The UK College of Medicine's FORWARRD initiative successfully restructured the roles of 150 clinical research professionals within the College of Medicine, Markey Cancer Center, and Center for Clinical and Translational Science in phase one. Collaborative workstreams contributed to this restructuring, with feedback from the research community leading to clarifications on roles and responsibilities. The initiative's impact has been significant, improving job satisfaction, retention, and overall morale among clinical research staff, positioning them for career advancement rather than viewing their roles merely as jobs.

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FORWARRD Phase One Timeline

Restructuring Titles for Clinical Research Professionals

The initial work involved a major restructuring process to define the clinical research professional (CRP) role within the college, identify current employees in CRP-type positions, and align clinical research job descriptions with the Joint Task Force for Clinical Trail Competency's framework. The example below shows 10 unique research coordinator roles that were identified for the new clinical research coordinator I, II, III titles.

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CRC FORWARRD Restructuring

150 Clinical Research Professionals Mapped in Phase One

The FORWARRD initiative developed four new title series for Clinical Research Nurses (CRN), Clinical Research Coordinators (CRC), Research Regulatory Specialists (RRS), and Research Administrators and Managers (RAM). The distribution of titles for the first 150 CRPs mapped is shown below, along with the new titles under each series.

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FORWARRD Mapping New Titles

Phase One Workstreams


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Tier Advancement

Tier Advancement

In November 2024, FORWARRD leadership met with partner institutions to outline the next steps for phase one of its tier advancement program. To facilitate this, subject matter experts were engaged to create taskforces dedicated to discussing and developing the program. FORWARRD's tier advancement program aims to provide clinical research professionals with the opportunity to advance their careers from a level one to a level three within a title series.

  • Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC) Tier Advancement Taskforce
  • Clinical Research Nurse (CRN) Tier Advancement Taskforce
  • Research Regulatory Specialist (RRS) Tier Advancement Taskforce
  • Research Administrator and Manager (RAM) Tier Advancement Taskforce