In this course introduction we'll cover the terminology around clinical and translational research. Define what it means. How it impacts society. And then move into the data management domain. Clinical and translational research can really be thought of many ways. But the way I think about clinical and translational research, it's really sort of moving discoveries from the laboratory into patient-oriented or human-oriented research. And then, once findings are made, moving that out into patient delivery and community uptake. It's important, though, to note that this is not a unidirectional process. In each stage, the findings and discoveries of actually implementing can, can move back to the prior stage, so, so a lot of times when we move into human-oriented research, or patient-centered research We'll come in with other ideas that, that make it back into the laboratory or, or by the same token once we move it out into patient delivery and community update realms. We, we'll come up with, with findings, discoveries, or new ideas that, that move backwards into the patient oriented or patient centered research domain. So it really is this bidirectional process. We're going to focus in this course on patient centered research and patient delivery and community uptake studies and trials. Many of the principles that we'll talk, we'll talk through really, really apply to any type of research, or for that matter any type of working domain where data is, is at play. But again, for the most part we will focus around clinical research and patient centered research, patient delivery and community uptake. What are our clinical trials? Clinical trials or studies are part of clinical research, and they are really at the heart of all medical advances. They look at ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease. Why do people participate in clinical studies and trials? Many healthy volunteers participate because they have altruistic reasons. They want to help others, they want to contribute to society and, and, and do their part, in terms of moving science forward. In many cases participants with an illness or conditions. That they have the same motives. They really want to see, even if there's going to be no direct benefit to them, they really want to see science progress. They want to eliminate medical conditions and health issues for people going forward. And so they will participate in styles for that, studies and trials for that reason. in other cases, in some cases, participating in studies or trials as a, as an individual that has a medical condition or disease, can actually work, work to, to allow that individual to receive new treatment, and additional care and attention from clinical staff. In all cases, though. Clinical and translational research really provides an, a mechanism for advancing science, helping society, and helping researchers find better treatments for others in the future. It's a challenging field. And many times, in many cases, laboratory-type studies are a little bit easier because you can control all of the factors. When you start dealing with patient oriented research, humans have minds of their owns. There are many many confounding factors when you, when you move outside of a laboratory. And so it's difficult to control all of those factors. It's a difficult and it's a challenging field. But it's important field, whether we're talking about eradicating diseases, creating and refining devices that are, that help us function in our everyday lives. Or, or, or devices and, and implants and prosthetics that, that improve quality of life for so much of our citizens here in the United States and across the world. There are many people that are involved in clinical and translational research. It truly does take a large team. I won't go over here, all of the different roles, and I don't have them listed here, all of the different roles that, that play an important factor. But just know that there are many people working together that make this happen. We're going to focus in this course, on data managers. People that wake up every morning thinking about the data they are collecting and planning and making sure that what is collected is actually going to be useful at the end of a study. To make definitive decisions and come up with conclusive results that again go on to move science forward. We're going to focus in this course on practical knowledge. We're going to focus on practical examples. And we're going to focus on practical assignments. [UNKNOWN] Stephanie and I, we all work in the real world. We wake up every morning and we think about this stuff. We really work around a lot different study teams and domains. And so hopefully, we're going to bring that, in the form -- that experience, in the form of practical instruction, to this course. But we all know that learning works best when it's bidirectional. We're excited to bring this course, this format, to the Coursera platform We're excited because we think it's a great way to, to show what we've learned through many, many years of study, and many, many years of practical implimentation out there to others doing this same type of work. But again, in that bidirectional sense, every time we teach, every time we, we talk one on one with individuals,it's a great time for for bi-directional learning. And so we look forward to the, to the exchanges that we have with, with you as participants in this course.
