August 2013
Consortium of Academic Programs in Clinical Research
Newsletter
2013 Annual Meeting Minutes – 10 Year Anniversary
June 26, 2013- at Drug Information Association
Current Officers
President (2013-2014)
Carolynn Thomas Jones,
MSPH, RN
cjthomas@uab.edu
University of Alabama at
Birmingham, School of
Nursing
Treasurer (2013-2015)
Marjorie Neidecker
Marjorie.neideker@osumc.
edu
Ohio State University
Meeting Attendees: Joan Butler, George Washington University; Bernie Cohen, CAAHEP;
Esther Daeman, ACRP; Michael Drues, Industry; Barbara Gladson, Rutgers University,
Secretary CoAPCR; Sue Fish, Boston University; Brenda Jamerson, Campbell University; Greg
Koski, ACRES; Joao Massud, Federal University S Paulo Brazil; Lisa Palladino, Rutgers
University; Raymond Panas, George Washington University; Jim Parmentier, Rutgers
University; Bill Pickard, Campbell University; Peter Rheinstein; Anju Shrestha, Student at
Rutgers University; Sandy Shire, Arizona State University; Honorio Silva, IFAPP; Stephen
Sonstein, Eastern Michigan University, Treasurer CoAPCR; Mary Tobin, ACRES; Sameer
Thapar, Rutgers University; Carolynn Thomas Jones, University of Alabama at Birmingham
School of Nursing, President CoAPCR; Jim Thomasell, ACRP; Matthew Whalan, ACRES;
Lawrence Stern, Merck; W. Thomas Smith, University of Florida; Sara Perkel, Drexel Univ.
Remote attendees: Paul Beninger, Regina Ponder, Gateway Community College.
I.
Welcome and Introductions: Carolynn Thomas Jones, President, CoAPCR and
faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, opened the meeting, welcoming
faculty members from CoAPCR member institutions and potential new CoAPCR
members. She also welcomed visitors from industry, ACRES, ACRP, DIA and IFAPP.
Carolynn noted that this meeting commemorated a 10 year anniversary for CoAPCR,
noting the beginnings of the group in 2003 with a gathering at DIA that included:
Steve Sonstein (Eastern Michigan University), Tony Dren and George Turner (Duke),
Carlton Hornung (Univ of Louisville), Richard Day (Univ of New South Wales),
Margaret Skelton (George Washington U), Elliot Sogol (Campbell Univ) and Ken Getz
(Tufts). She gave a brief overview of CoAPCR accomplishments since last year,
gaining acceptance from CAAHEP of CoAPCR and the clinical research professions;
contributions to harmonized core competencies in clinical research and new
strategic alliances. Additional details of those accomplishments were highlights of
the agenda and are summarized below.
II.
Invited Speaker: Jim Thomasell, Executive Director of ACRP discussed ACRP’s
career development pathway that will be headed by Esther Daemen. They have
surveyed their members and found that individuals want 1. Content that is
accessible anywhere in the world; 2. Content that is affordable; 3. Content that is
engaging and relevant; and 4. Content that is updated regularly. ACRPs key focus in
education will focus on three main content aims: Human Subject Protections; Data
Quality, and Regulatory Compliance. Also based on survey results, members want to
establish clear job roles that are standardized across institutions and the profession.
To accomplish this, ACRP is working with other stakeholders to establish
competencies through the newly formed Task Force on Clinical Research
Competencies, which CoAPCR is a member. From the competencies that have been
establish to date, they have developed learning domains. These learning domains
will then become the focus of their continuing education process and certification.
The content areas include human subject protection, integrity of data, and
regulatory compliance. Courses will be offered in these areas at variable
Instructional Levels: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Career development
pathways are being developed for the CRC, CRA and PIs. Discussions are underway
with ACRP to define best pathways for CoAPCR students to gain certification
“experience credit” as they complete their degrees.
Secretary (2012-2014)
Barbara Gladson, PhD
Barbara.Gladson@shrp.
rutgers.edu
Rutgers University
The Consortium of
Academic Programs in
Clinical Research (CoAPCR)
is an independent, nonprofit corporation whose
mission is to:
- Provide a medium of
communication among
educators of clinical
research professionals
- Support the
development and
maintenance of clinical
research education
programs
- Foster collaboration
between educational
institutions, clinical
facilities, professional
associations and
industry.
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2013 Annual Meeting Minutes
Continued
“Individuals want clinical
research courses that are
accessible, affordable,
engaging and content
relevant. ACRP is
dedicated to 3 key
content aims: human
subject protection, data
quality and compliance
with regulations.”
III.
