Advanced Training in Clinical Investigation

The Master of Science in Clinical Research is a degree program offered by the Department of Biomathematics in the School of Medicine. The program was developed as a joint effort between the Departments of Biomathematics and Medicine and the K30 Program. This program is designed to provide rigorous training to physicians and other health professionals, from a variety of clinical disciplines, with the techniques and processes utilized in patient-oriented research. The curriculum provides, through didactic course work and a mentored research thesis, a strong foundation in the computational and statistical sciences, fundamental methods of clinical trials, biomedical ethics, and principles of clinical pharmacology. Trainees who successful complete this program are awarded a Master of Science in Clinical Research degree from UCLA.

The goals of the Master of Science in Clinical Research are to enable fellows and faculty to:

• Design and conduct clinical research (clinical trials and observational studies)
• Successfully compete for funding (e.g. NIH K23 or RO1's in Clinical Research)
• Analyze data and interpret the results of research projects
• Present research at scientific meetings and in the medical literature
• Critique and interpret the research of others

Eligibility: Requirements for admission include a baccalaureate degree (or its foreign equivalent) plus a professional health degree (i.e. M.D., D.D.S, D.N.Sc. or Ph.D.). Physician candidates should have completed most of their clinical requirements for Board eligibility in their chosen specialty/subspecialty at the time of application. Applicants must have salary and tuition support for the duration of the program and a letter of such commitment from their Division or Dept. must accompany the application. Applicants must have selected and established a relationship with a research mentor.

Time to Degree: The MS in Clinical Research requires two years for full time (min. 70%) trainees. For faculty with clinical duties, the time to degree can be extended to three or more years.

**UCLA STAR fellows are expected to take 3 years to complete this program. The extra year is required to submit manuscripts for publication and apply for a K23 to transition to a faculty position.

As of July 2007 there were 15 fellows and 15 faculty in the program.

Curriculum: Master's degree candidates must complete 56 credit units.

Required courses include:

• Introduction to Computer Based Biostatistics 170. (Fall, 4 units)
• Regression Analysis for Clinical Investigators 171. (Winter, 4 units)
• Advanced Biostatistics 266. (Spring, 4 units)
• Data analysis 1 (SAS) 265A. (Winter, 4 units)
• Data analysis 2 (SAS) 265B. (Spring, 2 units)
• Controversies in Clinical Trials. (Winter, 2 units)
• Methodology in Clinical Research - a 3 quarter series:
  1. Observational studies 260C. (Fall, 4 units)
  2. Introduction to clinical trial design 260A. (Spring, 4 units)
  3. Advanced clinical trial design 260B. (Fall, 4 units)
• Ethics In Patient-Oriented Research 261. (Fall, 2 units)
• Clinical Pharmacology 296A. (Fall, 2 units)
• Three elective graduate courses; students choice. Examples include: Epidemiology, Health Services, Basic Science courses.

Mentored Research:

• Research thesis with approved mentor. The thesis is presented in the form of submitted manuscript and in an oral presentation.
• Trainees are assigned a quantitative mentor to help with the design of the research thesis.

Application: Required. Applicants need to arrange a meeting or phone appointment with the Director before receiving the application. This can be arranged by contacting:

Katrina Dipple, MD   MSCR Program Co-Director/Admissions 
Office: 310-825-1997 
Email: kdipple@mednet.ucla.edu

There is a May 1 deadline for a fall start date. Applicants will be notified of their status within a month of filing a completed application.

Program Directors:

Katrina M. Dipple, Ph.D.  (Co-Director) 
Robert Elashoff, Ph.D.