The new Undergraduate Certificate in Clinical & Translational Science (CTS) is set to launch this upcoming fall semester.
The undergraduate certificate program will be offered through the UC College of Medicine. The competency-based program is geared towards current UC undergraduates and requires four courses that will introduce students to critical CTS topics such as Good Clinical Practice, participant recruitment, data collection and management, study site management, clinical trials, research ethics, regulatory processes, project management, and team science.
The program includes two paid internship experiences: one as a patient care assistant at the UC Medical Center and a second one as a clinical research assistant at UC or CCHMC. The goal of the program is to prepare graduates to enter the workforce as clinical research professionals (CRP).
Students who are interested can visit the website to learn more (fall applications are due July 1, 2024), and research units who are interested in hosting student interns should contact the Program Director, Dr. Jackie Knapke (Jackie.Knapke@uc.edu), or Associate Director, Michelle Marcum (Michelle.Marcum@uc.edu).
The certificate program was created as an initiative by the education group within the UC CRP taskforce. The taskforce was established at UC to improve the state of CRPs across the institution. A publication resulted from their work:
Knapke JM, Marcum M, Mendell A, Ryan PH. Development of an undergraduate certificate in clinical and translational science: Improving competence of the clinical research workforce. Frontiers in Pharmacology, November 2023. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1294534