with family, friends, and my dog, Millie. A group of us has become fully obsessed with pickleball, which involves equal parts athleticism and good-natured needling. I’m also a proud auntie, and my niece, nephew and all my friends’ kids light up my world.

When I’m not on a pickleball court or chasing toddlers, you might find me doing hot yoga, hiking, snowboarding, camping, experimenting in the kitchen, traveling somewhere new, making playlists, writing and creating greeting cards.