NEWSLETTER- SPRING 2013 (4/3/13)

There have been remarkable evolutions in the Consortium of Academic Programs in Clinical Research (CoAPCR) during 2012.

  • We have expanded our membership as new programs emerge and as former members have returned. Your continued involvement is exceptional.
  • We have maintained regular bi-monthly teleconferences and have included presentations from stakeholders.
  • We conducted a workshop at DIA 2012 and obtained further stakeholder endorsement on the need for and content of Clinical Research Core Competencies for academic program graduates.
  • We have finalized our Core Competencies and obtained final edits from members, which is going for a vote currently for final adoption.
  • We have updated our website to be more interactive and demonstrate our leadership in clinical research education.
  • We hve embraced the innovative transformation of the drug development and clinical trial enterprise by forming an alliance with ACRES ( and exploring other innovative groups. See the mention of CoAPCR in the following article link:
  • We have commenced next steps in academic educational program accreditation with our acceptance by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP- We have been assigned a liaison from the CAAHEP board- Bernard Cohen, PhD.
  • We are beginning the process of forming the CoAPCR Committee on Accreditation (CoA), lead by Stephen Sonstein. Please see the brochure from CAAHEP on “why accreditation?”
  • We have investigated methods for membership payments using paypal via our website.
  • We have embraced student participation in our CoAPCR Annual Meeting at DIA.
  • We have proposed a new level of membership to support the costs of our accreditation efforts.
  • We have published an article on core competencies in clinical research
  • Jones, C.T., Parmentier, J., Sonstein, S., Silva, H., Lubejko, B., Pidd, H., Gladson, B., Browning, S. (2012). Defining competencies in clinical research: Issues in clinical research education. Research Practitioner, 13(3), 99-107.
  • We have presented on our work at DIA, ACRP, MAGI, CAAHEP, and International Association of Clinical Research Nurses (IACRN).

We have many more activities in the works and are excited by ideas and leadership emerging from our members.

New Business:

  1. Gathering approval votes on two issues from active members via Survey Monkey:
  2. CoAPCR Core Competencies for Clinical Research Practitioners (Version 10/29/2012)
  3. Adopting a new level of membership called “Supporting Institution” that would be a level of membership that provides an annual donated amount that includes the opportunity to appoint a representative to the CoAPCR Committee on Accreditation.
  1. Nominations for new officers are now open. New officer positions commence during the CoAPCR Annual Meeting. Please nominate someone (even yourself) for one of the following positions. Current officers are listed in (parentheses).
  2. President- ______(Carolynn Thomas Jones)
  3. Secretary- ______(Barbara Gladson)
  4. Treasurer- ______(Stephen Sonstein)
  5. Website- ______(Laurin Mancour)

Information on these positions can be found in the bylaws of CoAPCR on our website Transitional guidance on those positions will be offered by those currently holding the positions. This is a great way to become more invovled with CoAPCR which is at a pivotal juncture. This will also provide leadership opportunities for your academic positions.

Please send nominations by email to by May 31, 2013.

  1. Carolynn Jones will be traveling to the CAAHEP Annual Meeting to give a short presentation on the Clinical Research Academic Programs, the Core Competencies in Clinical Research on April 15, 2013 in Charleston, SC.
  1. The CoAPCR Annual Meeting will be held at DIA again this year on the Wednesday of the DIA Meeting- from 5:15 – 7:00 PM EST. Room information TBD.
  1. Our next Teleconference will be Friday, April 5, 2013 at 12:00 Noon EST. Meeting access is:

Sincerely,

Carolynn Thomas Jones, RN, MSPH