TICR Program Seminar for First-Year Master’s and Certificate Program Scholars

Fall, Winter, Spring 2023-2024 (1 Unit)


The TICR Program First-Year Seminar provides scholars the opportunity to have their research intensively critiqued by a group of interested peers and helps bring together in practical situations the theoretical topics covered in other parts of the TICR Program. It also gives scholars experience critiquing others' work, which will be a regular task in their professional activities. We start in Fall Quarter by reviewing protocols created in the Summer Designing Clinical Research course and then move in Winter and Spring to discussing the implementation of research, including questionnaires, procedures, abstracts, manuscripts, or new protocols.

Objectives

The objectives for this course are for participants to:

  • Practice applying concepts taught in TICR Program courses.
  • Obtain assistance with one's own research projects.
  • Develop peer review skills.

Prerequisites

Concurrent enrollment in the ATCR Certificate Program or Master's Degree Program in Clinical and Epidemiologic Research.

Faculty

Course Director:

Lydia Zablotska, MD, PhD
 

Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
email: [email protected]

Format

Throughout the year, the Seminar will meet every other Tuesday afternoon starting on September 19 from 3:15 PM to 5:00 PM.

Presentation scheduling

Everyone should expect to present three times and be a primary reviewer three times over the course of the year.

TICR administrators maintain a schedule of presenters and reviewers. It is the scholar's responsibility to switch with a colleague when conflicts arise and notify TICR to update the online schedule of presentations. For each anticipated class absence, please inform your seminar leader ahead of time, and no matter the reason for missing, please submit written comments on each of the presenter’s work ahead of the meeting via the Forum for your section in the course CLE. (accessible through the sylabus link on this webpage).

Content of sessions

Sessions will generally include reviews of two scholars' protocols or other materials.

The initial sessions are for Designing Clinical Research protocols. After these initial sessions are completed, scholars should present research or products they are actively developing, which may include (but are not limited to) new protocols (complete or partial), abstracts, manuscripts, grants, and other research products, based on presenter needs. The presenter should include a brief cover memo with specific questions/areas of focus, especially if submitting a large volume of materials for review by the group. Materials should be submitted through the Forum for your section on the course CLE.

The review process structure is as follows:

  • The primary presenter provides a short 2-3 minute overview of the project and main research question. 
  • The primary reviewer provides 5 minutes of review, including: a brief (ideally one sentence) summary and then a critique focusing on 3-5 important issues. Since everyone has read the protocol, there is no need to describe it in detail, and doing so decreases time for the discussion. Additional issues and minor edits can be addressed in writing and as time allows in discussion.
  • Seminar participants actively participate in the discussion and provide their comments on the research project.
  • The section leaders guide the group discussion, starting with eliciting major comments from other scholars, providing an opportunity for the presenter to respond to major comments, and then working through the protocol.
  • Everyone writes additional comments as needed, embedded on the protocol or on a separate document, to give to the author.
  • If you cannot attend a session, you are responsible for providing a written critique, which should be posted on the Forum for your section on the course CLE.

All course materials will be posted on the course's syllabus.

Logistics and Materials

The author must upload the materials directly to their section's Forum for your section on the course CLE by 5 pm on the Thursday prior to the session date.

Submit written comments on each presenter's work on the Forum for your section on the course CLE.

Grading

Grades are Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) and will be based on attendance and participation.

The importance of attendance cannot be overemphasized. If you do not attend, you deprive yourself of the learning opportunity, but you also deprive your colleagues of your valuable feedback. We do understand that professional travel and health issues occasionally mean you will miss a session, and we expect that this may happen up to 2-3 times during the year for some scholars. For each absence, please:

  • Inform your seminar leader ahead of time; and
  • Submit written comments on each presenter's work on the Forum for your section on the course CLE.

If you anticipate missing more than three sessions during the year or more than one per quarter, please discuss this with your seminar leader.

Only UCSF students (defined as individuals enrolled in UCSF degree or certificate programs) will receive academic credit for courses. Official transcripts are available to UCSF students only. A Certificate of Course Completion will be available upon request to individuals who are not UCSF students and satisfactorily pass all course requirements.

UCSF Graduate Division Policy on Disabilities

To Enroll

This course is restricted to those enrolled in the Advanced Training in Clinical Research Certificate Program (ATCR) and the Master's in Clinical Research Degree Program.  A limited number of spaces are available to non-TICR students.  Please complete the course application form to indicate interest in participation.  

ATCR and MAS students use the Student Portal

All others:

Spring 2024 Course Schedule

Apply by March 31, 2024