MPH and working as a CRA

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cbluesy

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I recently graduated from college and began working for a contract research organization as a clinical trial assistant. I'm interested in eventually becoming a CRA and possibly going into study management in the future.

I'm wondering if going back to school for an MPH would be a good idea. Most CRAs work with a Bachelors but I've heard advanced degrees are preferred for higher positions. Is this true? I work in late phase research. Would getting an MPH with a focus in epidemiology do me any good? If so, which schools should I apply to?

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If you'd like to become a principal investigator, a doctorate with research training would be more or less a requirement. But if you can get all the skills you need through your job, you may not necessarily need a MPH. However, you should move from position to position after you've learned what you can at your current position. That's how you can move up the employment (and salary) ladder in a reasonable amount of time.
 
Yes, it is true. I work as a hospital CRA now and it's very common for people to start with a BS/BA and then get an MS/MPH along the way. It's also common for people to move between monitoring (sponsor/CRO) and coordinating (hospital), depending whether they're looking for more money or less travel. The people I work with from the sponsor or CRO tend to have an MS or RN. The person who runs the study is usually an MD or PhD, or maybe both.

At least on the hospital side, it is quite possible to move up from study coordinating to a leadership position. To do it, you have to aggressively grow your program (you can't be a lead coordinator unless your program is big enough to have people and grants for you to manage), and you have to be willing to leave-- either for another division or the IRB at your own institution, or to another organization. What type of research activities you get to do in this career track is very dependent on the field you support and the kind of research arrangement your department or organization favors. (For example, are you designing studies an MD came up with or are you managing pharma studies and being monitored by a CRO.) People in leadership positions can be co-investigators, but they pretty much can't be PI. For that, you need a PhD or MD, or sometimes I see nurse PIs who often will have at least an MPH in addition.
 
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