Areas of Study in Clinical Research

Students in clinical research must satisfy the general program requirements, however, these requirements allow broad latitude for specialization. The program faculty have defined several areas of training for emphasis within the clinical research concentration:
 

Clinical epidemiology can be defined as the application of the logical and quantitative concepts and methods of epidemiology to problems (diagnostic, prognostic, therapeutic, and preventive) encountered in the clinical delivery of care to individual patients. The emphasis is on training clinician researchers to conduct methodologically rigorous and scientifically sound studies that are grounded in the biology of their specific disease of interest (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease).

Creating and evaluating methodologies to improve quality of care and patient safety within our health care system has become a national priority.  A Certificate in Patient Safety offered in coordination with the Department of Industrial Engineering is available.

Students are encouraged to work with their academic advisor to define a selection of electives to meet particular needs and interests.  There are nearly limitless choices of challenging courses within the graduate offerings of departments in the University at large and these serve to enrich the interdisciplinary training for clinical research students. Students may be particularly interested in courses focusing on the design and analysis of clinical trials offered in the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, as well as the highly subscribed electives listed below in Courses.