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Appendix E
Discussion Paper1
Developing a Robust Clinical
Trials Workforce
Ann Bonham, Association of American Medical Colleges; Robert Califf,
Duke Translational Medicine Institute; Elaine Gallin, QE Philanthropic
Advisors; and Michael Lauer, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute2
INTRODUCTION
The gap between the growing demand for evidence to inform prac-
tice and our current state of knowledge calls for serious consideration
about the best approach to developing a workforce capable of meeting
those demands. As referenced in the discussion paper The Clinical Trials
Enterprise in the United States: A Call for Disruptive Innovation (Califf et al.,
2012), the clinical trials enterprise (CTE) is falling behind in the need for
evidence, especially in the United States. We envision a need for a clinical
research workforce organized in several dimensions that reflect the broad
missions of the CTE, the specific disciplines involved, and the level of
desirable expertise. The latter could range from broad participation in the
CTE to expert participation, and to conceptualization and research on
the methods employed by the CTE.
In addition, this workforce must be broadened tremendously to meet
the goal implicit in the creation of a true learning health system: the inte-
1 The views expressed in this discussion paper are those of the authors and not necessarily
of the authors’ organizations or of the Institute of Medicine. The paper is intended to help
inform and stimulate discussion. It has not been subjected to the review procedures of the
Institute of Medicine and is not a report of the Institute of Medicine or of the National
Research Council.
2 Participants in the activities of the IOM Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and
Translation. This discussion paper was presented in draft form at the Forum’s November
2011 workshop, Envisioning a Transformed Clinical Trials Enterprise in the United States:
Establishing an Agenda for 2020, and finalized by the authors following the workshop.
161
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162 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
gration of research and continuous learning into practice. However, the
more traditional arenas of mechanistic research and efficacy trials call for
specialized workforces that until now have all too often depended on ad
hoc, “on-the-job” learning, as opposed to the prospective training and
education that defines a mature discipline. Finally, the new field of com -
munity engagement requires special skills that blend traditional clinical
trials knowledge with social and organizational constructs.
The challenge is considerable, because most roles in clinical research
at their core involve human experimentation and require specific exper-
tise in a clinical or scientific discipline. Moreover, this expertise must
be augmented by focused training in the standards and principles that
undergird the conduct of particular types of clinical trials, which range
from small, intensive mechanistic studies to very large, community-based
interventions.
A Salutary Example: The Occluded Artery Trial (OAT)
One example of the need for broadening the discipline to include
medical practitioners is the recent OAT Trial, a cardiology study funded
by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In the 1990s, cardiologists
sought to understand how best to manage patients who survived the first
few days of ST-segment-elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI),
but with persistent total occlusions of their infarct-related artery. The
enormous benefits of rapid reperfusion in the acute phase of STEMI had
already been established in well-controlled clinical trials. Although the
detection of an occluded artery several days after the onset of the STEMI
would come too late for treatment to be effective in salvaging damaged
heart muscle, cardiologists wondered whether there might still be benefit
in deploying stents to open up the occluded arteries; the newly opened
arteries might supply blood to “watershed” areas at the edge of the infarct
zone, thereby reducing the risk of life-threatening arrhythmias and other
major events. Further, experimental evidence suggested that the infarction
might heal more effectively with perfusion.
Some investigators analyzed observational cohorts and found that
patients who were discharged with patent arteries did indeed fare better.
The “open artery hypothesis” was alive and supported by observational
evidence, so much so that for many cardiologists it became standard prac-
tice to ensure that their STEMI patients went home with an open artery.
However, some academic cardiologists questioned whether routine
post-STEMI stenting of persistently occluded arteries was of clinical value:
Did this practice actually improve clinical outcomes? With support from
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), they organized
OAT, a multicenter clinical trial in which patients would be randomly
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APPENDIX E
assigned to optimal medical therapy alone or to optimal medical therapy
combined with stent placement.
Although STEMI is hardly a rare condition, the investigators expe -
rienced enormous difficulty enrolling patients. Most of the American
hospitals they approached refused to participate, because domestic
cardiologists were convinced of the value of routine post-STEMI stent -
ing. By the time the trial was complete, nearly three-quarters of the
study participants enrolled were from research sites outside the United
States.
And the results of OAT were surprising. Contrary to expectations,
patients who were randomly assigned to stenting seemed to fare slightly
worse than those assigned to medical therapy alone. The results, which
were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Hochman, 2006),
led to rapid changes in cardiology practice guidelines. Yet, 5 years after
the OAT study was published, there has been little change in practice.
Many cardiologists continue to routinely deploy stents in stable post-
infarct STEMI patients, despite the absence of evidence of benefit (and
despite the evidence of absence of benefit), and in direct contradiction to
the clear recommendations of their own professional societies.
The OAT experience encapsulates what is wrong with how clinical
trials are perceived, implemented, and interpreted in the United States.
Relatively few U.S. patients participated, in large part because their Amer-
ican cardiologists were not engaged. As was discussed at a 2009 Institute
of Medicine (IOM) workshop, OAT also highlighted misaligned financial
incentives because physicians are focused on performing a high volume
of procedures, which creates a disincentive for them to refer patients to a
clinical trial to receive a procedure (IOM, 2009). Also, the lengthy timeline
to conduct a large, multicenter trial hinders medical learning and poten -
tial benefits to patients. The OAT trial took 10 years from hypothesis gen -
eration to completion. Even though the trial has been completed and its
results communicated, many American patients are not benefitting from
the findings, because their cardiologists have not changed their practices.
Nor is the OAT experience unique or even unusual; the difficulty experi -
enced across fields by American clinical trialists seeking to enroll patients
and engage practitioners is well documented.
Clinical Research: A Public Good?
Two years ago, Schaefer, Emanuel, and Wertheimer (Schaefer et al.,
2009) argued for a “cultural shift in the moral framework that is brought
to participation in research.” They suggested that clinical research should
be regarded as a “public good” in which all people stand to benefit,
whether they actively participate or not. But if research is a public good,
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164 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
people should then aim to participate in research unless there is a compel-
ling reason not to, “participation being a moral obligation for everyone
to do his part.”
Such a view may seem extreme. Should we go so far as to expect, not
just encourage, participation in research? But, in fact, evidence suggests
that the majority of Americans would be willing to participate if asked.
However, only 7 percent of American adults say that their doctors have
ever suggested that they participate in a clinical study (Charlton Research
Company, 2007). In one study of specialty physicians, one-third of phy -
sicians affiliated with an organization designed to support clinical trial
participation were not actively engaged in the research process (Klabunde
et al., 2011). In other words, many Americans would gladly participate,
but their doctors aren’t asking.
Some commentators have lamented that American doctors seem
to have little interest in science as a way to drive their practices. Even
doctors’ professional societies, which have some degree of scientific ori-
entation, routinely issue guidelines of which only a small proportion are
based on evidence from high-quality randomized trials, a point reinforced
by recent publications examining guidelines for cardiology (Tricoci et
al., 2009) and infectious diseases (Lee and Vielemeyer, 2011). Thus, the
paucity of physician and public engagement cannot be ascribed to our
knowing all the answers—we aren’t even a fraction of the way there.
In our view, the largest segment of the clinical trials workforce com-
prises all individuals—the general public—including the diverse commu-
nities and neighborhoods across the United States. Individuals should not
only participate in trials as volunteers but should be viewed as partners
in the clinical trials enterprise with the ability to mobilize their friends,
families, and communities to drive change. This segment of the workforce
has the important responsibility of working in partnership with clini-
cians to identify the important questions about care that need answers
through a clinical trial. The future of research might also be headed in the
direction of e-trials, where there are no investigative sites or physicians/
middlemen. Individuals with a smart phone or a computer can enroll in
an e-trial directly through a website. In this sense, individual patients
could truly become the largest segment of the clinical trials workforce. In
terms of training, the public should be educated as to the value of clinical
research and the link between clinical trials and improvements in care.
This broad-based appreciation and understanding of the value of clinical
research could be instilled via national public service announcements, key
opinion leaders and policy makers, and the greater integration of science
education, and specifically clinical research, in K-12 programs.
In partnership with the public, the next largest segment of the clinical
trials workforce would be, in some respects, no different from the clini-
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APPENDIX E
cal care workforce. In a true learning health system, every patient with
an incurable disease—and that is eventually most of us—would present
an opportunity for active learning. Each practicing clinician and his or
her consenting patients would be engaged in a massive tapestry of well-
designed trials that would enable all of us to answer real-world questions
in the most robust way possible: through randomization.
Some have argued that routine implementation of electronic health
records (EHRs) and large-scale registries would suffice. While these tools
would make observational research easier, they cannot by themselves
enable rigorous scientific evaluation of the most important clinical ques -
tions, which can only be properly addressed with randomization.
We view the ideal clinical trials workforce as one in which all clini-
cians think scientifically. When confronted with a clinical problem for
which definitive evidence is lacking, the clinician’s first thought should
be, “What good trial would apply here? How can my patient and I be part
of the solution?” Of course, effective deployment of EHRs with standard-
ized data elements would allow randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to
be done at a much lower cost by reducing or eliminating redundant data
collection, but unless knowledge generation is embraced as a fundamen -
tal component of practice, the gap between existing evidence and practice
needs will remain cavernous.
The ideal clinical trials workforce will be orders of magnitude larger
than its present size, because it will include nearly all of the 90 percent of
clinicians who currently are not part of the clinical trials enterprise. These
clinicians will embrace research as a critical, indeed morally impera-
tive, component of their work as medical professionals. They will work
closely with professional clinical trialists who implement clinical research
in the context of practice and will collaborate with them to prioritize,
design, analyze, and interpret the trials that will be embedded into their
practices. Of course, with a much larger proportion of American clinical
practitioners and patients participating in the trials, there will also be
an acute need for a larger workforce of professional trialists and clinical
research professionals (see Table 1: Core Competencies in Clinical and
Translational Research).
COMPETENCIES, FUNCTION, AND LOCUS
OF NEEDED WORKFORCE
Realizing the vision of a significantly expanded clinical trials work -
force will require major training efforts, both for new and veteran health
care workers. A core set of competencies, including principles of respon-
sible trials conduct and the fundamentals of study design, should be
part of training programs for most of the clinical trials and clinical care
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166 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
workforce,3 although the level of information provided would vary
depending on workers’ backgrounds and responsibilities. However, while
identifying core competencies may result in a better-informed workforce,
the complex nature of the CTE precludes a “one-size-fits-all” training
program. Developing a highly competent workforce will require instruc -
tion in two additional dimensions—discipline- and job-specific training
and education. In the team-based CTE (and, for that matter, clinical care)
environment of the future, training in teamwork and understanding
across disciplines will be needed. Facts can be learned interchangeably
by experts in different areas, but fundamental knowledge must be trans -
mitted in an effective manner.
Dimension 1: Defining the Workforce
In order to simplify this discussion, we have parsed the clinical trials
workforce of the future into five groups, beginning with a very broad-
based group and progressing to smaller, more focused workforce groups
(see Figure 1 for a schematic of the workforce groups):
• Group 1: Individuals from the community who understand, sup-
port, and participate in clinical trials (referred to as the public)
• Group 2: The clinical workforce who participate in trials as part of
their clinical practices (referred to as community practitioners)
• Group 3: Clinical trialists who devote specified portions of their
professional efforts to serving as principal investigators or col-
laborating co-investigators at clinical research sites, with primary
responsibility for implementing clinical trials at the level of a hos -
pital or research site (referred to as implementers)
• Group 4: Investigators who lead and design clinical trials, as well
as scientific experts who develop tools and innovative approaches
for conducting trials (referred to as investigators)
• Group 5: Academicians who explore the methodologies of con-
ducting clinical trials (referred to as methodologists).
3 “NCATS [National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences], in collaboration with
the CTSA [Clinical and Translational Science Awards] Education and Career Development
Key Function Committee, formed the Education Core Competency Work Group to define
the training standards for core competencies in clinical and translational research. The work
group’s final recommendations for core competencies include 14 thematic areas that should
shape the training experiences of junior investigators by defining the skills, attributes,
and knowledge that can be shared across multidisciplinary teams of clinician-scientists”
(https://www.ctsacentral.org/committee/education-and-career-development).
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APPENDIX E
The middle groups—investigators and implementers—will have many over-
lapping areas of competence, but the level of training (doctoral- versus
masters-level training) and scope of the discipline-specific expertise
needed to carry out their work is expected to be less for implementers
than for investigators (who design and lead trials), or for methodolo -
gists (who develop new approaches to the design, conduct, or analysis
of trials). Nonetheless, the workforce falling within either of these two
groups must be expanded considerably if the promise of universal partici-
pation in clinical trials leading to a health system founded on evidence-
based medicine is to be met.
The sections below outline the required training, responsibilities, and
locations in which the groups work.
Group 1: The Public. This workforce group comprises the nation as a
whole and includes all individuals in communities across the country.
Individuals consider research a public good and participate in studies
unless they have a compelling reason not to do so. Educating the public
and inspiring the concept of research as a public good requires strong
national leadership.
Group 2: Community Practitioners. This group comprises practitioners
who participate in trials as part of their clinical practice. Community prac-
titioners include primary caregivers (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, etc.)
and social service employees working at the community level. Their train-
ing needs to include an introduction to clinical trials as well as some of
the core competencies in translational and clinical research, as defined by
many of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) programs
(see Table 1: CTSA Core Competencies, p. 13). However, if CTSA-like
training materials are used, they will in some cases need to be simplified
to align with the skill-set of the targeted workforce. These workers are
typically found where primary and secondary health care are delivered.
Group 3: Implementers. This group is primarily responsible for implement-
ing clinical trials at the level of a hospital or research site. Implementers will
include physician-scientists, nurse-investigators, operations specialists, data
managers, computer specialists, pharmacists, social service personnel, and
others vital to the implementation of clinical trials. A major part of the imple-
mentation workforce will include clinical research coordinators (CRCs) and
professional research-site managers (RSMs) working within academic cen-
ters, contract research organizations, industry, hospitals, and large clinics.
As with Group 4 described below, Group 3 implementers receive both
discipline-specific specialty training and CTSA-style training in core com-
petencies for translational and clinical research. However, the level of the
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168 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
training for these personnel is likely to be more pragmatic (less concep-
tual) and training will likely require fewer years than that for the inves-
tigators in Group 4. For example, pharmacists, nurse-investigators, and
data managers making up a clinical trials implementation team do not
need to hold doctoral-level degrees, and many of these jobs are currently
accomplished by individuals with bachelors-level education coupled with
discipline-specific training offered by organizations such as the Associa-
tion of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP).
There is a critical need to expand this part of the clinical trials work-
force and improve its core competencies. In addition, in order to address
the need for recruiting more diverse patient populations and to accommo-
date the trend toward multinational clinical trials, this workforce expan -
sion needs to include an increase in worker diversity.
Group 4: Investigators. Personnel in this group are charged with leading
and designing clinical trials. The rubric “Investigator” also includes sci -
entific experts who develop tools and innovative approaches for conduct-
ing trials, and while there is overlap, it is useful to consider investigators
of specific projects as different from those who develop new methods
(Group 5 below). Investigators comprise MD-, MD/PhD-, and PhD-level
investigators from many different disciplines. This highly trained work -
force is needed not only to lead and design clinical trials but also to
advance the area of “Regulatory Sciences,” defined by the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) as “the science of developing new tools, standards
and approaches to assess the safety, efficacy, quality, and performance
of FDA-regulated products” (FDA, 2011). Advances in regulatory sci-
ences will require personnel with expertise in new technologies, including
imaging, cell and tissue engineering, and nanotechnology. In addition,
the current major shortage of biostatisticians and informaticists across
academic medicine, industry, and government must be addressed.
We expect that most persons falling within this category will need
extensive graduate and postgraduate training in discipline-specific areas
such as epidemiology, computational biology, and genomics, and/or
disease-specific areas such as cardiology and infectious diseases. In addi -
tion, the required scientific/clinical discipline-specific training can be
supplemented as needed by core training in translational and clinical
research offered through the CTSA. In order to effectively leverage scien-
tific opportunities and stimulate innovative approaches, the traditional
departmental training silos must be broken down to encourage investiga-
tors to train and work across disciplines.
Most investigators currently can be found within academic health sci -
ence systems (AHSSs), professional research sites, and community prac -
tices that conduct research, as well as in the pharmaceutical and medical
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APPENDIX E
device industries. A smaller number work at government agencies such
as NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and FDA; others
work with public–private partnerships such as the Medicines for Malaria
Initiative. In the future, more AHSSs will be transforming themselves into
integrated systems, enabling the efficient bridging of translational gaps
between discovery and health care. Such organizations will require many
more highly trained clinical trial investigators.
Group 5: Methodologists. This last group includes experts who perform
research on the methods and policies pertinent to clinical trials. This
relatively small yet substantial cadre of clinical investigators, biostatisti -
cians, epidemiologists, and health services researchers is vital to advanc -
ing clinical trials methods. These experts will be located within AHSSs,
government, research institutes, and some large industry groups with
capacity to fund protected time for research.
Dimension 2: Critical Disciplines
The second dimension of the workforce is the scientific discipline
in which the individual works. Our major thesis is that all health care
providers (practitioners) should be trained in the fundamentals of par-
ticipating in research and should be taught that knowledge generation
is a fundamental professional responsibility of health care delivery. This
extends not only to physicians and nurses, but also to physician assis -
tants, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, pharmacists, and other
providers. Any of these professions can produce either implementers or
investigators. Many of the investigators and methodologists will be epi-
demiologists, biostatisticians, and informaticists.
There is currently a critical shortage of biostatisticians and informati -
cists across academic medicine, industry, and government. Serious efforts
are needed in order to develop this segment of the workforce. The costs
of training this critical cadre of the workforce are small compared with
the overall research budget of the relevant funding organizations, and a
modest investment would have a multiplier effect on the quality of clini -
cal trials.
Dimension 3: Critical Competencies and Special Knowledge
The third dimension is competency and special educational knowl -
edge. In the team-based research environment of the future, much of the
material can be learned interchangeably by experts in different areas, but
the fundamental knowledge remains to be transmitted in an effective
manner.
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170 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS INFLUENCING WORKFORCE NEEDS
Demographic trends in diverse and aging populations, and the inter-
sections of these trends with systematic health disparities, are significant
factors affecting the development of a robust and diverse workforce that
will design, perform, and participate in clinical trials, as well as commu -
nicate research findings to all relevant populations.
Demographic Shifts
The U.S. Census Bureau projects 334 million people in the United
States by 2020, up from 310 million in 2010 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009).
