The Duke CTSI Workforce Development (WFD) debuted the Clinical Research Professionals (CRP) Roadshow this past spring. The roadshow is designed to expose students at colleges and schools throughout the southeast to the broad array of meaningful, well-paid work that’s available to them in the clinical research field. “Not every bio or math major can or wants to go to medical or graduate school,” said WFD co-lead Lance Okeke, MD, MPH. “We’re trying to communicate the message that you can put that degree to work right out of school in a field that has major impacts in health and health outcomes.”
The roadshow comprises panel discussions and breakout groups featuring an array of CRPs, from biostatisticians to regulatory coordinators to CRCs and PIs. These participants have come from a range of departments across Duke: DOCR, neurosurgery, oncology, infectious diseases, and biostatistics & bioinformatics. One panel even included two recent graduates from NCCU’s Clinical Research Sciences Program.
To date, there have been two tour stops: the first at Norfolk State University in Virginia in January and the second at NC A&T in Greensboro in April. “The students are great,” said Norfolk State panel participant Anna Thirakul, a research program leader in the Neurosurgery Clinical Research Unit. “They are actively looking for ways to get involved with clinical research and show up eager to learn and ready with poignant questions. You can sense their keen drive to accomplish big things.”
Plans are afoot for future roadshow stops at Virginia State University and NCCU. If you or anyone in your orbit is interested in joining a future panel, please contact Amanda McMillan (amanda.mcmillan@duke.edu) for more information.
