In this capacity, she provides direction and expertise in the area of informed consent and development of patient education and recruitment materials for all National Institutes of Health TrialNet studies, and coordinates study-wide operations between the DRI, NIH, and the TrialNet Coordinating Center.

She has been with the Diabetes Research Institute since 1985, where she began her career as a nutritionist, diabetes educator and communications specialist, authoring the DRI publication, Nutrition and Diabetes: Integral Partners in Care (1992).

She was soon appointed co-director of the Operations Coordinating Center for the NIH-funded Type 1 Diabetes Prevention Trial, overseeing a network of nine major clinical centers working in collaboration. In addition to contributing to study group papers on behalf of DPT-1/ TrialNet, Ms. Rafkin-Mervis has been a primary author of articles in Clinical Diabetes and the International Diabetes Monitor.