Overview

The Case Western Reserve University Clinical Research Scholars Program (CRSP) is a flexible two-year Master's program designed to provide MDs and PhDs with rigorous didactic education in clinical research methods coupled with an in-depth mentored investigative experience. CRSP is designed to prepare a new generation of clinical investigators for leadership roles in academia, government, and industry. Training in clinical research and career development provides CRSP Scholars with an educational experience that prepares them to identify a research question and critically evaluate relevant literature; transform the question into a feasible and valid study design; develop and execute the study protocol; and analyze and effectively communicate the findings. The CRSP program consists of three parts: formal didactic modular and semester-long course work; a seminar series that focuses on communication skills required for career development, including manuscript and grant writing; and an intensive mentored experience centered on a specific clinical research problem.

Clinical Research Scholars Program (CRSP) Objectives

  

	To provide physicians, dentists, and nurses with rigorous, high quality, didactic education in clinical research methods coupled with an in-depth mentored investigative experience.
	To develop a new generation of clinical investigators for leadership roles in academia and industry.

 

The Clinical Research Scholars Program comprises formal course work that gives instruction in the basic tenets common to all fields of clinical investigation and an intensive mentored investigative experience that is centered on a specific clinical research problem. The didactic material provides the background information that permits the participating student to choose a research question that can be transferred into a feasible and valid study plan, develop a protocol using appropriate designs, analyze and disseminate the findings, and critically evaluate the literature. It is expected that individuals so trained can master fully the challenges in clinical investigation of the next decade, particularly the new translational opportunities being developed. As such, they should be attractive candidates for positions in clinical science departments, research institutes, or industry.

General Principles

Clinical research is viewed as a continuum that embraces studies involving interaction with patients, diagnostic clinical materials, patient-oriented data or populations in any of the following categories:

	translational research
	detection, diagnosis, and natural history of diseases
	therapeutic inventions including clinical trials
	prevention and health promotion
	behavioral research
	health services research
	epidemiology
	community-based and managed care-based research

Underlying this diversity is a common set of disciplines with which the modern clinical investigator needs to have working knowledge.

Training in clinical research and career development provides Scholars with education that permits them to choose a research question that can be transformed into a feasible and valid study plan, develop a protocol using appropriate designs, analyze and disseminate the findings, and critically evaluate the literature.

The training program consists of three parts: formal didactic course work; a longitudinal seminar series, and an intensive mentored experience centered on a specific clinical research problem.