Research team supports professional development of clinical research coordinators
Understanding career orientation allows individuals to grow. Administrators and investigators also benefit from understanding the concepts of career orientation to better support the professional development of clinical research coordinators (CRCs).
The Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance CTSA, an Emory-led statewide partnership between Emory, Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia Tech and UGA, focuses on transforming the quality and value of clinical research and translating research results into better outcomes for patients. CTSA recently announced it will use the results of a career training and development study conducted by three professors and their team in the College of Education's department of career and information studies. A five-year, $2.54 million grant was award to the Georgia CTSA Translational Workforce Development program by the National Institutes of Health, with UGA receiving $1.47 million.
The team, led by primary investigator and professor in the department of career and information studies Ike Choi, with Co-PIs and professors Jay W. Rojewski and Janette Hill, completed the study of underlying career orientation types of CRCs using cluster analysis, grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group are more similar to each other than to those in other groups. The web-based survey was administered to CRCs employed in four research institutions in the southeastern U.S.
"The research provides a way to deepen our understanding of how to empower health professionals in their chosen and future career paths. It also enables us to support the recognition of the important contributions made by clinical health professionals as they work on clinical trials," said Hill.
The Georgia CTSA is one of more than 50 in a national consortium striving to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. The consortium, funded through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and the National Institutes of Health's Clinical and Translational Science Awards, shares a common vision to translate laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, engage communities in clinical research efforts and train the next generation of clinical investigators.