capacity building

Context

Human research participants, the public, sponsors, and funders are comforted by the knowledge that clinical trials are not only ethical but overseen and regulated by experienced and competent professionals and conducted at qualified sites that have the necessary resources to ensure human research protections.

Challenge

The skills and experience of investigators and study staff, research ethics boards, regulators, coordinators, and data monitoring committees vary widely across the globe. Appropriate training and support for clinical research personnel, research ethics boards, regulators and others help ensure the ethical conduct of research and research integrity.

Experience

Training is one of the core strengths of the MRCT Center.  Complementary approaches are employed:

1. In-country, in-person dynamic trainings using a training model in which we partner with a local collaborator (e.g. academic leader, regulator, institution) to identify the appropriate topics that are of highest need, to select the trainees for the course, and to arrange on-site logistics
2. On-site trainings at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard, inviting key international leaders and regulators to participate.
3. On-line training resources and development of eLearning courses.

Attendees of our trainings have included regulators, investigators, site staff, local industry and ethics committee members.

The MRCT Center continues to build capacity for training on many different topics. 

projects in this focus area include:

Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCT) Training
Countries in which global trials are conducted benefit from experienced and trained regulatory authorities. The MRCT Center has been endorsed as a Training Partner of the International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) and as an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Center of Excellence (CoE) in the area of Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCTs) and Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Inspection. Read more.

Joint Task Force for Clinical Trial Competency
The MRCT Center co-led an effort to convene a group of diverse stakeholders to align and harmonize the many focused statements relating to core competencies for clinical research professionals into a single, high-level set of standards that could be adopted globally and serve as a framework for defining professional competency throughout the clinical research enterprise. The MRCT Center is now leading the Joint Task Force for Clinical Trial Competency to adapt and evolve the Framework to meet the needs of its stakeholders globally.   Read more

Causality Training
Safety assessments of an investigational product depend upon understanding of causality and the differentiation from correlation or association.  Assignment of causality or adverse drug reactions during a clinical trial is predicated on an accurate causality assessment and determination of whether the injury or death is related to participation in the trial and a consequence of the investigational product. The MRCT Center has developed causality training to improve accuracy and uniformity in causality determination for clinical trials.  Read more

Data Monitoring Committee Training
Countries in which global clinical trials are conducted are often underrepresented in the Data Monitoring Committees (DMCs) that oversee these trials. Recognizing the need for greater engagement from emerging economies, the MRCT Center created a training program aiming to engage motivated individuals to become DMC champions within their home country and to participate in DMCs for multi-regional clinical trials. Read more

Examples of Training Assets 

Past international trainings, in collaboration with local partners, have included:

Training Sessions