Getting Started | Our Research Process | Research Toolbox | Clinical Research | University Hospitals | Cleveland, OH

Department Level Training

Some departments may require you to have specific training. Your department administrator can assist in determining any department-specific training or policies that you need to know.

Research Training

Review the New Researcher Checklist for an overview.

All Investigators are required to complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI), which grants Human Subjects Protections Certification. This certification enters individuals into the Case Western Reserve University Continuing Research Education Credit (CREC) program. In order to maintain certification, 12 CRECs are needed every three years.

It is required for all Principal Investigators and recommended for all study team members, to complete UH Investigator Training within UH GPS.

It is required for all Research Credentialed personnel to complete UH Clinical Research Education once credentialed. Completion of education should be filed in a team's regulatory documents. For enrollment in research education, contact ClinicalResearch@UHhospitals.org.

It is required for all researchers to complete Clinical Research Orientation, New Principal Investigator Orientation, or other assigned UH GPS training, in lieu of an Orientation.

UH offers a wide variety of educational and training courses for our investigators and study teams. These can be found in our course catalog some with CREC associated for your re-certification period.

Our courses are offered live, remotely through Zoom. Many others are upon request or online. Any course can be customized for your group and scheduled at times that work for you. You can contact us at ClinicalResearch@UHhospitals.org.

We look forward to helping you get started with your research and throughout the course of your study. For additional assistance, contact ClinicalResearch@UHhospitals.org.

If your study team includes non-UH personnel, those personnel must be UH Research Credentialed in order to access UH systems and PHI. Research Credentialed personnel are also granted a UH email address that must be used when communicating UH research information and data.

For more information, visit the UH Research Credentialing website.

The first step that you will need to take as an investigator is to identify a faculty mentor. This person may not be in your department or discipline; the key is that your mentor has the time and interest in helping you with your research project. You should connect early and throughout the project with your mentor. We recommend scheduling standing meetings to discuss any issues that come up along the way. Check with your program director, education coordinator or department administrator to get connected with a mentor. If you cannot find a mentor, ask The Office of Research Integration & Education at ClinicalResearch@UHhospitals.org.

Regardless of whether you are designing your own study or considering one sponsored by an industry partner, the protocol must have a solid hypothesis and good scientific design, have scientific and ethical merit, and be financially feasible. There must be resources sufficient to conduct the study. The Research SOP SP201: Protocol Feasibility Assessment provides a process for you. This process involves a query of the number of patients available to enroll in your study and a checklist of questions helpful to you in thinking through feasibility issues. Departmental review is an IRB requirement, and your departmental chair is a good source of advice and counsel also.

Identify a mentor early on and one or more co-investigators, and to work with a statistician. Your collaborators can help you nail down subject inclusion/exclusion criteria, data collection tools and plans, and clarify primary and secondary outcomes. Your statistician will assist with a sample size calculation and plans for data analysis to make sure you have a reasonable chance of answering your study question. Contact your department’s administrator or education coordinator to help you identify the statistician for your department.

A well thought out recruitment plan is needed. You will need access to your population of interest, which means specific permissions if you do not provide direct clinical care to potential subjects. If involved, intensive care units must provide a letter of support to the investigator. Also keep in mind that other studies may compete for the same patient population. Our feasibility process will help ensure that there are enough subjects meeting eligibility requirements to assure adequate enrollment. For example, if you hope to interview expectant women about their birthing plans you will need to know the approximate number of prenatal visits at your planned recruitment site.

For industry-sponsored studies, plan to work directly with the Pre-Award Grants and Contracts team to execute any legal documents. Please don’t sign anything without first checking with Pre-Award, who works closely with the Legal Department.

Click here to begin Part 1 of the Protocol Feasibility Assessment

Contact us at CRCFeasibility@UHhospitals.org with questions or concerns.

Investigational Drug Service (IDS) Support

The UH Department of Pharmacy Services provides Investigational Drug Service (IDS) support, including procurement, inventory, and dispensing of investigational and non-investigational drugs for research protocols across the UH system. If you are conducting a clinical research study at UH CMC or one or more of our community hospital or ambulatory sites, you will need to ensure that you plan for and understand how your investigational product (IP) will be procured, inventoried, and dispensed considering (consistent with standard operating procedures in compliance with drug storage temperature monitoring, and overall study and IP management oversight) that each site may require different processes to accommodate limitations. See UH System Policy MM-4 Investigational Products and the UH Clinical Research SOP Manual for more information.

Schedule an IDS Consultation

Please send an e-mail to InvestigationDrugService@UHhospitals.org to request an IDS Consultation as you plan for this integral part of your research study.

Write your study protocol using the Investigator Manual for IRB Submissions as a guide, and for your consent form use Templates for Consent Documents.

Begin the budget process before submitting for funding, otherwise you may not request enough money to complete the study. If your study involves patient care, it is crucial to include your research finance specialist in the budget development process to help you identify the correct hospital charges that will be billed to your study.

If you need help developing a grant or identifying a funding source, contact ClinicalResearch@UHhospitals.org, or the Office of Research Administration at Case Western Reserve University at resadm@case.edu and ask for a recent list of open awards.

Some departments do not have dedicated research study teams or research study teams for certain projects. A few things to consider:

Request Research Support Core Services for a full-time or part-time employee(s) to assist in your project.
Hire an Intern for the duration of your project.
Hire a new full-time of part-time employee through your HR Specialist. Ask your Administrator for assistance if you do not know your HR Specialist.