Job Profile of a Clinical Trial Manager
Managing clinical trials is a vital part in developing new medicines. The most important responsibility of a manager of clinical trial is to ensure that the involved human subjects are safe. The trail outcome should be validated in comparison to the industry standards. The job requires the right aptitude and skills. The managers enable the senior management to oversee the project on clinical research. The job responsibilities of the manager of clinical trial would be decided by the head of the project.
Requirements
Academic
Training in the field of clinical research is important to get employment in the management of a clinical trial. You should be an undergraduate in life sciences like biology, chemistry, microbiology, biotechnology etc. A post-graduate degree in any one of these will be an added advantage. The post- baccalaureate certificate is a requirement if you are looking forward to getting employment as the manager of a clinical trial. The certificate should be administered by "Clinical Research Professional Academy". The guidelines for obtaining the certificate may vary from time to time. It is recommended that you go through the website of the academy for updated information on the current requirements and follow these guidelines. Besides these, you need to complete a minimum of six required courses along with an elective for getting the certification which will enable you to become a manager of the clinical trial.
Skill Set
As mentioned above the right aptitude and the ability to handle all the assigned responsibilities well is a necessary requirement as far as the job of a "clinical research manager" is considered. This is so because the outcome of the research depends very much on managing the trail effectively. He or she should be fluent in multitasking and able to manage people. For most part of their work, the managers will be directing people so the ability to manage co-workers is a necessary requirement.
Training
As mentioned above the candidate looking forward for a job in managing the clinical trials should complete a total of seven courses of which six are required and one would be elective. The training on these should be inclusive of research writing, site management, procedures for drug development, statistical analysis along with the clinical practices review. Besides you should also do a course on the required computer features like "Clinical Trial Management Systems" abbreviated as "CTMS". The oracle clinical is an example for such a system and is a necessity for becoming the manager of a clinical trial.
Prior Experience
Being experienced in setting up of a clinical trial would be an added advantage although it's optional. But in some cases lack of sufficient experience can be a barrier in obtaining the desired job despite having the necessary academic qualifications. To avoid the possibility of not getting the job, you have the option of joining a course which focuses on "observation study". These courses enable you to get an idea of how a trail progresses. Such trails will be managed by a professional and you are allowed to watch the complete process like you can do in an internship.
Employment Outlook
Career Prospect (globally)
With a collaborative environment, independent unique counterpoints that challenge the present theories which are based on existing studies can be possible. As a result the ideal people who can manage clinical trials can look forward to a career that is extraordinary and challenging and necessarily on a rise.
Job opportunities exist with device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, investigators, scientists, organizations focusing on clinical research and holders of NDA or IND. NDA refers to "New Drug Application" and IND refers to "Investigational New Drug Application".
Salaries
The median salary earned by a Clinical Trial Manager is $119,000 per year. The salaries for a manager of clinical trial vary depending on the organization. The payment is attractive from the first job itself. Pay packages inclusive of benefits are associated with reputed clinical research organizations.
Conclusion
An easier method to find employment as the manager of clinical trials is to post your bio-data along with browsing through the job opportunities in the website of the Academy of Clinical Research Professionals. There is a feature known as "job alert" which will enable you to receive updated information on the jobs available that match your profile. You also have the option of saving the jobs that you find suitable.
