Learn about Careers in Clinical Research

What is a Career in Clinical Research?  

Learn about Careers in Clinical Research

This is a question that most people don't the answer to it and as a result don't know about careers in the field.  When I as a new college graduate, I didn't know this answer either.

I landed at a biotech company in San Diego, California and learned about this field.  I had gone to college at the University of California at San Diego, majored in biochemistry because it was a good pre-medical major, and planned to become a surgeon.  As time went on in college, I became more interested in art and even got a visual art minor.  Going to medical school meant for me giving up on ever being an artist given the time commitments to a medical career.

I graduated confused and felt like a failure because I did not know what I wanted to do with my life.  I had done an undergraduate internship in at an orthopedic research lab looking at cross sections of monkey muscle fibers that had atrophied during space flight.  It sounds great but the reality was hours of repetitive tasks not talking to anyone else in a lab that had no windows.  I knew from that I never wanted to do laboratory work as a career but what could I do with only a bachelor's degree in science?

Since I did not want to lab work, I had no other significant job skills and I also wanted to see if I could land some freelance art jobs even though I had no portfolio.  To make ends meet, I worked as a temporary office employee earning minimum wage up to $2 over it an hour.  One day I was placed as a local biotech.  They quickly realized I was much more capable than basic administrative tasks and kept giving me additional work responsibilities.  They even increased my pay by a $1 an hour.  I was engaged with my work, able to pay most bills, and had time to work on my art but it was still a financial struggle.

One day, a co-worker took me aside.  Dinah explained how she was a concert pianist but had found a way to have both a career and time for art through clinical research.  She said I should become a clinical research associate (CRA).  I had heard and seen the CRAs around the office but didn't really understand what their job role was other than they traveled regularly to medical clinics around the country for the research study.  I asked the different CRAs for informational interviews about their jobs.

I talked to about 5 CRAs but I remember most the conversations I had with two contract CRAs.  One was the sole provider for her family while her husband stayed home with the kids.  She noted that while she traveled, she would potentially put in 10 hour days, but the money she earned allowed her to take off time to not work during the summers and be with her kids.  Another CRA was a photographer.  He noted how in between jobs he used the money he made to work as a photographer.

I had heard enough and decided to become a CRA.  One of the biotech CRAs referred me to a company called Quintiles where he used to work and I was hired.  I was lucky in that I had access to people in the industry who provided me with informational interviews and gave me referrals into the industry.  Over the years, I have shared my passion for this industry and helped a dozen people find or advance their clinical research career.  I want to pass that opportunity on to others by sharing what I know through this blog and my website www.pictureyourselfin.com.

As for what a career in clinical research means, I will explore that more in future posts!  As for my art, I did find time for it.  It actually overlapped with my personal experiences in clinical research.  I started a 501(c)3 charity called, DonnaBellas Angels (www.donnabellasangels.org) which has a motto "Medicine Heals the Body, Art Heals the Soul".

Article by Laurel Latto, Certified Clinical Research Associate (CCRA)

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