Conducting Clinical Research

Why Read This Book?

A View from the Trenches I offer a unique perspective, having experienced research from a variety of angles. I have participated in clinical trials since college and have been a patient in a clinical research center. I conducted bench and clinical research during my infectious disease fellowship, for which I designed and oversaw my first clinical trial (with mentoring, of course). In all, I have had over 20 years experience in conducting clinical trials. As background, I am a physician specializing in internal medicine with a subspecialty in infectious diseases. My initial medical training was at the University of Maryland, where the caliber of the infectious disease faculty was topnotch and the enthusiasm contagious. Infectious diseases, a specialty that spans all ages of patients and that involves being a sleuth and puzzling things out, fascinated me. When Memorial Hospital recruited me to practice in Cumberland, Maryland, there was no infectious disease specialist on the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains within almost 150 miles.