University of California, Irvine launches new Clinical Research Certificate Program

University of California, Irvine today announced the launch of its new Clinical Research Certificate Program. In order to close the widening gap between the rapid expansion of biomedical discoveries and the application of those discoveries in a clinical environment, UC Irvine School of Medicine developed the program in partnership with UC Irvine Extension to equip medical industry professionals with the academic knowledge, technical skill and critical thinking ability necessary to understand and evaluate clinical studies and translate clinical research into practice. Available for the first time this fall quarter, registration is currently open.

"Conservatively, the combined NIH budget for clinical research and comparative effectiveness research exceeds $13 billion. Yet there is an acute shortage of people with clinical expertise who are trained in clinical research," said Sherrie Kaplan, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Healthcare Measurement and Evaluation and Professor of Medicine at UCI. "This shortage handicaps both the speed of medical discovery, and subsequent improvements in patient care."

"In addressing this industry shortfall with a program that provides students with the foundational skills and techniques necessary to work in the clinical research enterprise, we affirm our commitment to the advancement of health care," added Dave Dimas, Ph.D., director of engineering sciences and information technology at UC Irvine Extension.

Instruction of all courses in this new certificate program will be conducted by UC Irvine School of Medicine faculty to ensure an ideal learning environment for practicing physicians, junior faculty in clinical departments, fourth year medical students and others who are interested in the conduct, interpretation and implementation of clinical research as applied to a broad spectrum of clinical issues and settings. Benefits of this program include a flexible schedule that includes evening and weekend and online courses and a program certificate upon completion.

The Certificate Program in Clinical Research Courses includes:

• Introduction of Medical Statistics (Offered Fall 2010) - Participants will develop an understanding of the statistics commonly used in medicine to enable clinicians and those interested in clinical research to read and interpret the medical literature critically, to identify appropriate statistics for basic research designs used in medicine, and to discriminate between appropriate and inappropriate statistical applications of common research designs.
• Design and Analysis of Clinical Trials (Offered Winter 2010) - Participants will survey the history, organization and planning, rational for, methods, limits ethics and practical issues involved in the conduct of clinical trails. The impact of clinical trails on the practices of medicine, national policy and public opinion will also be explored.
• Introduction to Clinical Epidemiology (Offered Spring 2011) - This course will examine the role of clinical epidemiology in clinical and public policy, and the changing patterns of community health problems-including the changing nature of and risk factors for infectious and chronic diseases.
• Ethics in Clinical Research (Offered Spring 2011) - Course participants will develop the ability to identify, articulate and analyze ethical issues arising from public health, and to formulate critical and well-reasoned ethical arguments. This course will also provide students with the historical background, current regulations and IRB requirements related to human subjects' protection issues.

UC Irvine Extension's Certificate Program in Clinical Research is developed by a highly qualified board committed to providing participants with timely industry developments and training. To learn more or to sign up for the Certificate Program, visit http://unex.uci.edu/certificates/life_sciences/research/ or call 949-824-3425.