The office of the Vice-Chair for Clinical Research was created to facilitate increased activity and leadership in the Department of Medicine (DOM) in the world of clinical trials and investigator-initiated patient centered research.
Clinical research is a rewarding adjunctive activity for faculty focused on delivery of clinical care, allowing our patient population access to new and highly promising therapies, furthering understanding of human disease, and through implementation science, transforming care delivery to improve outcome. A successful career in clinical investigation does not require an 80:20 model, as having patient participants from which to draw is a key component and busy clinicians, with the right infrastructure support, can be highly successful clinical investigators. Basic scientists may want to translate discoveries into human populations and our office can help with that as well. We can provide support to ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements, optimized study design, and that appropriate participants are targeted for your first-in-man studies.
To navigate the complicated world of human subjects’ research, the office of the Vice-Chair for Clinical Research is happy to announce the launching of our new webpage. The inaugural version of the webpage, is still early in development, but we look forward to building out the website with assistance from DOM investigators.
Important components of the work in our office include:
- Growing awareness of clinical research activity in DOM. We are launching the “Clinical investigator of the month” and “Clinical trial of the month” features. Nominate an investigator or a trial.
- Linking DOM investigators to key resources on the WashU campus. This is a work in progress, but if you have found a resource you believe has been critical to you or is important to disseminate more widely, help us build our resource library here.
- Beginning in 2024, we will begin work division by division to engage with clinical investigators on common needs and functions, including ensuring regulatory requirements are being met in the most compliant manner, negotiating optimal budgets that provide all necessary resources to conduct the planned research, and IRB submission services. Services being considered in individualized manners are assistance moving from a single-investigator to a group infrastructure, trial feasibility assessment, and operational management assistance. Do you have infrastructure needs in your clinical research program? We are happy to consult and provide advice and assess whether there are opportunities for the DOM centralized services to assist in program development. Input your needs for clinical research support here.
As noted above, the goal of the vice-chair’s office is to assist with career development in clinical research for faculty, particularly early career faculty. In concert with the Co-Director of the Office of Faculty Development, Dr. Milan Anadkat and the Vice-Chair for the Advancement of Women’s Careers, Dr. Rakhee Bhayani, efforts are underway to identify barriers to faculty career development, and target resources to help reduce such barriers.