Why Smart Teams Stay Stuck (and how to fix it)
Discover the real reason your team isn’t making progress.
HELLO!
I’m Dr. Maritza Salazar Campo
Whether you’re leading a research lab, running a small project team, or stepping into leadership for the first time, the hardest part isn’t expertise—it’s alignment. You’re managing smart, driven people across disciplines, departments, and expectations. My work helps professionals at every stage turn that complexity into shared understanding, operational clarity, and measurable progress.
I’ve spent more than a decade researching what distinguishes high-performing leaders and teams. I put all of the insights I’ve gained into the curriculum and coaching that I offer so that leaders can clarify their vision, build teams that drive outcomes, and coordinate the chaos that comes along the way.
Research investigators, clinicians, and Fortune 500 professionals who have worked with me see the impact immediately - whether in the form of grant funding exceeding 45M collectively or in project success that keeps them at the cutting edge of transformation and change.
While I draw on theory and data obsessively, I seek to make learning easy and applicable for everyone. No jargon, no hard-to-interpret frameworks, no endless guessing about what to do or say next. Plus, there is always the option to join other members of my learning community to learn together.
A SAMPLE OF TRUSTED CORPORATE CLIENTS:
You know how to solve problems with precision. You have a plan for turning ideas into action.
But your day still looks like this:
Fielding competing demands.
Absorbing tasks that should belong to others.
Sitting through meetings that multiply without progress.
You’re not burned out because you can’t handle the work. You’re burned out because of the spaces between the work, where clarity should live, such as the barriers between people, departments, and sites, or because of the unclear and misaligned priorities that force reaction instead of leadership.
That’s where I come in.
I help leaders move from overload to integration. Using research-backed frameworks, you’ll learn to:
Protect your time through unbreakable boundaries.
Realign your team with questions that reset direction.
Move projects forward by connecting ideas, talent, and outcomes.
Lead across systems without losing what drives you.
You don’t need to prove expertise—you already have it. What you deserve is clarity, authority, and steady confidence to lead without depletion.
A SAMPLE OF TRUSTED HEALTHCARE CLIENTS:
WHAT IS THE INTEGRATIVE LEADERSHIP LAB?
Most leadership programs assume authority comes first.……
Your work reality proves the opposite.
This Lab exists for a very specific kind of professional.
The Integrative Leadership Lab is designed for professionals whose judgment, coordination, and responsibility often precede formal mandate, but realize that the work can’t get done if someone doesn’t bring processes and people together for impact.
This Lab is NOT about abstract or theoretical notions of leadership.
It focuses on:
*how direction forms inside project collaborations
*what to do when insight and responsibility precede permission to decide strategy or scope
*ways to keep work (and people) moving without forcing it or absorbing unnecessary load.
Participants don’t come here to learn ”pop” leadership.
They come because they’re already doing it—quietly, carefully, and often without training - and seek to be more effective, regardless of whether they are leading or supporting their boss or PI.
The Lab offers:
*Asynchronous education grounded in real organizational dynamics
*Evidence-based approaches to leading teams and projects
*Leadership language and tools for moments when labs or projects lag
Why?
So that progress doesn’t depend on permission, timing, or perfect conditions.
Integrative Leadership Lab Tracks
Choose the path that matches where you’re already holding responsibility.
RESEARCH CAREER ACCELERATOR
Get funded. Get published. Get promoted.
Support to clear your calendar, focus on idea generation, and assemble the right people and resources to make your work fundable.
We showcase exemplary practices of investigators who have secured major grants, been published in top journals, and advanced to leadership roles.
This program is designed for dissemination purposes, ensuring that best practices and research findings are shared broadly to promote effective teamwork and scientific advancement.
Best for: Early- and mid-career researchers
MENTORSHP & MANAGEMENT MASTERY
Make collaboration your leadership advantage.
Troubleshoot and refine your team's approach to align people and processes, meet project milestones, and sustain scientific success.
The Team Science Suite Toolkit helps identify factors that drive effective teamwork and project success.
Supports team dynamics to foster creativity, productivity, and deliverable-driven outcomes.
Best for: Lab managers, PI-track faculty, and cross-functional leaders
SCIENTIFIC LAB ACCELERATOR
For scientists managing $1M+ missions.
Learn how to embed team science principles into your cross-disciplinary and multi-site proposals, shaping collaboration from start to finish.
The Team Science Suite facilitates interdisciplinary teamwork and effective communication training. It is also highly applicable and beneficial for teams across various industries, not just science or healthcare, supporting collaboration in professional services, business, and global teams.
Best for: Mid-career scientists, large-team PIs, and center leads
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Protect Your Energy. Align the Work. Lead with Presence.
Protect Your Energy. Align the Work. Lead with Presence.
Research on Integrative & Interdisciplinary Teamwork
Interdisciplinary teamwork stands as a cornerstone of high performance in today’s most innovative organizations. Dr. Maritza Salazar Campo, a leading authority in team science, has demonstrated how bringing together diverse expertise from across disciplines is essential for tackling the complex challenges faced by professional services firms, healthcare organizations, and beyond. Her research delves into the intricate dynamics of teams, identifying factors that drive collaborative excellence, psychological safety, and inclusion—key ingredients for overcoming job strain, task complexity, and cultural distance.
Supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Salazar Campo’s research program has yielded groundbreaking insights into how interdisciplinary teamwork enhances team performance and organizational effectiveness. As a longtime partner of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), she has influenced the creation of activities sponsored by the Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP), advancing education, training, and dissemination purposes that benefit teams and organizations across various industries.
Dr. Salazar Campo’s invaluable contributions have been recognized with numerous civic awards and by the OC Business Journal, which named her among the OC 50 shaping the future of healthcare in Orange County. At the Paul Merage School of Business, where she is an esteemed Assistant Professor of Teaching in Organization and Management, she leads research and teaching initiatives that inform science and practice, enhancing community engagement, public health, and environmental research.
Her evidence-based training interventions and curricula have improved collaboration and performance in medicine, data science, and professional services, supporting leaders and teams as they navigate the demands of job strain, task complexity, and cultural distance. As a sought-after consultant and advisor, Dr. Salazar Campo empowers organizations to foster collaborative excellence and psychological safety, enabling teams to thrive even under the most challenging circumstances.
Dr. Salazar Campo’s research has been published in prestigious outlets such as the Oxford Handbook and featured in international journals, underscoring the global relevance of interdisciplinary teamwork in driving innovation and progress. Through her leadership of the Latinx Initiative at the Paul Merage School of Business, she champions diversity and inclusion, promoting academic and professional advancement for Latinos in both for-profit and non-profit organizations.
Looking ahead, the future of team science and interdisciplinary teamwork is bright.
Dr. Salazar Campo’s ongoing work continues to pave the way for new discoveries and innovations, enhancing our understanding of how teams and organizations across various industries can achieve collaborative excellence and lasting impact.
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