Background

In 1989, a Task Force on Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine reported results of a survey in which one-third of our clinical post-doctoral fellows indicated their desire to pursue “full-time clinical research” as a career objective.  In the same survey, a large majority of post-doctoral fellows felt they were inadequately trained in clinical trial design (70%), data management (70%), the ethics of human experimentation (69%), and biostatistics (83%).  At that time, almost half of the responding post-doctoral fellows expressed an interest in a structured training program in clinical investigation.  Discussions on ways to meet this need ensued at the department and SOM levels, and eventually enlarged to include the BSPH.  At the same time, concerns about the adverse trends for clinical investigation and about the inadequate supply of qualified clinical investigators were being expressed at the national level.  Johns Hopkins’ response to these local and national needs was the creation of GTPCI in 1992 and admitted its first students in 1993.