The Clinical Trials Research Center (CTRC), now a division of the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, was originally established in 1992. The mission of the CTRC is to characterize the epidemiology of and assess interventions for the prevention, control, and treatment of infectious diseases in children, adolescents, adults, and their families.
CTRC’s personnel of medical research scientists, nurses, technicians, administrative support staff, and postgraduate and undergraduate trainees work collectively in various areas related to the conduct of medical research in the field of infectious diseases in particular, including epidemiological research and clinical trials with drugs and biologics. Services include.
- CTRC investigators can develop, manage, and coordinate multicentered, multinational studies, including protocols and logistical review of study designs. CTRC study coordinators, under the direction of the director and center manager, develop case report forms, ethics packages, and user manuals. Our coordinators have obtained their CCRP or CCRC designations, have extensive experience in site trial coordination and field management, and are knowledgeable in GCP regulatory guidelines.
- Experienced administrators are responsible for the development of study budgets, contract negotiation with sponsors, and liaising with health centre or university research support services.
- CTRC nurses are registered nurses, experienced in recruiting, assessing, and enrolling study participants, obtaining informed consent, and completing case report forms.
- The Center’s support network for its research includes the local community, over 250 family physicians, and the provincial Department of Health.
Clinical research at the Center is also supported by the Laboratory and Data Management and Analysis groups. Laboratory services include specimen processing, tracking, storage, shipping, and analyses. Data Management and Analysis provides database design, data entry and verification, and validity checking of the data. Statistical analysis and production of analysis tables for the clinical study reports is also provided by the Data Management and Analysis group.