Graduate Certificate in Clinical and Translational Sciences

In the last few decades there has been tremendous progress in understanding the pathophysiology of many disease states.  According to the National Institutes of Health, we have been less successful in translating much of our basic science observations into clinical practice or what is now commonly called "bench to bedside".  To bridge this gap, it is vitally important to train the health care workforce in aspects of clinical and translational research.  Many health professionals are very interested in developing more formal training in clinical and translational research but do not have the time to pursue advanced graduate degrees such as the MS or PhD currently available in our graduate programs. The Graduate Certificate in Clinical and Translational Sciences program allows professionals the opportunity to be formally trained in many of the necessary relevant areas such as biostatistics, epidemiology and clinical trials design along with a substantive research experience.

Students will be required to have at least a bachelor's degree to be eligible for this program and if they decide to continue their academic progression toward a masters or doctorate degree, the hours earned in the certificate program will fully count toward those degree requirements.

Curriculum
The Curriculum will utilize existing courses offered in the IBS Clinical and Translational Sciences MS and PhD degrees and require a minimum of 13 credit hours.  Three courses (below) will be required for 9 hours and 4 hours will be in applied research experience that comprises a minimum of 2 rotations through graduate faculty laboratories or research programs currently conducting clinical and/or translational research.

Biometrical Methods I (BIOM5013-COPH, 3)
Introductory topics in descriptive biostatistics and epidemiology, database principles, basic probability, diagnostic test statistics, tests of hypotheses, sample-size estimation, power of tests, frequency cross-tabulations, correlation, non-parametric tests, regression, randomization, multiple comparisons of means and analysis of variance for one and two-factor experiments. Prerequisite, consent.

Quantitative Epidemiology I (BIOM5173-COPH, 3)
History and introduction to methods of epidemiology. Quantitation of morbidity and mortality within populations. Overview of study design, data analysis, and inferences. Specific areas of acute and chronic disease epidemiology illustrate epidemiologic methods such as risk factor analysis, surveillance systems, etiology of disease. Prerequisite: prior or concurrent course in statistics.

Statistical Methods for Clinical Trials (BIOM5133-COPH, 3)
Covers principles underlying the planning, management, and implementation of modern clinical trials, application of statistical methods for analysis of clinical trials data and interpretation of results. Basis statistical techniques for design and analysis of Phase I-III single-and multi-center trials will be considered. Prerequisite: BIOM 5013 and consent.

Research (IBSD501V, credit varies)
A minimum of 4 hours of applied experiential research will be required.  Students will take part in a minimum of 2 research rotations of 6-8 weeks each (2 credit hours per rotation) by rotating through the laboratories of IBS graduate faculty currently engaged in clinical and translational research.  Prerequisites: BIOM5013; BIOM5173; BIOM5133 and graduate faculty consent.

For additional information, please contact Dr. Kristen Sterba at kmsterba@uams.edu or 501-526-7396.