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Clinical Program Manager Education Requirements
Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
There are several educational requirements to become a clinical program manager. Clinical program managers usually study nursing, psychology, or social work. 52% of clinical program managers hold a bachelor's degree, and 33% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 1,237 real clinical program manager resumes to see exactly what clinical program manager education sections show.
The most common colleges for clinical program managers are the California State University - San Bernardino and the California State University - San Bernardino.
There are also many online clinical program manager courses to help get the education required to be a clinical program manager.
There are certain clinical program manager certifications that you should consider. These clinical program manager certifications include Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Professional Counselor.
What education do you need to become a clinical program manager?
What degree do you need to be a clinical program manager?
- Bachelor's, 52%
- Master's, 33%
- Associate, 8%
- Doctorate, 5%
- Other Degrees, 2%
What should I major in to become a clinical program manager?
- Nursing, 19%
- Psychology, 15%
- Social Work, 12%
- Business, 7%
- Other Majors, 47%
Most common colleges for clinical program managers
| Clinical Program Manager Common College | Percentages |
|---|---|
| California State University - San Bernardino | 9.52% |
| University of Phoenix | 8.84% |
| University of Illinois at Chicago | 6.80% |
| Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | 6.12% |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 6.12% |
Best majors for clinical program managers
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nursing | 19.4% |
| 2 | Psychology | 15.4% |
| 3 | Social Work | 12.4% |
| 4 | Business | 7.2% |
| 5 | Pharmacy | 5.3% |
Best colleges for clinical program managers
The best colleges for clinical program managers are University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University in the City of New York, and Johns Hopkins University.
A clinical program manager with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for clinical program managers. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become clinical program managers.
1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,987
Enrollment
18,946
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
3. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,262
Enrollment
30,079
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
5. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
6. University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,730
Enrollment
18,830
7. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,625
Enrollment
17,407
8. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Private
In-State Tuition
$11,207
Enrollment
30,905
9. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
In-State Tuition
$14,760
Enrollment
31,451
10. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Private
In-State Tuition
$10,610
Enrollment
40,329
20 best online courses for clinical program managers
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1. Clinical Trials Operations
This specialization is designed for individuals and teams that will be running or interacting with clinical trials. In four courses, learners will develop insights and build the skills they need to design, manage, and monitor clinical trials as well as analyze, document, and communicate the results. Learners will also learn best practices regarding ethics, safety, participant recruitment, regulatory compliance, and reporting standards. The core principles and skills of the specialization will...
2. Clinical Trials Data Management and Quality Assurance
In this course, you’ll learn to collect and care for the data gathered during your trial and how to prevent mistakes and errors through quality assurance practices. Clinical trials generate an enormous amount of data, so you and your team must plan carefully by choosing the right collection instruments, systems, and measures to protect the integrity of your trial data. You’ll learn how to assemble, clean, and de-identify your datasets. Finally, you’ll learn to find and correct deficiencies...
3. Basic of Clinical Data Management
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4. The Simplest Guide to Clinical Trials Data Analysis with SAS
Step into the world of Pharmaceutical industry Clinical Trials Clinical Research Biostatistics Clinical SAS SAS...
5. Clinical Data Science
Are you interested in how to use data generated by doctors, nurses, and the healthcare system to improve the care of future patients? If so, you may be a future clinical data scientist!\n\nThis specialization provides learners with hands on experience in use of electronic health records and informatics tools to perform clinical data science. This series of six courses is designed to augment learner’s existing skills in statistics and programming to provide examples of specific challenges,...
6. Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
Kidney transplantation is a major advance of modern medicine which provides high-quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease. What used to be an experimental, risky, and very limited treatment option more than 50 years ago is now routinely performed in many countries worldwide. The number of renal transplants is expected to rise sharply in the next decade since the proportion of patients with end stage renal disease is increasing. Are you interested in clinical kidney, pancreas...
7. Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research Professionals
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8. Good Clinical Practice ICH GCP for Clinical Research
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9. Introduction to Clinical Data Science
This course will prepare you to complete all parts of the Clinical Data Science Specialization. In this course you will learn how clinical data are generated, the format of these data, and the ethical and legal restrictions on these data. You will also learn enough SQL and R programming skills to be able to complete the entire Specialization - even if you are a beginner programmer. While you are taking this course you will have access to an actual clinical data set and a free, online...
10. Clinical Trials Analysis, Monitoring, and Presentation
In this course, you’ll learn more advanced operational skills that you and your team need to run a successful clinical trial. You’ll learn about the computation of sample size and how to develop a sample size calculation that’s suitable for your trial design and outcome measures. You’ll also learn to use statistical methods to monitor your trial for safety, integrity, and efficacy. Next, you’ll learn how to report the results from your clinical trials through both journal articles and data...
11. The Beginners Course for Clinical Research
The Essentials of Clinical Trials - Clinical Research for Beginners...
12. Good Clinical Practice (GCP)
Key features of the GCP guideline, roles and responsibilities involved and the requirements of essential documentation...
13. Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Providers
This course is designed with a singular goal: to improve the care you provide to your patients with substance use disorders. By delving into a model case performed by actors, seven Yale instructors from various fields provide techniques to screen your patients for substance use disorder risk, diagnose patients to gauge the severity of their use, directly manage treatment plans, refer out to treatment services, and navigate the various conditions that may limit your patient’s access to treatment...
14. Informed Clinical Decision Making using Deep Learning
This specialisation is for learners with experience in programming that are interested in expanding their skills in applying deep learning in Electronic Health Records and with a focus on how to translate their models into Clinical Decision Support Systems.\n\nThe main areas that would explore are:\n\nData mining of Clinical Databases: Ethics, MIMIC III database, International Classification of Disease System and definition of common clinical outcomes. Deep learning in Electronic Health...
15. Certificate Course in Clinical Research (CCCR)
A Clinical Research Course-ICH-GCP E6(R2), Clinical Trials, Essential Documents, Sponsor, Investigator, Pharmaceuticals...
16. Crisis Intervention Seminar
The emphasis is on the development of fundamental clinical skills in the area of crisis intervention...
17. Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials
In this course, you’ll learn how to design and carry out clinical trials. Each design choice has implications for the quality and validity of your results. This course provides you and your team with essential skills to evaluate options, make good design choices, and implement them within your trial. You’ll learn to control for bias, randomize participants, mask treatments and outcomes, identify errors, develop and test hypotheses, and define appropriate outcomes. Finally, a trial without...
18. Predictive Modeling and Transforming Clinical Practice
This course teaches you the fundamentals of transforming clinical practice using predictive models. This course examines specific challenges and methods of clinical implementation, that clinical data scientists must be aware of when developing their predictive models...
19. Abnormal Behavior & Clinical Psychology (Certificate)
Guiding students into the field of mental health services for either personal and/or professional development...
20. Clinical Research for beginners
The Art of Publishing - Master Pub Med, Study design, Biostatistics, Journal choice, Manuscript writing & Referencing...
Top 10 most affordable universities for clinical program managers
The most affordable schools for clinical program managers are University of Florida, baruch college of the city university of new york, and hunter college of the city university of new york.
If the best universities for clinical program managers are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for clinical program managers.
1. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,381
Cost of Attendance
21,034
2. Baruch College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,262
Cost of Attendance
14,046
3. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,182
Cost of Attendance
13,998
4. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,798
Cost of Attendance
18,306
5. California State University - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,749
Cost of Attendance
14,823
6. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$7,309
Cost of Attendance
16,714
7. University of South Florida
Tampa, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,410
Cost of Attendance
20,456
8. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,620
Cost of Attendance
18,136
9. Florida International University
Miami, FL • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,556
Cost of Attendance
19,434
10. California State University - Dominguez Hills
Carson, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$6,942
Cost of Attendance
14,469
Top 10 hardest universities to get into for clinical program managers
The hardest universities for clinical program managers to get into are University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University in the City of New York, and Johns Hopkins University.
Some great schools for clinical program managers are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for clinical program managers based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions Rate
8%
SAT Average
1,492
2. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
Admissions Rate
6%
SAT Average
1,512
3. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions Rate
11%
SAT Average
1,513
4. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
Admissions Rate
10%
SAT Average
1,514
5. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
Admissions Rate
5%
SAT Average
1,520
6. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
13%
SAT Average
1,445
7. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
Admissions Rate
15%
SAT Average
1,506
8. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
Admissions Rate
9%
SAT Average
1,516
9. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
4%
SAT Average
1,497
10. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
Admissions Rate
19%
SAT Average
1,466
Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for clinical program managers
The easiest schools for clinical program managers to get into are D'Youville College, mount saint mary's university, and barry university.
Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a clinical program manager without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for clinical program managers.
1. D'Youville College
Buffalo, NY • Private
Admissions Rate
100%
SAT Average
1,072
2. Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions Rate
84%
SAT Average
1,031
3. Barry University
Miami, FL • Private
Admissions Rate
91%
SAT Average
1,006
4. Felician University
Lodi, NJ • Private
Admissions Rate
81%
SAT Average
999
5. University of the Incarnate Word
San Antonio, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
88%
SAT Average
1,044
6. University of Houston - Downtown
Houston, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
83%
SAT Average
1,012
7. Kean University
Union, NJ • Private
Admissions Rate
86%
SAT Average
991
8. Marymount University
Arlington, VA • Private
Admissions Rate
91%
SAT Average
1,065
9. Our Lady of the Lake University
San Antonio, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
93%
SAT Average
1,002
10. The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX • Private
Admissions Rate
100%
SAT Average
1,035
Average clinical program manager salary by education level
| Clinical Program Manager education level | Clinical Program Manager salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $102,728 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $90,930 |
| Doctorate Degree | $120,257 |
| Some College/ Associate Degree | $82,429 |
Clinical Program Manager Education FAQs
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Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025