Clinical Data Manager

In order for clinical trials to accurately represent the information gathered, someone needs to follow the data around to make sure it ends up in the proper place at the proper time. That’s the job of a Clinical Data Manager.

Clinical Data Managers typically work for a governmental agency, a pharmaceutical company, or a biotechnology firm. Each of these organizations relies on you — the Clinical Data Manager — to manage the information gathered during clinical trials of experimental medications and treatments.

Imagine a room full of study volunteers. Half have been given a placebo (fake medicine) and half have received an experimental new drug. Doctors, Nurses, and other treatment specialists interview and evaluate each person in the room. They monitor vital signs, perform exams, and ask questions.

How do you feel? Have you taken the medication every day? What side effects have you noticed? Have your symptoms improved? The information they gather is then put into the patient files, and eventually translated into a database of study results.

Your job starts with the demographics and other basic data about the patients. Medical history, age, race, gender, and weight are recorded. Then you appraise the information from the patient files, evaluate the type of medication or treatment provided, and record the quantity administered.

This information is the lifeline to finding out whether the treatment works, so precision is pivotal. One mistake could skew the results for the entire clinical trial. Thankfully, you’re on the job to make sure that doesn’t happen.