What Makes Our Investigators Different


By Guest Blogger Amy Loveland, MA, CCRC, program coordinator, MedStar Community Clinical Research Center

Amy Loveland
Last week while doing research for a study participant on diagnosing diabetes, I searched for a particular diabetes testing procedure. When I clicked on one of the first search results, imagine my surprise at seeing the face of one of our newest investigators, Dr. Asqual Getaneh. It turns out Dr. Getaneh previously ran a health blog answering frequently asked questions about diabetes symptoms, diagnosis and treatments. I read her entry (http://www.everydayhealth.com/diabetes-specialist/alternatives-to-glucola.aspx) and was pleasantly surprised to learn something I hadn’t known, that jelly beans have been shown in at least one study to be effective in diagnosing diabetes.

The more I thought about this, the more I realized how fortunate we are to work with the investigators that we do. I have been to numerous study meetings and talked with research coordinators from all over the country, and time and again I hear about investigators who aren’t available, don’t know their study participants,or pop into the office once every week or so just to sign off on charts. Then, they are off to this meeting and that advisory board and another panel discussion. These activities all have their place in clinical research, but at the MedStar Community Clinical Research Center, I am proud to work with investigators who know the participants by name, ask about their work and families, and remember their medical histories from one visit to the next. I am proud to work with investigators who are equally as comfortable giving presentations to their colleagues at the American Diabetes Association as they are engaging the community at health fairs and through blogs. Our participants appreciate it, too, and it is part of what keeps them coming back study after study.

I feel fortunate to work with the dedicated investigators who are a part of MHRI!



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