Certificate Program

Clinical and Translational Research for Medical Residents

Based on demand from the clinical department chairs and residency program directors, we have created a new certificate program for residents in Northwestern’s post-graduate training programs. Residents will be nominated by their chairs and take 5 of the courses (4 units) already offered by the MSCI and MPH programs (see table) – Introduction to Biostatistics, Introduction to Epidemiology, Clinical Trials, Ethical Issues in Clinical Research, and Writing and Peer Reviewing for Publication. Additional sections of these courses will be offered to handle the new students.

Course	Description
Introduction to Biostatistics (1 unit)	Introduces concepts of descriptive and inferential statistics and the application of statistical methods in medical and health fields. Topics include descriptive statistics, basic probability concepts, probability distributions, estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation, and simple linear regression. James Sinacore, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Loyola University.
Introduction to Epidemiology (1 unit)	Covers measures of disease occurrence, common sources and types of data, major study designs, sources, and methods, as well as problems that occur in epidemiologic studies. Rowland W. Chang, MD, MPH, Professor of Preventive Medicine, Medicine, and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Mercedes Carnethon, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine.
Ethical Issues in Clinical Research (0.5 unit)	Debate and discussion of ethical issues surrounding clinical research studies, including merits of research proposals, both historical and contemporary, from the perspective of an institutional review board (IRB) charged with the protection of research subjects. Issues include research studies involving prospective cohorts, vulnerable populations, clinical trials, and use of genetic data in epidemiologic research studies. Maureen Moran, MPH, RD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine; Lewis J. Smith, MD, Professor of Medicine.
Bioinformatics (0.5 unit)	The curriculum is designed to introduce students to issues in the design and development of new algorithms, design and analysis of computer-based biological experiments, formulation, and analysis of mathematical models, and effective mining of large-scale genomic and proteomic data. Simon Lin, MD, Research Assistant Professor in Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS).
Clinical Trials (1 unit)	Fundamentals of clinical trials including design, conduct, analysis and interpretation of trial results. Topics include: commonly used designs, methods for randomization, blinding and sample size determination, choice of controls, collaborative/multi-center trial requirements and operational issues, data management and data quality issues, interim analysis methods, critical review of clinical trial results, and statistical techniques for analyzing data. Joan S. Chmiel, PhD, Professor; Fred Rademaker, PhD, Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine.