The George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ (SMHS) Department of Clinical Research and Leadership (CRL) has joined with the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) for its “Partners in Workforce Advancement” (PWA) initiative.
PWA is a new initiative to expand the clinical research workforce by bringing together a broad coalition of clinical research stakeholders focused on creating a sustainable workforce for the future.
Joan Butler, program director for clinical research administration in CRL at SMHS, notes that “the GW Department of Clinical Research and Leadership is committed to educating competent, qualified professionals for the workforce; we look forward to contributing to the PWA initiative to develop and promote successful approaches that attract, retain, and nurture the next generation of talented clinical research professionals to ensure a continued pipeline of innovative drugs, devices, in vitro diagnostics, and vaccines to meet patient needs."
As its flagship project, the PWA initiative will develop and implement an industry-wide campaign to increase awareness of clinical research as a career option among health care professionals and students.
“We are excited to partner with the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ Department of Clinical Research and Leadership on this critical initiative,” said Jim Kremidas, ACRP executive director. “We believe that in clinical research, people are everything. Without an adequate pipeline of diverse, qualified, competent professionals, our community will fail both to sustain the workforce and to improve the efficiency and quality of medical discovery.”
The clinical research enterprise continues to struggle with high turnover, quality, and performance variance, and a growing demand for more skilled, competent professionals. At the root of these issues is a lack of awareness of clinical research as a career option in the health care and life sciences communities.
“Organizations employing clinical research professionals of all types agree: the first step in creating a diverse and sustainable talent pool is to ensure that health care and life sciences students are aware of clinical research as a career option,” Kremidas said.
