Becoming a Clinical Research
Associate
For me personally, clinical trials seemed a lot more
relevant to everyday life than bench research. I never really had a career plan, so
I always hated that interview question, "where do you see yourself in 10
years time?" Having thoroughly enjoyed my BSc in pharmacology the obvious
progression seemed to be a PhD and then a postdoc position. My first postdoc
was in the States, but I did not enjoy it.
My boss was an extremely bright,
enthusiastic lady and I began to realise that I would never get excited about
science the way she did. The idea started to hit me that I may not be good
enough to make a career out of academic research! As I watched people fighting
for funding I became very disheartened with the whole system.
Although my first thoughts about leaving bench research were
emerging, I convinced myself that it was just the work I was doing at the time.
But getting back to the UK and a second postdoc, I quickly realized that my
earlier doubts were founded on more than just my experiences in the U.S. It was
definitely time for a career change.
Several friends had made the jump into clinical research, and
I started to explore this as an option. I had a long chat with one particular
friend. She had been a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) for a major
pharmaceutical company for a couple of years and seemed very happy. She gave me
a great booklet,
containing lots of information about how clinical trials are run and what a CRA
does.
A CRA spends a lot of time visiting clinicians who are
performing clinical trials to ensure that everything is being done correctly,
that the patients are not being compromised, and that the data collected are
accurate. A CRA can work either for a pharmaceutical company or a Contract Research
Organization (CRO). The latter is contracted by companies to run their clinical
trials.
My soul searching led me to the conclusion that, for me
personally, clinical trials seemed a lot more relevant to everyday life than
bench research. I also liked the idea of taking steps back to my pharmacology
roots. But what appealed to me most about the field was the opportunity to
build a career.
I knew people who had entered clinical research some years
previously and they had done very well, climbing the ladder toward managing
trials reasonably quickly. If I did leave research I wanted to move to
something that gave me plenty of career prospects for the future.
Of course I had some doubts. I knew the job involved a lot
of travelling, mostly driving, which is something I do not enjoy! I'd also been
led to believe that CRAs are classically quite extrovert and have to put up
with quite a lot of verbal abuse from clinicians! But, even if it wasn't my
dream job, it fitted enough of my criteria for me to try to make the jump.
My CV needed some work as it was very much geared toward
research jobs. Again, my friend helped out. She suggested that I highlight
skills such as problem solving, interpersonal skills, and the ability to work
as part of a team while being independent, which I used everyday but never
really thought about. Up until then I thought that my lab experience and
publication record spoke for itself, but it really is important that you select
out all your strengths and sell yourself--even though it can be difficult to do
so without sounding clichéd--because the competition for these jobs is huge.
Any clinical experience at all, however limited, should be milked for all it's
worth. Many companies want nurses for CRA posts because of their clinical
expertise.
So, with my freshly revised CV, I started to apply for jobs.
I found the best source of advertisements was New Scientist, but I very quickly
realized that a transition into clinical research was not going to be easy. All
the adverts asked for people with experience, but how could you get experience
if no-one would take you on in the first place? One agency told me that my PhD
was meaningless; someone else said that I was overqualified and would find the
job very boring.
It was very demoralizing, but I still believe that lab
experience is an excellent background for working in clinical trials. It
teaches you to think on your feet, collaborate with colleagues, and have
confidence in your actions. Still, applying for job after job became very
frustrating: I knew I could do the job standing on my head but nobody would
give me a chance!
Finally, after 5 months, I had my first proper interview.
The interview itself did not go too well, but I had a great chat with one of
the interviewers while I was waiting for my taxi home. He gave me some
invaluable advice. He told me that it is very important to convey in your
covering letter that you have a good knowledge of what the job entails and how
your skills can adapt to this.
He also said that it's important to tailor your
letter specifically for each job, showing that you have read the advertisement
properly and you are not just blindly applying for anything. His other tip was
to print your CV and letter on thick, good quality paper as this will really
stand out in a pile!
For my next interview, a couple of months later, I did a lot
more homework into the role of a CRA. I learned various key terms like GCP
(good clinical practice) or SDV (source data verification). I didn't fully
understand what they meant but I could fit them into a sentence if required!
Whatever I did, it must have worked because I got the job and have been a CRA
for over a year now.
