A Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC) plays an important role in ensuring the success of a research site and is often considered the “heart” of a clinical trial - the champion of the protocol, the guardian of the patients, and the taskmaster of the research study team. We are held to high levels of ethical standards and data integrity. A typical day in the life of my job as a CRC for the Section of Vascular Surgery is often a mix of juggling multiple priorities beginning between 6-7am each day and ending around 3-4p, with occasional work required outside of normal hours to ensure that investigator concerns or questions are addressed quickly. My morning begins with preparing for patient visits, checking emails, and filing paperwork. Depending on the day, I may have one or two study patient visits lined up for the day, mixed in with patients that are being seen in clinic that I’ll need to speak to about their participation in a study. Each study patient visit varies in length, complexity, and follow up after the patient has left to go on with their day. Many days I’ll be paged to speak to new patients in clinic about enrolling into one of our studies. When not seeing patients, I’m able to return to my office to work on my administrative duties, which for a typical day includes scheduling and tracking patient or monitor visits, performing data entry, preparing and reviewing IRB submissions, conference calls with study sponsors, meetings with investigators and the CTSU, maintaining regulatory binders, and reviewing upcoming OR and clinic schedules to identify potential patients to enroll into a clinical trial. 

What she loves about her job: No day is ever the same!

Fun Fact: Heather has a daughter and is expecting her second child, a boy, around the end of October. Another fun fact is that she still holds the record for most “kills” and blocks in volleyball in her high school sports hall of fame, with 306 kills and 119 blocks in a season. She says she expects nothing less from her daughter!