Clinical Research Associates

A clinical research associate (CRA) will be involved in all the activities necessary to set up, monitor and complete clinical trials.  The minimum requirement for this role is usually a life science degree and most companies will give a period of induction training to give a good understanding of the company’s SOP’s (standard operating procedures).

In order to succeed as a CRA, you will need excellent communication and organisational skills, good time management, the ability to motivate others and attention to detail. This career sometimes involves a large amount of travel to different countries so fluency in other languages can be an advantage.

The areas that a CRA is involved in are:

• Selecting Clinical Investigators to carry out trials 
• Developing protocol and designing case forms for the trial 
• Dealing with Ethics committee and Regulatory Authorities applications and approvals 
• Visiting sites regularly, monitoring the recruitment of patients, ensuring the trial is being conducted as per the protocol
• Managing supply of medicines and documentation 
• Producing reports on the trial and archiving all the documentation from it