William Osler, a founder of Johns Hopkins University, was a clinician ahead of his time. He was one of the first doctors to bring medical students out of the lecture hall and to the patient’s bedside — a revolutionary format change in its day. His 1892 book, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, was labeled as an “imaginative new curriculum” that prevailed for 50 years.1 Osler once said, “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.”

Growing role for AMC clinical trial offices CTOs gaining leverage; expanding capabilities; improving performance

As federal funding for clinical research continues to decrease, academic medical centers (AMCs) are strengthening clinical trial offices (CTOs) on their campuses. Although challenges run the gamut of turnaround time, stretched resources, and faculty issues, rising benefits (such as improved start-up times, new funding, and expanding service offerings) show that CTOs are gaining visibility and leverage within AMCs.

Expanded definition of ‘clinical trials’ causes concern for behavioral research

In 2014, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) revised its definition of a clinical trial as “a research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include placebo or other control) to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes.”

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