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Clinical Research Associate

Clinical trial associates help conduct clinical trails that evaluate the safety and effectiveness of new treatment interventions or compare the effectiveness of new treatments to current best practices or other control groups.

Clinical Research Associates & Coordinators affect every man, woman, and child in some way, whether now or in the future, as this type of research determines most options available for physicians to treat a patient. Clinical trials are required for every type of drug to treat every type of disease.

In many medical settings, three types of clinical trials are usually conducted. These are called Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III trials and are administered in sequence to learn more about a given treatment intervention. Several steps or phases of clinical research must occur before a large-scale Phase III study is implemented. A Phase IV trial is a post-approval study and can be a long-term follow-up of a treatment that was previously found to be effective, a post-marketing surveillance study, or a study to learn more about the treatment.

Phase I trials are the initial clinical trials in humans. The major objective of a Phase I trial is to evaluate the safety of a new treatment, including excess toxicity and side effects. The objective of a Phase II trial is to determine whether a specific treatment is effective enough to warrant further study, usually if the new treatment appears potentially better than the existing best treatment. Phase I and II trials are relatively small, involving approximately 20-50 patients, and usually all patients are given the new treatment intervention.

A Phase III trial is almost always a randomized trial (by chance alone assigning patients to a treatment group), comparing a new treatment to the current best treatment or other control group. Such a trial can be quite large, including 100 to several thousand patients, and could take place at several centers. Randomization is used to ensure that patients given the two treatments are as alike as possible (for example, in age and health), the only differences between them being the treatment they are given. The Phase III trial is much more definitive due to the larger number of patients, the randomization process, and the multiple centers participating.

Educational Requirements

A bachelor's degree in the biology and chemistry fields can qualify a student for career in Clinical Research.

Salary Information 2023

According to salary.Com, the average salary for a Clinical Research Associate in 2023 was $64,785.

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Information retrieved from Salary.Com: Clinical Research Associate.

Research Associate Program

The Emergency Medicine Research Associate Program (EM-RAP) is a key component of the UAB Emergency Medicine research infrastructure. The EM-RAP consists of specially-trained Research Associates (RAs) who maintain a presence in UAB emergency departments to assist investigators and clinical research staff with recruitment of research participants. The EM-RAP fulfills the infrastructure necessary to carry out NIH-funded randomized controlled clinical trials, clinical and epidemiologic research studies and public health service initiatives. EM-RAP RAs receive extensive training and orientation to operational workflow of the UAB EDs and how to interact with clinicians and nurses across UAB Hospital. Research Associates record and maintain data associated with various research protocols, and assist the clinical research study team in determining patient eligibility by confirming enrollment inclusion and exclusion criteria with existing clinical staff.

Interested in being an RA?

Requirements:

1 year commitment

Minimum of 20hrs per week depending on shift availability

2 years of undergraduate courework in public health, pre-medical/health-related sciences track OR 4 year undergraduate degree with plans to seek graduate-level training in medicine, nursing, public health, or related field

Currently enrolled in graduate program or completing final semester of undergraduate studies

Detail-oriented, capable of multi-tasking in fast-paced clinical environments and consistently demonstrate copmpassion and respect for hospital patients

Duties & Responsibilities:

Recruit and enroll patients in clinical trials and other projects according to the study protocol based on defined criteria

Interact with treating physicians and nurses to coordinate research procedures without disrupting routine healthcare services

Interact with research subjects and/or their family members to provide general information concerning study protocols or to collect study data

Assist with completing regulatory paperwork and electronic data collection forms, including navigating hospiutal Emergency Medical Record (EMR) syustems to abstract and enter clinical study data

Work with patient care staff to collect biological specimens and deliver specimens to hospital laboratories

Contact participants by telephone to schedule follow-up appointments or complete post-discharge data collection tasks

Assist clinical research staff prepare for routine meetings and site monitoring visits, incluyding supporting efforts to resolve data discrepancies or other quality improvement tasks.

*Please note this is a paid position. 

If you are interested in becoming an RA for the UAB Department of Emergency Medicine, please fill out the interest form below and someone will contact you with more information.

Need to utilize our RAs?  Testimonials Contact Whitney Covington, MPH, MLS

Manager - Clinical Research Coordinationwcovington@uabmc.Edu

Physician Associate Studies

The physician associate studies program offers an amazing didactic experience, using modular learning concentration built around organ systems, which is offered within our new state-of-the-art clinical health science and wellness building.

Academic wing, lower-level inter-professional collaboration spaces. Innovation lab is at right. Large windows and the open floor plan bring in natural light.

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