What does a clinical researcher do?
A clinical researcher is primarily in charge of conducting research trials for medicine and health care development. Their responsibilities mainly revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis by gathering samples, performing experiments, working with research participants, and collaborating with other researchers and scientists. Moreover, as a clinical researcher, it is essential to maintain records of all experiments, summarize findings into reports and presentations, and monitor every progress, all while adhering to the research's deadlines, budgets, goals, and policies.
Clinical researcher responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real clinical researcher resumes:
- Manage site master file contents and work with sites to ensure communication requirements between site and IRB are adhere to.
- Establish and maintain strong community partnerships to achieve HIV prevention objectives.
- Maintain study database to in compliance with FDA regulations.
- Perform NIH studies, coordinate interviews of clinical research trial participant's.
- Support IRB applications and analyze collected data.
- Interact with and assess patients to determine effectiveness of medicine.
- Provide nutritional care to hospitalize patients, including tube feeding/TPN.
- Design, create and present PowerPoint presentations to research participants.
- Schedule meetings and prepare information sessions; give PowerPoint presentations for undergrads and faculty.
- Certify to administer study specific scales necessary to measure participate compliance, patient health, and study medicine efficacy.
- Develop hematology/oncology patient education materials and organize lectures and events to increase study visibility and recruitment within the community.
- Develop standard operating procedures and systems to effectively conduct research procedures in compliance with study protocol and federal regulations.
Clinical researcher skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Clinical Researchers are proficient in Patients, Informed Consent, and IRB. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Interpersonal skills, and Leadership skills.
We break down the percentage of Clinical Researchers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 16%
Educated eligible patients about our research study, and explained potential benefits of study participation.
- Informed Consent, 12%
Obtain informed consent, gather clinical and research data.
- IRB, 10%
Served as the IRB liaison for the Division of Urology.
- Clinical Trials, 8%
Supported clinical trial implementation through technological support and creating care team resources.
- Data Collection, 8%
Managed relationships with consultants to provide adequate support and services for data collection and analysis.
- FDA, 6%
Prepared for and guided coordinators, medical directors, and investigators during FDA audits and sponsor initiated quality assurance audits.
Common skills that a clinical researcher uses to do their job include "patients," "informed consent," and "irb." You can find details on the most important clinical researcher responsibilities below.
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a clinical researcher to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "natural sciences managers must be able to communicate clearly with a variety of audiences, such as scientists, policymakers, and the public." Clinical researchers often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "manage site master file contents and work with sites to ensure communication requirements between site and irb are adhered to. "
Interpersonal skills. Many clinical researcher duties rely on interpersonal skills. "natural sciences managers lead research teams and therefore need to work well with others in order to reach common goals," so a clinical researcher will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways clinical researcher responsibilities rely on interpersonal skills: "demonstrated excellent interpersonal skills ensuring smooth collaboration with cros, quintiles, rps & inventive health. "
Leadership skills. clinical researchers are also known for leadership skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to clinical researcher responsibilities, because "natural sciences managers must be able to organize, direct, and motivate others." A clinical researcher resume example shows how leadership skills is used in the workplace: "obtain and maintain regulatory and administrative approvals, working with the irb and military treatment facilities leadership and providers. "
Problem-solving skills. clinical researcher responsibilities often require "problem-solving skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "natural sciences managers use scientific observation and analysis to find answers to complex technical questions." This resume example shows what clinical researchers do with problem-solving skills on a typical day: "managed site assessment, initiation, monitoring, query resolution and site closure done by several cro's and sponsors. "
Time-management skills. A commonly-found skill in clinical researcher job descriptions, "time-management skills" is essential to what clinical researchers do. Clinical researcher responsibilities rely on this skill because "natural sciences managers must be able to perform multiple administrative, supervisory, and technical tasks while ensuring that projects remain on schedule." You can also see how clinical researcher duties rely on time-management skills in this resume example: "managed research projects to completion on time and within budget. "
The three companies that hire the most clinical researchers are:
- The Medicus Firm
75 clinical researchers jobs
- Cedars-Sinai14 clinical researchers jobs
- University of Florida12 clinical researchers jobs
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Compare different clinical researchers
Clinical researcher vs. Study director
Technically, a study director carries out scientific responsibilities for protocol design or study plan and approval. Study directors supervise the gathering, analysis, interpretation, documentation, and reporting of data results. They handle the matriculation of students with regard to data management system development. Working with the computer systems team is part of their duties so they will be able to establish a data management system in tracking the study participants. They also support the toxicology team or group on different project teams.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a clinical researcher are more likely to require skills like "patients," "clinical trials," "data management," and "data entry." On the other hand, a job as a study director requires skills like "toxicology," "study design," "project management," and "data interpretation." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Study directors tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $87,246. In contrast, clinical researchers make the biggest average salary, $58,800, in the pharmaceutical industry.study directors tend to reach similar levels of education than clinical researchers. In fact, study directors are 1.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Clinical researcher vs. Senior program coordinator
A senior program coordinator is primarily in charge of spearheading and managing programs, ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Their responsibilities revolve around participating in setting goals and objectives, securing funding and sponsors, overseeing the workforce, and even establishing guidelines. They may also facilitate communication within the company and liaise with external parties. Furthermore, as a senior program coordinator, it is essential to lead and encourage the teams to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations, including its vision and mission.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that clinical researcher responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "clinical trials," "fda," and "data management." But a senior program coordinator might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "alumni," "excellent organizational," "powerpoint," and "sr."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Senior program coordinators tend to reach similar levels of education than clinical researchers. In fact, they're 1.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical researcher vs. Study coordinator
Study coordinators oversee the entire process of clinical research from its inception to its completion. The coordinators make certain that human subjects are safe and well-protected. They identify the eligibility of the subject through clinical record screening and medical information extracting. It is their responsibility to maintain the regulatory documents based on the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They should develop skills and knowledge in clinical trials, study protocol, and patient care.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from clinical researcher resumes include skills like "data queries," "epic," "research projects," and "infectious disease," whereas a study coordinator is more likely to list skills in "gcp," "research data," "patient care," and "excellent interpersonal. "
Study coordinators make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $50,589. On the other hand, clinical researchers are paid the highest salary in the pharmaceutical industry, with average annual pay of $58,800.study coordinators typically earn similar educational levels compared to clinical researchers. Specifically, they're 1.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 8.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Clinical researcher vs. Research project coordinator
Research Project Coordinators take on a lead role in maintaining and creating processes that support the execution of a research project. Their duties include researching governance requirements, preparing for contract bidding, manage budgeting of a project to meet a specified timeline, and present findings of a project to all stakeholders involved. The Research Project Coordinator will also support administrative tasks, including producing corporate reports, organizing committee meetings, and developing a research database to track active milestones achieved.
Types of clinical researcher
Updated January 8, 2025
