Dayananda Sagar Institutions (DSI), a leading educational institution in association with the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC), Fort Worth, USA, will offer a Master’s degree programme in Clinical Research Management (CRM).

The 22-month programme will be introduced from July 2010. It will cover all aspects of clinical research. The three-part programme will provide a combination of international and Indian teaching exposure. The first two months of the programme would be in Bangalore at the Life Sciences Division in the DSI Campus. The next 14 months, the candidates will study in the US at the UNTHSC and the last six months would be a clinical internship sites in India. UNTHSC would be offering scholarships to select students.

The course is open to 20 candidates across the Asia Pacific region who will have to qualify GRE and TOFEL with high scores. The candidates could be doctors, bio medical engineers, life science graduates and post graduates. DSI expects around 10 students to be selected for the course from India. The cost of the course will be Rs 12 lakh and this excludes the boarding and travel cost to the US. Therefore, the total cost would work up to any where between US$ 20,000 to US$ 25,000 (Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12.50 lakh). There will be opportunities to tap and seek financial assistance or scholarships, said Dr PS Rao head of the Biological Sciences Department at DSI.

These programmes give great opportunities for the faculty, researchers and students of his department to gain new insights in a very exciting field like Clinical Research Management, he added.

This joint programme has identified internship sites at Sagar Hospitals BGS Medical College and Hospital, Astra Zeneca and a few other research centres. In addition to the course at UNTHSC, students will be exposed to three months of practicum training in hospitals and clinical laboratories in the US.

On successful completion of the program, students would be awarded the MS degree by the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC).

According to R Janardhan, senior executive vice president, DSI Clinical research professionals are in great demand for testing potential new drugs, devices and biologics. A trained professional can hold various positions in industry, Investigation Sites, Contract Research Organizations (CRO), Site Management Organizations and in similar facilities.”

Since India is gaining importance as a clinical research hub, there are scores of opportunities opening up. The trained professionals would be hired in as Clinical Research Associate, Clinical Research Scientist, Clinical Research Coordinator, Medical Writer, Clinical Trial Auditor, Product Safety Specialist and Clinical Research Trainer.

Dr Patricia Gwirtz, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Texas, HSC (UNTHSC) and Dr Jaganatha Rao of DSI, Bangalore are the Programme coordinators respectively of the new CRM course being jointly offered in the US and India.

The programme offered is designed to give students a competitive edge in the world of clinical research. The programme will give every student an opportunity to benefit from good training by competent faculty and learning in industry and clinical testing labs.