Jos van Roon – Clinical Research Associate (CRA)

1. What is your educational background?
I got my Bachelor Biomedical Science and Master Biology of Disease at University Utrecht.

2. What did you do before you joined Quintiles?
I graduated in December 2007 and started working for Quintiles in February 2008, so I was still studying.

3. How did you learn about Quintiles?
I got to know Quintiles for the first time through the Bio Career Event, although I wasn’t very familiar with CROs and the job option within clinical research prior to my first job interviews.

4. In what position did you start and how did you reach the level that you are at right now?
I started in February 2008 in the 3-month Clinical Research Development Program (CRDP). After the CRDP in May, I started as a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) and got my own projects in July. The CRDP has been a great opportunity to get to know the “ins and outs” of clinical research, Quintiles as a company and many colleagues in a very short time.

5. What are your responsibilities as a CRA?
As a CRA you function as the first line of contact between the hospital staff involved in a trial and the pharmaceutical company. Whenever there are issues hospital staff will contact their CRA, who will have to make sure that questions are answered and problems are solved. Personally, I’m responsible for the maintenance of three cardiovascular clinical trials in the Netherlands. This constitutes visiting the medical doctors (MD) involved in my trials. At these visits I’ll check the medical files of the patients included in the trial, I’ll discuss the progress of the study with the research nurses and the MD and make sure the trial is executed according to the protocol and Good Clinical Practice guidelines. 

6. What does a day as a CRA look like?
That’s difficult to describe, since one of the nice things about being a CRA is that no day is the same. However, most of my work as CRA is preparation and follow up of the visits that I make to hospitals. About two times a week I have a visit to a MD involved in one of my trials. The MDs involved can be located throughout the whole Netherlands and the travelling can take up quite some time. Once at site I review the medical files of study patients and somewhere during the day I try to have an appointment with the MD. Every now and then I’ll have an appointment at the pharmacy and laboratory to see how their involvement in the trial is going. Days that are not spend at site I work at the office in Hoofddorp and sometimes from home.

7. Five keywords that describe Quintiles best?
- Opportunity
- Flexible
- Challenge
- International
- Young

8. Why would you advise people to join Quintiles?
I wouldn’t advise just anyone to join Quintiles. However, Quintiles has a lot to offer for people who enjoy working in a continuously growing and changing company. With Quintiles being the market leader in clinical research, comes the great opportunity to express your ideas and have influence on how things can become more efficient. It does mean a flexible attitude is necessary, but fortunately this works both ways.