Data Management and Clinical Research Assistant
Data Management and Clinical Research Assistant
Mentor, Amber Kerstetter-Fogle, MS, PhD, Summa Health DISCOVER Center
Project Overview
The DISCOVER Center at Summa Health is seeking a motivated undergraduate student to participate in a mentored research experience focused on clinical research data management. This project provides hands-on exposure to the research process and offers opportunities to contribute to investigator-initiated studies while developing valuable skills in data management, scholarly writing, and research operations.
Students will work closely with research staff and investigators to support ongoing clinical and translational research projects. In addition to data management activities, participants will gain insight into protocol development, literature reviews, regulatory compliance, and dissemination of scientific findings.
Learning Objectives
- Develop skills in research data management, organization, and quality assurance.
- Learn how clinical research studies are designed and conducted.
- Participate in literature reviews and evidence synthesis.
- Gain exposure to human subjects research regulations and ethical principles.
- Assist with protocol development and study documentation.
- Contribute to scholarly writing, abstracts, presentations, and/or manuscripts.
- Learn basic principles of research compliance, IRB processes, and regulatory documentation.
- Learn how to extract data from an electronic medical record.
Student Responsibilities
- Assisting with data entry, validation, cleaning, and quality control procedures.
- Organizing research datasets and maintaining data documentation.
- Conducting literature searches and preparing summaries of scientific evidence.
- Supporting protocol development and study-related materials.
- Assisting with preparation of reports, presentations, and manuscripts.
- Participating in team meetings and project discussions, when available.
- Completing assigned research and professional development activities.
- Student should expect to average 5-10 hours a week on the project over the course of the Spring semester
- Opportunities to continue through the summer either in person or remotely
Preferred Qualifications
- Interest in health sciences, clinical research, public health, biology, data science, statistics, computer science, or related disciplines.
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- Effective verbal and written communication skills.
- Experience with Microsoft Excel, data analysis software, or database systems is helpful but not required.
Expected Outcomes
By the conclusion of the project, the student will have developed foundational competencies in clinical research data management and gained practical experience in research methodology, scientific communication, and regulatory compliance within an academic healthcare setting.