By 2050, this number is expected to grow to nearly 400 million (assuming
net-constant immigration). As is well known, the ethnic composition of
the U.S. population is also changing, such that by 2050 no single ethnic-
ity will characterize a majority of Americans. Perhaps the most notable
shift will be the number of people identified in the U.S. Census as being
of Hispanic origin. This demographic group is expected to increase from
a current 16 percent of the population (49 million) to 19 percent (55 mil -
lion) in 2020, on a trajectory to include one in five Americans (70 million)
by 2025. All ethnicities tracked by the census will increase in absolute
numbers, although this increase will be to varying degrees considered as
a percentage of the population.
White persons not identifying as Hispanic or other ethnicities will
increase from 201 million to 204 million, but will decline from 65 percent
of the population to 61 percent by 2020. Black or African American non-
Hispanic persons will increase from 38 million to 41 million by 2020 (a
9 percent increase) but will remain about 12 percent of the total population
over the decade. The fastest growth continues to be among Asians and
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders (now classified separately), both grow-
ing by more than 20 percent from 2010 to 2020, although remaining under
5 percent and under 1 percent of the general population, respectively.
This changing racial and ethnic composition will also be accompa-
nied by the aging of the U.S. population. As underscored in recent news
reports, the first cohort of “Baby Boomers”—the generation of Ameri-
cans born between 1946 and 1964—reaches 65 years of age this year. The
number of Americans 65 and older, now 40 million (13 percent of the U.S.
population), will increase correspondingly, reaching 16 percent of the
population by 2020 and nearly 20 percent of the total population by 2025.
According to the Population Reference Bureau, more than 20 percent of
this 65-plus cohort will be grouped with the “oldest old”—persons ages 85
and older. Oldest-old persons will number 19 million by 2050—a number
greater than the populations of most U.S. states today (Population Refer-
ence Bureau, 2011). This aging of the general population is also largely
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APPENDIX E
a global phenomenon, at least for many developed nations. In fact, the
U.S. population of persons aged 18 and under will remain nearly stable,
decreasing slightly from a current 24.1 percent to 23.8 percent by 2020.
Other notable population factors, although too complex to consider
in detail in this discussion, include increasing variations in income dis -
tribution in the United States, as reported in recent communications on
the increase in the number of Americans living below the federally esti -
mated poverty line. These reports show troubling trends: recent economic
stresses have resulted in a 7 percent increase (to 31 million) in the number
of children living in low-income families. Childhood poverty may emerge
as an increasingly important determinant of clinical research needs in the
future.
Health Disparities
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has
defined a health disparity as a particular type of health difference that is
closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage.
As HHS notes:
Racial and ethnic minorities still lag behind in many health outcome
measures. They are less likely to get the preventive care they need to stay
healthy, more likely to suffer from serious illnesses, such as diabetes or
heart disease, and when they do get sick, are less likely to have access to
quality health care. (HHS, 2011)
Disparities identified by HHS relate to infant mortality, asthma, diabetes,
flu, cancer, HIV/AIDS, chronic lower-respiratory disease, cardiovascular
disease, viral hepatitis, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, kidney disease,
injury deaths, violence, behavioral health, and oral health (HHS, 2011).
The extent of these disparities as a pressing national health issue was
recently documented by the IOM (2004), and is the subject of many fed -
eral and independent initiatives (AHRQ, 2010), including a 2011 action
plan under the Affordable Care Act. One of the plan’s five goals is to
advance scientific knowledge and innovation relating to health dispari -
ties through data collection and promoting patient-centered outcomes
research. A second major goal focuses on improvements to workforce
development, including through
a new pipeline program for recruiting undergraduates from underserved
communities for public health and biomedical sciences careers, expand -
ing and improving health care interpreting and translation, and sup -
porting more training of community health workers, such as promotoras.
(HHS, 2011)
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172 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
Redressing health disparities will require both a more extensive network
for clinical trials and a workforce skilled in community engagement.
Clinical trials must be crafted to assess the effects of disparities for sepa -
rate populations, including by age (discussed below)—aspects that could
greatly complicate trial design and analysis. In order to gauge the impact
of health disparities on different populations and assess which interven -
tions are truly most effective for diverse communities, the national CTE
will need to engage in multisite trials covering broad geographic ranges
and including many provider organizations. Along with these challenges,
there is enormous potential for such research to improve the overall
health of the nation, especially where biological mechanisms support -
ing an intervention in one segment of the population are already well
understood, and may be adapted in a straightforward manner to other
populations.
The Burden of Disease Related to an Aging Population
The increasing size and proportion of the national population aged
65 years and older (and the growing subset of the population aged 85
years and older) present new considerations related to the burden of
disease. In the United States as elsewhere, a disproportionate share of
medical services is provided to older populations. We might thus expect
that older persons would be the subject of research aimed at providing
the best evidence of which therapies work best in the older population.
