FTA:

At the Veterans Affairs hospital in Pittsburgh, researchers spent months preparing for a clinical trial of a new drug to treat advanced cancers of the mouth, throat and voice box.

They were ready last month to start enrolling patients " veterans whose cancer had spread to other tissue and who had run out of treatment options.

Then a problem arose.

The hospital was unable to renew the job of a key staff member involved in running the study, a typically routine process thwarted by a hiring freeze imposed under the government-cutting project led by President Trump and Elon Musk. Suddenly, the clinical trial was on hold.

"They were ready to enroll," said Alanna Caffas, the chief executive of the Veterans Health Foundation, which administers the trials. "They had the lab kits on site. They had the drug to dispense. But they couldn't get the clinical research coordinator renewed."

So for want of ONE administrative position, the entire program is not??
I call BS.
#7 | Posted by itchypossum

It wasn't just one administrative position. It was the key administrative position, i.e. "the clinical research coordinator" which wasn't "renewed". Could they have promoted someone else into the position? Probably not. There was no funding for the position, which was eliminated.

The real crime here is these people politicizing the study to own leon.
#8 | Posted by itchypossum

Musk is doing real damage, not just to individual research projects and the people who were counting on them, but to whole communities which are built around "Eds and Meds" jobs. Pittsburgh is one such community, which was devastated years ago by the steel mills closing down and which rebuilt its economy around the very jobs which Musk, Trump and the GOP are cutting and/or threatening to cut:

How NIH cuts could stall Pittsburgh's economy

The Pittsburgh area's economy could lose out on billions of dollars if federal health research cuts proposed by the Trump administration go through, officials say.

Why it matters: Pittsburgh's economy is largely driven by health care, universities and tech--the so-called "Eds and Meds"--and medical research is a huge part of that equation, according to Stefani Pashman, CEO of pro-business coalition Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

What they're saying: "This is an industry that is the backbone of this region," said Lee. "It would be as big as making cuts to U.S. Steel in its heyday."

Zoom out: Pashman said medical research is a cornerstone of Pittsburgh's "Eds and Meds" economy.

"It is our brand now," she said. "It really would stall our economy if it came through. It would take some significant wind out of the sails of the region."

"the clinical research coordinator" #9 | Posted by Gal_Tuesday at 2025-03-12 02:37 PM | Reply | Flag:
You know what the clinical research coordinator does? It acts like it needs to coordinate the people that actually do the research. So why not keep the researchers who actually do the work and get rid of the waste that gets in the way of them doing it.
#13 | Posted by fishpaw

Yes, I imagine the clinical research coordinator does what the job title suggests: coordinates the research that is being done, sometimes across multiple research sites, in which case the clinical research coordinator would play an important, necessary role. Somebody has to look at the research, put it all together, analyze it, address questions and problems that occur. Individual researchers are essential, but so is the person who oversees them, makes sure protocols are being followed, collects all the data and comes to conclusions about it. That is work too.