I'm a research and strategy consultant helping teams make better product, care, and program decisions, grounded in how people actually live, work, and care for one another.

Explore the questions I've helped teams answer

About


I study people and phenomena.
In context.

Lara J. Mertens, PhD

I'm Lara, a PhD-trained anthropologist and research strategist working across digital health, emerging technology, and social impact.

For more than a decade, I've combined ethnographic research, fieldwork, and product thinking to help teams make sense of complex human realities and act on them. My work has taken me from remote care platforms and AI-enabled health tools to global health systems and digital experiences across four continents.

I've worked with founders, product teams, nonprofits, and international organizations, including leading $1.5M+ technology programs for WHO and the Gates Foundation across West and Central Africa. I work best where research is meant to shape the roadmap, not simply validate it.

A closer look at how I work
Lara J. Mertens, PhD

Selected organizations and teams I've contributed to

How I can help


Complex, consequential problems are hard to see clearly from inside an organization alone. That's where I come in.

My work combines research, fieldwork, synthesis, and strategic guidance, from scoping the right question through to making findings useful in product, care, program, and organizational decisions. I can join for a focused project, strengthen an existing research effort, or work as an embedded partner when the work needs to go deeper.

What I offer

Engagements are designed around your actual problem, not a service menu. These categories describe where I most often work.

Some questions I've helped teams answer


01

Lake Chad Mapping

Global Health · Field Research

What does it take to deliver health programs across complex, cross-border systems?

Lake Chad Mapping

Led $1.5M+ multi-country polio eradication programs across Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon with eHealth Africa, WHO, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation, and national Ministries of Health.

02

Airbnb & Zoom Digital Connection Research

Longitudinal Research

What makes people trust, stay with, or leave digital platforms?

Airbnb & Zoom Digital Connection Research

Four-year academic study of Airbnb's Online Experiences platform and Zoom, drawing on 500+ participants and resulting in two peer-reviewed publications.

03

WellOff Data Visualization

Digital Health · Accessibility

How can sensitive health data feel clearer and more useful to the people tracking it?

WellOff Data Visualization

Product and UX advisor to WellOff Health, shaping symptom and medication tracking tools for an antidepressant tapering support app in closed beta.

04

AI Readiness Diagnostic

AI Governance

When does healthcare AI help, and when does it create friction or distrust?

AI Readiness Diagnostic

Embedded research and strategy consultant for a confidential AI health startup, building a framework to evaluate trust, ethical risk, and workflow fit before launch.

05

Provider-Centered Research

Provider Ethnography

How can a remote wellness platform earn providers' trust?

Provider-Centered Research

Embedded research consultant for a confidential digital health client, running 150+ practitioner interviews to map trust dynamics and adoption barriers on a remote wellness platform.

06

SIFT UX Research

Behavioral Research

How do people make sense of algorithmic systems when digital life feels overwhelming?

SIFT UX Research

A self-initiated research project probing digital overwhelm and algorithmic trust, undertaken independently to explore what a healthier alternative could look like.

How I work


01 / 04

Relational Insight

Understand the relationships that shape trust, adoption, and care.

I care about how people relate to systems, technology, and one another, because that is often where the fuller story lives. I've spent years learning to notice what people do not say out loud, and that is often the part that matters most.

Methods matched to the question

Ethnographic Fieldwork In-Depth Interviews Participant Observation Diary Studies Empathy Mapping Focus Groups Journey Mapping

Say hello


Working on a question that needs closer attention? I'd be glad to hear what you're building, navigating, or trying to understand, and explore whether I can help.

Location

Portugal time zone · US work authorized · Freelance clients anywhere

Availability

Currently open to new work

Some writing & publications