However, Zulman and colleagues have found that one in five trials exam-
ined excluded patients because of age, and nearly half of the remainder
included criteria that made participation by older subjects less likely. In
addition, fewer than 40 percent of trials examined reported results for dif-
ferent subgroups by age. A further complication is that older patients are
more likely to have chronic or other conditions unrelated to a trial’s topic
of study, which results in their exclusion. The combined result of these
factors is a shortfall in evidence to inform the optimal treatment of older
patients with multiple health conditions (Zulman et al., 2011).
For example, in 2011 an estimated 5.4 million Americans of all ages
had Alzheimer’s disease, 5.2 million of whom were age 65 or older
(Alzheimer’s Association, 2011). Without any breakthrough in preventing
or treating the disease and as the population of older persons increases,
between 11 million and 16 million people age 65 and older are projected
to have Alzheimer’s disease by 2050. Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and
older with Alzheimer’s disease and/or other dementias have tripled the
average Medicare costs of other beneficiaries. One estimate calculates
that in the absence of any new effective treatments, the cumulative costs
of care for people with Alzheimer’s disease from 2010 to 2050 will exceed
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APPENDIX E
$20 trillion in 2010 dollars (Alzheimer’s Association, 2010). The impact
of advances from clinical trials in this field alone could have enormous
economic consequences, and potentially could single-handedly bend the
health care cost curve in a more affordable direction.
Implications for a Clinical Trials Workforce
A diverse, inclusive workforce helps to build trust among diverse
research participants through outreach and engagement with communi-
ties. A diverse workforce can constitute the foundation for increased par-
ticipation in research by underrepresented groups, and can even change
the nature of the questions addressed by clinical trials.
Such a workforce strengthens the design, conduct, or support of clini-
cal trials. A professional commitment to focusing on particular areas of
disease, pursuing particular lines of research, or working with different
communities or populations is greatly determined by personal experi -
ence. A diversity of backgrounds helps ensure a sufficient range of expe-
riences, interests, and corresponding dedication among investigators to
address relevant topics for clinical trials in a population as diverse as the
United States’.
This is not to say that investigators and health workers should confine
their interests to communities where they live or grew up; in academic
settings, it appears to be the norm that clinical investigators and health
professionals cross broad cultural, social, and geographic boundaries
to conduct their research. But researchers uniformly cite their personal
backgrounds, experiences, and early motivations as critical to the later
development of their careers and as influential in their choice of the areas
of medicine they practice.
A key requirement, which is common to the scientific and medi-
cal research enterprise at large, is to ensure that talent and skills are
drawn from across all segments of the U.S. population. Despite a record
of rapid growth in public and private investment in medical research
up to the current decade, despite growing interests from minority and
international students in medical and health care fields, and despite many
notable instances of accomplishment by prominent minority scientists,
academic research has not succeeded in expanding the participation of
underrepresented groups, including African Americans and Hispanic or
Latino Americans in the research career pipeline. Nor has academic medi-
cine been notably successful in advancing or retaining minority scientists
within research careers. There are also notable disparities by gender in
recruitment, advancement, and retention of MD or PhD scientists, which
in one sense can exacerbate underrepresentation by some minorities for
whom women are more likely than men to earn baccalaureate degrees—a
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174 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
preliminary requirement for careers in science. Especially troubling is a
recent NIH analysis showing that even well-established minority scien -
tists are 10 percent less likely than other applicants to receive R01 research
grants, raising concerns that similar disparities might plague minority
scientists in applications for clinical trials (Ginther et al., 2011).
The failure to engage sufficient involvement of minorities in clinical
trials is exemplified in FDA’s recent approval of belimumab, the first new
drug for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus to be approved
in more than 50 years. In trials, belimumab relieved symptoms of lupus
in about 43 perecnt of patients receiving the active drug, compared with
34 percent of those receiving placebo. However, the trial did not dem-
onstrate significant benefit for African Americans, who have a higher
incidence of lupus than whites. According to press reports, FDA said that
there were “too few African Americans in the trials to draw a definitive
conclusion” (Pollack, 2011).
Finally, discussions related to the definition of the clinical trials
workforce could prompt examination of the question of “who” is
the workforce. Imagine, for instance, a future in which all citizens—
including all providers—view themselves as working hand-in-glove
with the clinical trials research workforce as part of a collective commit -
ment to improving the health of the nation.
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Report. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr10/nhdr10.pdf (accessed October 13, 2011).
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Hochman, J. S., et al. 2006. Coronary intervention for persistent occlusion after myocardial
infarction. New England Journal of Medicine 355:2395-2407.
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Diseases Society of America practice guidelines. Annals of Internal Medicine 171:18-22.
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aging-in-america.pdf (accessed October 13, 2011).
Schaefer, G. O., E. J. Emanuel, and A. Wertheimer. 2009. The obligation to participate in
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adults in randomized controlled trials. Journal of General Internal Medicine 26(7):783-790.