Update on Core Competencies- Dr. Steve Sonstein, Treasurer and Professor,
Eastern Michigan University, discussed the efforts of the Joint Task Force on
Clinical Trial Competency comprised of over a dozen organizations including the
Multi Regional Clinical Trials Initiative (Harvard), CoAPCR, the Clinical Trials
Transformation Initiative (CTTI/Duke), Alliance for Clinical Research Excellence and
Safety (ACRES), ACRP, MAGI, Transcelerate, CITI and others. The mission is to
harmonize core competencies in clinical research which will have impact on
education, training, job descriptions, and even certification of clinical sites. Each
stakeholder has their own specific interests, but the commonality is
standardization of the competencies to benefit the clinical research enterprise
and public health. Both Steve and Carolynn have been participating with the task
force. The group is expected to present their work at the next MAGI conference in
October, 2013 in Las Vegas. Once their competencies are published, the
Consortium can begin to finalize the core competencies with our accreditation
documents, and begin the more difficult task of dealing with the fact that our
programs have slightly different emphases and some award associate degrees
while others award Bachelors, Masters, or PhDs.
IV.
Update on Accreditation- Dr. Steve Sonstein, Chair of the Council on
Accreditation (CoA) being formed by CoAPCR. He reviewed the expected
organizational structure of our future CoA. The CoA is expected to be a separate
independent body with its own 501c3 status. It will be charged with developing
the accreditation standards and conduct site visits. This committee will be made
up of several stakeholders including individuals from academic institutions as well
as some from industry. The CoAPCR CoA, when fully formed, will pay $3000.00/yr
to CAAHEP and provides one member to sit on the CAAHEP Board. Currently
Steve Sonstein is the CoAPCR representative to the CAAHEP Board. The CoA will
be soliciting “Supporting Organizations,” those involved in hiring our graduates, or
even some academic institutions to join this status of CoAPCR membership for an
annual fee of $1000.00. All Supporting Organizations can nominate a
representative to sit on the CoAPCR CoA. A representative of CAAHEP, Dr. Bernie
Cohen, attended our meeting today and a meeting of the Accreditation
Committee on June 25th. There were several questions regarding how to develop
one set of standards for programs that are somewhat different in scope and
mission. A process will be developed to outline how sites can apply standards
(competencies) to curriculum and courses.
V.
ACRES Update- Dr. Honorio Silva (IFAPP/ACRES) presented an update on ACRES
and discussed their mission, goals and objectives. Their goal is to bring together
various stakeholders to build a global clinical research system that would be
connected by standardized policies, have staff that is certified as well as
developing a mechanism to certify research sites. For more information on this
initiative, please see www.acresglobal.net.
VI.
Business Meeting: Steve provided a treasurer’s report. Jim Parmentier and Sara
Perkel are working on revisions to the Bylaws and will present those during future
teleconference meetings. Marjorie Neidecker, Ohio State University, has been
nominated as Treasurer. Cris Wells, Arizona State University and Marjorie
Neidecker, Ohio State University will assume website responsibilities. Carolynn is
working on a revised member directory and will provide website details to Cris
and Marjorie.
-Jim Thomasell, Executive
Director, ACRP
CoAPCR Updates
are found at
http://www.coapcr.org
TIME TO
RENEW!
 Update your
Membership
Information
 Pay Annual Dues
 Notify us of new
programs
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2013 Annual Meeting Minutes
Continued
VII. Membership: Now is the time for member renewals. Please utilize the membership
form in our website to renew your membership. Institutional costs of membership
remains at $100 per year. Our fiscal year is from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. All
faculty from your member institution are eligible to participate in CoAPCR
Teleconferences , service and meetings. Each institution has a single vote on key issues.
We want to know your faculty, so please share details of your faculty names, email,
phone contact and websites so that we can be sure to represent you fully on our
website. Also, each CoAPCR faculty is encouraged to send reference lists that include
your scholarly work on clinical research education, collaborations and research
operations. This website is an additional place for you to feature your scholarly work in
our field.
VIII- Upcoming Conferences: CoAPCR values collaboration with the various
organizations that represent the clinical research profession. Our members have
traditionally been quite active, especially at professional meetings and several
opportunities exist for our students to participate and take advantage of the careerbuilding and professional learning opportunities that these meetings provide. Students
are encouraged to submit abstracts for poster presentations at DIA and ACRP and several
have actively participated in the past. MAGI is now collaborating with COAPCR and
sponsoring an upcoming writing/professional presentation contest for students. This is
meant to encourage membership, increase poster submissions and meeting attendance
by students and will be an important link to their future professional endeavors. We
model that and we support it. Please be sure to E-mail students and include
announcements as they are released- to your course home-pages.
IX- Next CoAPCR Teleconference: Friday, September 13, 2013 at 11:00 AM EST.
You may link to this call here (please test your connection in advance):
https://uab.wimba.com/launcher.cgi?room=_uab_s__254654_1_428041
SoCRA 22nd Annual Conference.
New Orleans, LA Sept 27-29, 2013
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