Many aspirants who want to enter the clinical research industry often want to know what an internship in clinical research actually means? Let us see:
Clinical research as you may know mainly deals with the conduct of clinical trials at various clinical research centers also known as clinical trial sites. These sites are usually large hospitals, or established clinics with good patient flow. All these sites are chosen by and regularly visited by the representatives of the company that has sponsored the clinical trial. Various individuals (both from the side of the clinical research site as well as from the sponsors side) play a number of important roles for a clinical trial to be conducted successfully. For example, at a clinical research site the principal investigator (physician) is over all responsible for the conduct of the trial, a clinical research coordinator follows up with recruited patients, collects data, blood samples, enters data in case report forms, maintains all documentation etc. Similarly at the sponsor’s end clinical research associates have the responsibility to visit the sites at frequent intervals, project managers manage the over all project, data managers manage clinical trial data, medical monitors take care of medical related issues etc. For any aspirant, it is a privilege if he/she can be a part of this clinical trial process at any stage to learn how the process actually takes place on the ground. This is where the concept of internship in clinical trials has come in.
To provide students with this unique opportunity of experiencing the whole clinical trial process as an intern, James Lind Institute (JLI) was among the first institutes in the country to provide opportunities of internship to its students. This has been made possible due to the close ties of the James Lind Institute with multiple hospitals in India, especially the global hospital chain, and with various pharmaceutical companies actively involved conducting clinical trials. All students at the James Lind Institute (both online as well as classroom students) are provided with an optional internship program. During the internship students work closely with a senior study coordinator and work on all aspects of a real clinical trial. This is an experience that is invaluable in the clinical research industry. To be a part of a James Lind Institute clinical research training program with internship please feel free to visit the JLI Website or chat with an online counselor now.