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176 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
TABLE 1 Core Competencies in Clinical and Translational Research
from the CTSA Education and Career Development Committee,
Education Core Competency Work Group
Core Thematic Areas Competencies
I. Clinical & • dentify basic and preclinical studies that are potential
I
translational research testable clinical research hypotheses.
questions • dentify research observations that could be the bases
I
of large clinical trials.
• efine the data that formulate research hypotheses.
D
• erive translational questions from clinical research
D
data.
• repare the background and significance sections of a
P
research proposal.
• ritique clinical and translational research questions
C
using data-based literature searches.
• xtract information from the scientific literature that
E
yields scientific insight for research innovation.
II. Literature critique • onduct a comprehensive and systematic search of the
C
literature using informatics techniques.
• ummarize evidence from the literature on a clinical
S
problem.
• escribe the mechanism of a clinical problem reviewed
D
in a manuscript.
• se evidence as the basis of the critique and
U
interpretation of results of published studies.
• dentify potential sources of bias and variations in
I
published studies.
• nterpret published literature in a causal framework.
I
• dentify gaps in knowledge within a research problem.
I
III. Study design • ormulate a well-defined clinical or translational
F
research question to be studied in human or animal
models.
• ropose study designs for addressing a clinical or
P
translational research question.
• ssess the strengths and weaknesses of possible study
A
designs for a given clinical or translational research
question.
• esign a research study protocol.
D
• dentify a target population for a clinical or
I
translational research project.
• dentify measures to be applied to a clinical or
I
translational research project.
• esign a research data analysis plan.
D
• etermine resources needed to implement a clinical or
D
translational research plan.
• repare an application to an institutional review board
P
(IRB).
continued
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177
APPENDIX E
TABLE 1 Continued
Core Thematic Areas Competencies
IV. Research • ompare the feasibility, efficiency, and ability to
C
implementation derive unbiased inferences from different clinical and
translational research study designs.
• ssess threats to internal validity in any planned or
A
completed clinical or translational study, including
selection bias, misclassification, and confounding.
• ncorporate regulatory precepts into the design of any
I
clinical or translational study.
• ntegrate elements of translational research into given
I
study designs that could provide the bases for future
research, such as the collection of biological specimens
nested studies and the development of community-
based interventions.
V. Sources of error • escribe the concepts and implications of reliability
D
and validity of study measurements.
• valuate the reliability and validity of measures.
E
• ssess threats to study validity (bias) including
A
problems with sampling, recruitment, randomization,
and comparability of study groups.
• ifferentiate between the analytic problems that can be
D
addressed with standard methods and those requiring
input from biostatisticians and other scientific experts.
• mplement quality-assurance systems with control
I
procedures for data intake, management, and
monitoring for different study designs.
• ssess data sources and data quality to answer specific
A
clinical or translational research questions.
• mplement quality-assurance and quality-control
I
procedures for different study designs and analysis.
continued
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178 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
TABLE 1 Continued
Core Thematic Areas Competencies
VI. Statistical • escribe the role that biostatistics serves in biomedical
D
approaches and public health research.
• escribe the basic principles and practical importance
D
of random variation, systematic error, sampling error,
measurement error, hypothesis testing, type I and type
II errors, and confidence limits.
• crutinize the assumptions behind different statistical
S
methods and their corresponding limitations.
• enerate simple descriptive and inferential statistics
G
that fit the study design chosen and answer research
question.
• ompute sample size, power, and precision for
C
comparisons of two independent samples with respect
to continuous and binary outcomes.
• escribe the uses of meta-analytic methods.
D
• efend the significance of data- and safety-monitoring
D
plans.
• ollaborate with biostatisticians in the design, conduct,
C
and analyses of clinical and translational research.
• valuate computer output containing the results of
E
statistical procedures and graphics.
• xplain the uses, importance, and limitations of early
E
stopping rules in clinical trials.
VII. Biomedical • escribe trends and best practices in informatics for
D
informatics the organization of biomedical and health information.
• evelop protocols utilizing management of information
D
using computer technology.
• escribe the effects of technology on medical research,
D
education, and patient care.
• escribe the essential functions of the EHR and the
D
barriers to its use.
• xplain the role that health information technology
E
(IT) standards have on the interoperability of clinical
systems, including health IT messaging.
• ccess patient information using quality checks via
A
EHR systems.
• etrieve medical knowledge through literature searches
R
using advanced electronic techniques.
• iscuss the role of bioinformatics in the study design
D
and analyses of high-dimensional data in areas such as
genotypic and phenotypic genomics.
• ollaborate with bioinformatics specialists in the
C
design, development, and implementation of research
projects.
continued
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179
APPENDIX E
TABLE 1 Continued
Core Thematic Areas Competencies
VIII.a. Clinical Research Ethics Competencies
VIII. Responsible
• ummarize the history of research abuses and the
S
conduct of research
rationale for creating codes, regulations, and systems
for protecting participants in clinical research that
requires community input.
