The Master of Science in Law degree (MSL) is useful in a wide variety of professions; one of these is clinical research. The Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) is having its annual conference later this week – that’s what got us thinking about the benefits of the MSL for clinical research professionals. We reached out to a few MSL alums and students who are working in clinical research and wanted to share their thoughts with you. Please read on!

Clinical research is a truly intersectional area. Professionals in this area benefit from the MSL program’s focus on law and regulation, and from understanding the intersection of law and regulation with science, intellectual property, and business. MSL students acquire sophisticated knowledge that helps them navigate the challenges associated with research, innovation, and human-subject work. Clinical research professionals who have graduated from the MSL program report being able to immediately apply what they learn in the classroom to advance research and innovation and increase team efficiency. They also report that they have seen tremendous career benefits from the MSL – in terms of the quality of their work, the types of work they are able to tackle, and also in terms of career advancement.

But don’t just take our word for it. Please have a look at what students and alumni say about the impact of the MSL degree on their careers in clinical research.

“The MSL program has helped expand and leverage options for my career in the clinical research field. There are a wide range of classes that are appealing and relevant to the clinical research field, including Effective Professional Communication, Regulatory Strategy & Communication, Medical Devices: Regulation & Compliance, IP Strategy & Management, Negotiation Skills & Strategies, Patent Law, and Global Product Development. I have already applied knowledge from these classes in my day-to-day work during the two years I have spent in the program.

Working with investigator-initiated trials and correctly understanding our higher risk and obligations as the sponsor of record, I have honed my communication skills to work with both internal and external parties. This has resulted in better IND reports to the FDA, clearer queries on data, a unique way to train my team using elements of patent law/drafting to ensure their queries are also clear and understandable, and a comprehensive summary of audit deficiencies. I also understand how to assess legal aspects that are cited by the FDA, and ensure our team is correctly following all the laws, rules, and regulations related to being an IND sponsor. Learning more about IP strategy and plans for product lifecycle from the perspective of a drug sponsor ensures our team’s work is parallel to their goals. I’m surprised at how much I leverage the skills I learned in the Negotiations class – if you think about it, during our days in the clinical research world, we make lots of “asks” each day. I love being able to get to a yes for each ask quickly and being able to build stronger relationships with our investigators in the process.

I was recently promoted to the management side of the Quality Assurance team, and I plan to continue to grow in the QA/Compliance field. I’m now about to graduate and know that with a solid foundation from the MSL program, I’ll be a top pick for any positions I apply for in the future.” – Jill Woodman (MSL ’22)

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“Clinical research in general is very heavily regulated, so it’s important to be familiar with the rules to work effectively in this space. The MSL program allowed me to thoughtfully explore legal, regulatory, and compliance-related issues prevalent in clinical research. Learning more about global regulations in clinical trials helped me anticipate risks and challenges in study design and mitigate them accordingly. I also learned how to locate and understand regulations pertinent to specific clinical research situations, which then allowed me to ensure the regulations were being followed appropriately. This ability to locate and understand regulations can be used in any context, not just clinical research, and is one of the most useful skills I developed through this program.

My MSL learnings provided critical insight that helped me better understand and anticipate challenges that directly impact research quality, thus making me a more effective clinical research professional. During the program, I was able to synthesize my own practical clinical research experience with the knowledge gained in the classroom and then apply the new perspectives to my work in an impactful way.” – Alexandra Moxley (MSL ‘17)

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“In today’s world, the field of clinical research is continuously and rapidly evolving, and professionals in this area need to keep up with what is required to support medical innovations and new discoveries. Through the MSL program, I gained a better understanding of how three very different disciplines – legal, medical, and business – work together in the clinical research world to achieve a common goal. This understanding allowed me to become an effective liaison between the different disciplines.

Clinical research, like many industries, involves working with different teams of people to achieve a common goal. Each stakeholder wants to have a winning result and to support innovation – from the governing agency that awards the funding to sponsor a trial, to the principal investigator who leads the team, to the hospital’s institutional review board, to the eligible patient participants. The MSL harnessed a unique skill set that helped me better understand the various needs involved. In a sense, I feel like the MSL taught me to become “multilingual” – understanding and translating the different disciplines to help bring them together – the business side (funding), the legal interests (IRB/contracts), and the medicine-related interests (patients/teams).

Being a jack-of-all-trades in clinical research sets you apart and opens up career avenues in the field. From understanding a sponsored study contract, to previewing an IRB protocol, to working with the team that runs the trial – it is beneficial to be able to work across disciplines. The MSL program also reinforced the importance of building productive team dynamics; the work I did in the MSL program mirrored the real world work of professionals in the clinical research world.” – Elizabeth Sosic (MSL ’20)

The MSL program is committed to enhancing the careers and knowledge of clinical research professionals, and is sponsoring a career development session at the ACRP meeting this coming weekend. We encourage clinical research professionals seeking career advancement opportunities to learn more about Northwestern University’s Master of Science in Law degree.