Appetizers

Starting with some basics.

Fun Starters

Getting to know the human side.

Main Course

A quick deep dive into the day-to-day job.

Tell us about yourself and your job.

Post-grad, I moved to South Korea for a year to teach English to do something completely off the beaten path and give myself a challenge, rather than starting the 9-5 grind straight out of college.

After I came back to California, my first full-time job in my field was as a Clinical Research Coordinator at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, running clinical trials for pediatric rare diseases. I am currently on the industry side of clinical research, working in clinical operations at an oncology biotech. My job now is to support the execution of clinical trials for cancer treatments.

How did you end up in your field? What do you like about it?

I didn't actually understand what clinical research was until my stepmother told me that she thought I would be a good fit for it while in college. Fortunately, both my stepmother and my brother work in pharma so I had a good amount of exposure to the field, which I believe subconsciously put the bug in my ear.

When I was looking for a job after my gap year in Korea, I actually thought the job listing for a Clinical Research Coordinator sounded really interesting when I came across it since it involved interfacing with patients, but still having breathing room to do desk work instead of being 100% clinical. My motivation comes from the proximity to the sick people that truly need the kind of help that doesn't even necessarily exist yet, and the knowledge that the research and development of experimental treatments I'm working on contributes to their quality of life and survival.

What does a typical morning look like on the job?

Depending on the morning, I could be taking a meeting with the CRO (Contract Research Organization) that my team works with that helps monitor the clinical study I'm on. Several members of the CRO team are located in Europe since we have clinical study sites globally, so due to the time difference, meeting times are often first thing in the morning. If there aren't any morning meetings scheduled, it's a pretty mundane routine of answering emails and following up on action items.

Cool, then what does a typical afternoon look like?

The afternoon slows down a bit sometimes, but I use that time to do some training or work on any health promotional meetings, emails, working on the action items I'm tasked with. Afternoons are generally more productive since I'm not as distracted by pings from coworkers and my brain is more functional, so I try to do tasks that require more heavy brain lifting then.

What types of projects and meetings are you involved in?

It's somewhat project-based since I primarily work on one specific clinical trial. Thus all of the activities that are part of my job go towards supporting the execution of that trial, the overarching "project".

Who do you collaborate with within meetings and projects?

Internally: Drug Safety, Data Management, Pharmacokinetics, Tech Ops, Regulatory, Medical Writing, Quality Assurance, Trial Master File, Biostats, etc. All of these functional groups have their own role in the management and success of a clinical trial.

Externally: the CRO we contract to monitor the study sites, vendors (ex. imaging, central lab, IP (Investigational Product) supply, etc.

We have standing biweekly meetings with the internal study execution team, and standing meetings with external vendors to keep the study on track with the protocol. Otherwise, depending on what stage the trial is in, ad-hoc meetings could also pop up to address specific issues.

Dessert

Now for some juicy insights in the tea room.

What's the most challenging thing about your job?

Clinical Operations require having a thumb on so many different moving parts of the study, that sometimes it can get overwhelming to keep track of every one of them. Unlike other groups that could primarily focus on one area, my team has to know what each functional group is working on at any given time.

What are some characteristics that can help someone succeed in your role?

Strong organizational skills are a must-- it's honestly basic to be intensely organized in clinical research. Being able to use Excel to manage trackers is also important, especially in ClinOps, as is documentation. In clinical research, if it isn't documented, it didn't happen so you get used to putting your initials/date on everything.

Any advice on how to stand out and get hired for those just starting off?

My role currently isn't entry-level, but to get successfully started in clinical research requires attention to detail and the motivation to elevate the quality of life for patients.

What's something that surprised you about your job?

How genuinely awesome the people in clinical research are. It's impossible to work in this field and not care about sick people who need help. A job can become unbearable not necessarily because of the role itself, but rather if the people you work with are unbearable. I feel extremely blessed to be in a field where people automatically have passion for what they do since that then affects the quality of work being produced and attitudes towards other team members.

Any last thoughts, advice, or recommendations for someone who wants to do what you do?

Clinical research has many different facets to it-- you could be at the site level working with the patients directly and seeing their treatment firsthand, or at the CRO level where 90% of the job is traveling and auditing site data, or at the sponsor level where you're able to look at the big picture of the trial and have a higher-level view of the results. Depending on the level of proximity you want to have with patients, there is definitely a space for everyone.

Drinks

Chat more over coffee or tea?