St. Jude Family of Websites
Explore our cutting edge research, world-class patient care, career opportunities and more.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Home
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St. Jude Family of Websites
Explore our cutting edge research, world-class patient care, career opportunities and more.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Home
- Fundraising
Mission
Ensure complex clinical research is executed with quality, consistency and care to support effective science and the patient experience.
Overview
The Clinical Research Operations group serves as the operational backbone for advancing scientific discovery at the intersection of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Central to our success is our dedication to ensuring a positive study experience for our patients and their families. Protocol assessments and experiments are designed to manage participant burden while maintaining a supportive, inclusive and communicative environment for every patient, family and survivor who participates in our research.
By combining clinical operations expertise with specialized scientific knowledge, our group accelerates the pace and rigor of research while maintaining a strong focus on participant safety and data quality. We provide the Department of Psychology & Biobehavioral Sciences with the agility to pivot between small-scale pilot studies and large-scale longitudinal trials.
Specialized research hubs
To maintain excellence in high-demand modalities, we have established two dedicated, cross-functional teams comprised of scientists and clinical research associates (CRAs):
- Sleep Science Team: Specialists who execute complex sleep protocols, including surveys, polysomnography and remote sleep monitoring
- Optical Neuroimaging Team: Experts who deploy near-infrared spectroscopy for real-time monitoring of cortical hemodynamics in diverse research settings and patient populations
Capabilities, technology and biospecimens
We facilitate a broad spectrum of biobehavioral research, specializing in the integration of traditional psychological metrics with advanced physiological monitoring and biomarkers. Our expertise includes:
- Psychological Assessment, Monitoring & Intervention: Expertise in the implementation of patient-reported outcome measures, standardized cognitive batteries, quality of life assessments, psychosocial surveillance, behavioral monitoring, and interventions across diverse clinical and research populations
- Neurophysiology & Stimulation: Support for transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST), Photobiomodulation (PBM), Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation (taVNS), fNIRS, and Speckle Optical Contrast Spectroscopy (SCOS)
- Wearable & Remote Monitoring: Deployment and data harvesting for research-grade wearable technology (e.g., activity trackers, polysomnography, Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) glymphatic clearance)
- Biospecimen Collection & Management: Expertise in the collection of diverse biological samples, including venous blood, dried bloodspot cards, saliva and cheek swabs
- Pharmaceutical Studies: Support for clinical drug trials, including investigational product (IP)
The team
Our multi-tiered workforce is designed for scalability and specialized oversight, currently comprised of roughly 35 dedicated professionals:
- Operational Management: Three Managers of Clinical Research Operations oversee the daily logistics, regulatory compliance and resource allocation across all active protocols.
- Clinical Research Associates (CRAs): A robust team of 28 CRAs provides end-to-end study support, from participant recruitment and longitudinal tracking to rigorous data collection and monitoring.
- Scientific Integration: A dedicated cohort of Clinical Research Scientists bridges the gap between theoretical protocol design and practical implementation, ensuring that data integrity meets the high standards needed for our patient populations.