• ritique a clinical or translational research proposal for
C
risks to human subjects.
• xplain the special issues that arise in research with
E
vulnerable participants and the need for additional
safeguards.
• etermine the need for a risk-benefit ratio that is in balance
D
with the outcomes in clinical and translational research.
• escribe the elements of voluntary informed consent,
D
including increasing knowledge about research,
avoiding undue influence or coercion, and assuring the
decision-making capacity of participants.
• ssure the need for privacy protection throughout all
A
phases of a study.
• ssure the need for fairness in recruiting participants
A
and in distributing the benefits and burdens of clinical
research.
• dhere to IRB application procedures.
A
• xplain how the structural arrangement of science and
E
the research industry may influence the behavior of
scientists and the production of scientific knowledge.
VIII.b. Responsible Conduct of Research Competencies
• pply the main rules, guidelines, codes, and
A
professional standards for the conduct of clinical and
translational research.
• dhere to the procedures to report unprofessional behavior
A
by colleagues who engage in misconduct in research.
• mplement procedures for the identification,
I
prevention, and management of financial, intellectual,
and employment conflicts of interest.
• pply the rules and professional standards that govern
A
data collection, sharing, and protection throughout all
phases of clinical and translational research.
• pply elements of voluntary informed consent, of
A
fostering understanding of information about clinical
research, and for avoiding undue influence or coercion,
and taking into consideration the decision-making
capacity of participants.
• xplain the need for privacy protection and best practices
E
for protecting privacy throughout all phases of a study.
• xplain the need for fairness in recruiting participants
E
and in distributing the benefits and burdens of clinical
research.
• xplain the function of the IRB.
E
continued
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180 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
TABLE 1 Continued
Core Thematic Areas Competencies
IX. Scientific • ommunicate clinical and translational research
C
communication findings to different groups of individuals, including
colleagues, students, the lay public, and the media.
• ranslate the implications of clinical and translational
T
research findings for clinical practice, advocacy, and
governmental groups.
• rite summaries of scientific information for use in the
W
development of clinical health care policy.
• ranslate clinical and translational research findings
T
into national health strategies or guidelines for use by
the general public.
• xplain the utility and mechanism of commercialization
E
for clinical and translational research findings, the
patent process, and technology transfer.
X. Cultural diversity • ifferentiate between cultural competency and cultural
D
sensitivity principles.
• ecognize the demographic, geographic, and
R
ethnographic features within communities and
populations when designing a clinical study.
• escribe the relevance of cultural and population
D
diversity in clinical research design.
• escribe cultural and social variation in standards of
D
research integrity.
• ritique studies for evidence of health disparities, such
C
as disproportional health effects on select populations
(e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, race).
XI. Translational • uild an interdisciplinary/intradisciplinary/
B
teamwork multidisciplinary team that matches the objectives of
the research problem.
• anage an interdisciplinary team of scientists.
M
• dvocate for multiple points of view.
A
• larify language differences across disciplines.
C
• emonstrate group decision-making techniques.
D
• anage conflict.
M
• anage a clinical and/or translational research study.
M
XII. Leadership • ork as a leader of a multidisciplinary research team.
W
• anage a multidisciplinary team across its fiscal,
M
personnel, regulatory-compliance, and problem-solving
requirements.
• aintain skills as mentor and mentee.
M
• alidate others as a mentor.
V
• oster innovation and creativity.
F
continued
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181
APPENDIX E
TABLE 1 Continued
Core Thematic Areas Competencies
XIII. Cross-disciplinary • pply principles of adult learning and competency-
A
training based instruction to educational activities.
• rovide clinical and translational science instruction to
P
beginning scientists.
• ncorporate adult learning principles and mentoring
I
strategies into interactions with beginning scientists
and scholars in order to engage them in clinical and
translational research.
• evelop strategies for overcoming the unique
D
curricular challenges associated with merging scholars
from diverse backgrounds.
XIV. Community • xamine the characteristics that bind people together
E
engagement as a community, including social ties, common
perspectives or interests, and geography.
• ppraise the role of community engagement as a
A
strategy for identifying community health issues,
translating health research to communities, and
reducing health disparities.
• ummarize the principles and practices of the spectrum
S
of community-engaged research.
• nalyze the ethical complexities of conducting
A
community-engaged research.
• pecify how cultural and linguistic competence and
S
health literacy have an impact on the conduct of
community-engaged research.
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182 ENVISIONING A TRANSFORMED CLINICAL TRIALS ENTERPRISE
Academicians Doing
Research on Clinical
Trial Methods and
Policies
Clinical Trial Investigators
Clinical Trial Implementers
All Health Care Providers
All Individuals
FIGURE 1 Workforce for a transformed clinical trials enterprise.
R02159
Figures 3-1 and E-1
vector, editable
