Wendy Portier has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare and the clinical research enterprise, including clinical research compliance, clinical research operations, corporate health care compliance, managed care, care management, quality, and critical care nursing. Having worked across the provider, researcher, payer, and sponsor landscapes, Wendy brings a systems-level perspective to how human research protections, data integrity, financial stewardship, and operational execution intersect across the research lifecycle.
Her experience spans the full research ecosystem and includes extensive, real-world leadership in clinical research compliance and operations, including assessing research sites and programs through due diligence and risk-based assessments; implementing sustainable process improvements; leading and supporting government inspections and regulatory responses; conducting auditing and monitoring activities; implementing and maturing compliance programs; and improving the research billing revenue cycle from coverage analysis, budgets, contracts, and authorizations to claims review, denials, and appeals management.
Wendy has a particular interest in building organizational capability through training, translating complex regulatory and operational requirements into practical, scalable best practices, and helping organizations design clear, effective policies and procedures that support ethical, compliant research.
Wendy is an independent consultant in research compliance and operations, working with academic medical centers, cancer centers, community-based research programs, sponsors, and research networks to strengthen governance, operational effectiveness, and quality across diverse research environments. Previously, Wendy served as Medical Management Director for a health insurance cooperative start-up and as a consultant with a major consulting firm and a contract research organization. Earlier in her career, she held roles as Corporate Compliance Officer, Chief Research Compliance Officer, and Clinical Research Coordinator at a major academic medical center.
Wendy holds a Master of Science in Nursing in Clinical Research Management from Duke University and completed the Health Care Corporate Compliance Post-Graduate Certificate Program at George Washington University. She also holds several healthcare-related certifications and has lectured locally, nationally, and internationally on clinical research operations and compliance, health care auditing, research billing, and health care compliance, with a focus on advancing ethical, collaborative, accountable, and high quality research systems that support the development of safe and effective therapies.