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Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research Administration

Discover Excellence in Clinical Research Leadership

The George Washington University online Clinical Research Administration (CRA) certification will prepare you to be a strategic leader who drives success for their health care and research organizations. The 18-credit-hour graduate certificate program will strengthen your career prospects while developing CRA management skills for diverse professional opportunities.

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Quick Facts

18

total credits

100%

online

2 years

average duration

Accreditation and Rankings

  • Fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
  • #63 Best National University*

* The U.S. News & World Report – 2022 Rankings

Program Highlights

  • 100% online, no visits to campus required
  • The program requires 18 total credits and can be finished in 18 months
  • All credits can be transferred into the MSHS in Clinical Research Administration (CRA) program

Curriculum

The curriculum for this graduate certificate program offers advanced CRA training to students and requires the completion of 15 credit hours in CRA and a 3-credit-hour elective.

All CRA training requirements in the clinical research certificate program are transferable to the MSHS, so students can seamlessly matriculate in the Master’s in Clinical Research program.

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Program Outcomes

Upon completion of the online CRA training program, you’ll be able to:

  • Demonstrate a solid grasp of the clinical, regulatory, and business requirements in the planning and conduct of a clinical trial
  • Integrate research design principles with scientific, medical, regulatory, and commercial requirements by creating clinical development plan sections to provide adequate benefit to risk assessments in the development of a new investigational product
  • Evaluate the importance of assuring data integrity in a clinical trial and preparing various clinical/regulatory documents through professional assignments such as quality checking a clinical study report
  • Formulate strategies to address ethical and cultural considerations for effective and compliant domestic or international clinical trial conduct in relation to key areas such as human subjects protection, subject recruitment/retention, data integrity, and risk assessment

Who Is the Ideal Student for This Program?

The online CRA graduate certificate program is ideal for working clinical research professionals, or those in a related field, who wish to increase their knowledge of drug development, clinical trial conduct, monitoring, and the business, ethical, and legal perspectives of the clinical research industry.

Career Outlook

Designed to answer the growing need for clinical research jobs and focusing on strategic leadership in the real world, the online CRA certification program offers diversity when it comes to job outlook. The program will prepare you for some of the highest-level positions within clinical research organizations.

Clinical research director positions have an average annual earning potential of $116,7421, and clinical data manager positions have an average annual earning potential of $74,7972. These are just a few of the high-paying and in-demand careers in clinical research that you can pursue with a CRA master’s degree.

Graduates of this clinical research graduate certificate program are prepared to lead health care organizations in the following roles:

  • Clinical operations manager/director
  • Clinical project manager/director
  • Clinical research manager/director
  • Clinical study manager/director
  • Clinical trial manager/director
  • Drug safety manager/director
  • Institutional review board member

Admission Requirements

To apply for this clinical research graduate certificate program, you’ll need:

  • Completed application
  • 3.0 GPA or above on a 4.0 scale
  • Bachelor’s degree
  • Resume/CV
  • Personal statement
  • Two letters of recommendation
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Tuition Details

The CRA graduate certificate program at GW consists of 18 credit hours. Please find the cost per credit hour and total estimated program costs here.

Note: Tuition rates are subject to change and additional fees may vary by program. Please call at (844) 386-7323 for more information.

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Meet the Interim Program Director

Kathleen Thoma, EdD, CCRP, CPH

Assistant Professor of Clinical Research and Leadership

Dr. Thoma is a full-time faculty member in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership. She has over 20 years of experience in clinical research, health services research and educational research. Before coming to the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, she was the director of research and a clinical research specialist at the University of Florida Center for HIV/AIDS Research, Education and Service (UF CARES) where she managed many NIH and industry-sponsored clinical trials during her tenure. Her particular expertise involved working with NIH-sponsored trials through the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network and the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) network. She has also held positions as research project manager for the Pediatric Research in Office Settings (PROS) Network at the American Academy of Pediatrics, director of educational research at Florida State College at Jacksonville, and research project coordinator at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Medicine/School of Public Health. She earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership with a cognate in Public Health from the University of North Florida. She is a Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP) through the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA) and holds the Certified in Public Health (CPH) credential from the National Board of Public Health Examiners. In addition to clinical research, her interests include HIV/AIDS, health literacy, health disparities, the psycho-social determinants of health and health behavior, and patient-centered outcomes research.

Frequently Asked Questions

As you explore an online program at the George Washington University, our dedicated staff is here to support you. If you have a question we don’t cover here, request more information or call 844-386-7323.

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Sources:

  1. Payscale (2022 January 12). Average Clinical Research Director Salary. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Clinical_Research_Director/Salary.
  2. Payscale (2022 January 26). Average Clinical Data Manager Salary. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Clinical_Data_Manager/Salary.