Career Alternative: Clinical Trials

Peter M Colaninno

doi:10.29074/ascls.16.2.82

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Peter M Colaninno, MS CLS(NCA)⇑
1. is Laboratory Manager, Infectious Diseases, Icon Laboratories Inc, Farmingdale NY, and Adjunct Professor, Allied Health Professions, at St John's University, Jamaica NY, City University of NY, Queensborough Campus, State University of NY, Farmingdale Campus, and Hofstra University, Hempstead NY

Address for correspondence: Peter M Colaninno MS CLS(NCA), Laboratory Manager, Infectious Diseases, Icon Laboratories Inc, 260 Smith Street, Farmingdale NY 11735.

Extract

As an adjunct professor instructing clinical laboratory science (CLS) students, I'm frequently asked about employment opportunities in the field. Historically, the proclivity of graduating students is to find employment in a hospital setting, but with hospitals under severe fiscal constraint, especially in the New York City area, they are no longer the hiring centers for clinical laboratory scientists (CLSs) that they were in the past.^1,2 Because of this, graduates are forced to find career alternatives in order to utilize their degree.

There are a number of employment opportunities available to CLSs.^3,4 These include:

Technical: Private laboratories; physician's office laboratories; college research laboratories; health maintenance organization and union health offices; government laboratories; state and city health departments; blood banks; veterinary offices.

Non-technical: Inspector; infection control officer; quality assurance officer; safety officer; laboratory management; planning and development; information technology; risk management officer; consultant.

Education: Teaching; administration; mentoring.

Commercial: Marketing; sales; public relations; technical writing and illustrations.⁵

However, a career alternative that has come to the forefront in recent years is employment in a clinical trials laboratory.

What are clinical trials?Clinical trials laboratories work closely with pharmaceutical companies to assist them in the FDA approval process of new compounds and are dedicated to testing samples procured from patients who are enrolled in phase 2, phase 3, and phase 4 trials, testing the efficacy of compounds being introduced by the pharmaceutical companies. After working in a hospital setting for more than 17 years as a microbiologist, I made the transition five years ago…

ABBREVIATIONS: CAP = College of American Pathologists; FDA = Food and Drug Administration.