Where can you go from here?

This session features a panel discussion focused on the variety of traditional and non-traditional careers in clinical and translational research. Hear success stories of Tufts Medical Center research staff. Learn how you can leverage the skills you are developing now into avenues you might not have considered. This is a recorded session from the May 19, 2022 live event.

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Identify at least three possible career paths for research coordinators.
• Describe the transferable skills developed by working as research staff.
• Identify certifications and other educational options for career advancement.

Featured Panelists

Didjana Celkupa, BA, Clinical Research Associate I, CardioVascular Center for Research and Innovation

Didjana has been working on the Heart Failure (HF) and Heart Transplant team since she started working at Tufts Medical Center. She originally started as a Clinical Research Coordinator II and then became a Clinical Research Associate, which came with a few more responsibilities. Throughout her time on the HF team, she has worked on many posters, abstracts, and manuscripts with her PI, Dr. Amanda Vest, on her investigator-initiated trials.

Christine Choy, MA, Supervisor and Database Administrator, Tufts HS IRB

Christine is the Supervisor and Database Administrator of the IRB office primarily working with new full committee studies and eIRB operations. She has worked at Tufts MC for 14 years now, starting as an Administrative Assistant at the Asian Clinic in General Pediatrics. She then transferred to the IRB office starting as a Continuing review coordinator and worked her way up over the last 12 years to her current position.

Noé Duenas, MPH, Project Manager, Recruitment and Retention Support Unit, Tufts CTSI

Noé was born and raised in South Texas and moved to Boston in 2012. In 2014, he joined Tufts University as a clinical research coordinator (CRC), and has been in the clinical research field ever since. During Noé’s time as a CRC, he started and completed the MPH program at Tufts University. He is interested in closing health disparities for historically marginalized groups, health equity, and health communication.

Bipin Malla, MBBS, CCRP, Clinical Research Coordinator III, OBGyn/Pediatrics Clinical Trials, CTRC

Bipin is a foreign trained physician interested in contributing to evidence-based medicine through clinical research. He has six years of clinical practice in Nepal and six years of clinical research coordination experience at Tufts MC. He has explored various clinical research career pathways, and was involved in developing an academic clinical research coordination course/curriculum with the Urban College of Boston, one of the Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s partners.

Lexi Travers, BS, Director of Research Administration

Lexi has been with Tufts MC in Research Administration for close to nine years. Originally hired as a Research Administrator I to support Gastroenterology in the Department of Medicine, she has progressed throughout her career by taking on additional areas of responsibility in Pulmonary, Rheumatology, Anesthesia, Hematology Oncology, and the Neely Center for Clinical Cancer Research. In 2018, while working in Hematology Oncology, she was promoted to Research Operations Manager before transitioning to Ophthalmology in the fall of 2020. Recently, Lexi was promoted to Director and assumed oversight of additional areas and their associated staff, while simultaneously working to further the Vision Research Program at Tufts Medical Center.