12 Sep Clinical trial leaders challenge experience requirements hampering workforce development

The Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP)

The organizations leading clinical studies that help bring new treatments and therapies to market – including vaccines – are facing an expanding global workforce shortage. According to industry leaders convened by the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP), the issue is a self-inflicted wound.

“The increasing number of investigational medicines entering clinical development has prompted a surge in demand for qualified researchers,” says Merck’s Jennifer Sheller, Associate Vice President, Global Clinical Trial Operations. “We need to work together as an industry to address this acute workforce challenge.”

Sheller co-directed an industry-wide forum this April at ACRP’s annual conference in Orlando to discuss the barriers to global workforce development and to explore potential bridges to building a diverse, research-ready workforce.

Members of ACRP’s Partners Advancing the Clinical Research Workforce – an unprecedented consortium formed to identify disruptive ways to address the growing workforce shortage – say two key challenges are threatening development of this critical workforce. Read more …