Description:

Program Overview

The Research Coordinator Plus (RC+) program was developed as an education and training program geared towards new research coordinators, those new to UIC, and more experienced research coordinators. 

ELEGIBILITY:

RC+ Program participants must be staff, students or faculty at the University of Illinois Chicago (including Rockford & Peoria campuses) or the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

• This program consists of (5) Competencies:
  • CITI Training
  • Overview of Clinical Research
  • UIC Lectures & Resources
  • Best Practice Hour Seminars
  • Master Classes
• Within each Competency are different Requirements. Those enrolled in the RC+ Program must complete all 20 requirements to finish the certificate program.
• Courses, as they are made available, will go under their respective Requirement. To satisfy a Requirement, enrollees must complete at least (1) Course per Requirement. See the table below for the full list of Competencies and Requirements.
• Upon finishing a Requirement, you will be marked "Complete."
• The CITI Training and Overview of Clinical Research contains external courses. Once completed, please upload the certificates to the training system.
• Once each Competency's Requirements are satisfied, you will be issued a certificate of completion for the RC+ Program.

NOTE: If you enrolled in the "CCTS Research Coordinator Certificate Program - Registration" (RC+) course before November 25, 2025, please do not register for this program.

*LOGIN TO REGISTER*

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Study/Site/Lab Management

Part of Program(s): The Research Coordinator (RC+) Certificate Program

Description:

This presentation will cover a step by step guide to everything that must take place from the first point of contact to the moment the study team is ready to screen and enroll participants.

Speaker: 
Celina Garza, MPH
Study Activation Manager, Clinical Trials Office 
University of Illinois Cancer Center

RC+ Program:
Core Competency #5: Study and Site Management

Contact: Sudeshna De, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Research Ethics

Part of Program(s): The Research Coordinator (RC+) Certificate Program

Description:

This presentation will give an overview of the steps to submitting a new research project to the IRB.  It will cover the types of projects that require a submission to OPRS or the IRB, how to figure out what type of review is needed, and the steps to prepare and submit a project.  Tips to make the process more successful and links to resources will be provided. 

Speaker: 
Rachel Olech 
Senior Regulatory Specialist
UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Science

RC+ Program:
Core Competency #2: Ethical and Participant Safety Considerations

Contact: Sudeshna De, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Research Ethics

Part of Program(s): The Research Coordinator (RC+) Certificate Program

Description:

Submitting research projects for IRB review can be a stressful experience. Many people wonder what steps they can take to minimize requests for modifications. This presentation will go over the common reasons for these determinations. In addition, this talk will address concrete ways researchers can prevent or minimize these types of issues, and provide advice on how to respond to the IRB. Finally, this talk will go over steps researchers can take to streamline the submission process.

Speaker: 
Rachel Olech 
Senior Regulatory Specialist
UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Science

RC+ Program:
Core Competency #2: Ethical and Participant Safety Considerations

Contact: Sudeshna De,ccts-training@uic.edu

Topic: Human Subject Protections

Description:

CIRTification Refresher: Continuing Education

This course is for users who have completed CIRTification: Community Involvement in Research Training and are required to take continuing education in human research protections per their institution's requirements. If you have not completed CIRTification: Community Involvement in Research Training, please complete that course first before taking this refresher.

In this course, we will review key concepts and cover some new ideas. We hope you gain new knowledge and skills for research.  This course will cover:

• Overview of Key Concepts: Review of the research process, the people involved and the tasks.
• Doing Trustworthy Research: Review the importance of following the IRB-approved research protocol, keeping data safe, and protecting privacy and confidentiality. You will also learn how to handle some tricky situations, including problems that may be unexpected.
• Overview of Informed Consent: Review key components of informed consent and good practices for responding to participants’ questions about enrollment, withdrawal and other issues.
• Research in Different Communities: Review considerations for doing research with people from different communities, including people who do not speak English, adults who cannot legally make decisions for themselves, and people who may have trouble saying “no” to an invitation to research.

Position: Research Personnel, Graduate Students, Pre & Post-Doctoral Trainees, Faculty

Topic: Clinical Trial Operations/Finances

Description:

Co-sponsored by the UI Cancer Center, the Clinical Research Investigator seminar series is intended to provide faculty and other investigators with information and skills needed to conduct clinical research at UIC at all stages of a study’s lifecycle.

* Please note that for Winter/Spring/Fall 2026, we are creating one registration page for the CRISS seminars from January to November so that registrants can easily keep track of upcoming seminars in their calendar.

1/23/2026 - Adverse Experience Assessment in Clinical Trials 
Dr. Natalie Reizine will discuss the role of the investigator in assessing adverse experiences occurring during clinical trials, and how investigator assessments are integral to identifying adverse requiring expedited safety reporting.

2/27/2026 - Considerations when running a multicenter IIT
Depending on the population necessary for a clinical trial sample size, it may be not be feasible to run the trial only at UIC. However, there are a number of considerations that need to be addressed when deciding whether and where to implement an investigator-initiated clinical trial at additional trial sites outside of UIC.

3/27/2026 - Data Privacy and Security
How not to end up in violation of the law.

4/24/2026 - Technology Commercialization- The Role of Intellectual Property
The presentation will cover various aspects of technology commercialization in an academic setting and the role of the Office of Technology Management. A detailed discussion of various forms of intellectual property protection, with particular focus on patent protection.

5/22/2026 - Cancelled due to technical difficulties

6/26/2026 - Working with Community Partners in Clinical Research

After this talk, the PIs will be knowledgeable about the tools/understanding of how to work with community partners while conducting clinical research, and how to involve community partners in any stage of clinical research from inception to dissemination. 

7/24/2026 - Research Results Dissemination & Participant Engagement: Closing the Loop in Community-Based Research

Effective research extends beyond data collection. This session will explore strategies for sharing research findings with participants and communities, fostering trust, strengthening engagement, and ensuring research outcomes are meaningful to those who make the work possible.

8/28/26- Incorporating Correlative Studies into Clinical Trials

This seminar will discuss the how's and why's of incorporating correlative studies into clinical trials.

9/25/26- TBA

10/23/26- TBA

11/27/26-TBA

Contact: Sudeshna De, ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Community Engagement

Part of Program(s): The Research Coordinator (RC+) Certificate Program

Description:

This 2-day workshop is designed to increase research coordinators’ knowledge and felt experience surrounding the complexities of community partnerships in academic research.

When: Wednesday, August 26th from 1 PM - 3 PM and Thursday, August 27th from 1 PM - 3 PM

Register for Zoom link! 

Contact: Sudeshna De,  ccts-training@uic.edu

Position: Research Personnel

Topic: Drug Discovery

Part of Program(s): The Research Coordinator (RC+) Certificate Program

Description:

This seminar will cover the IND submission process, specifically focusing on:

1. Investigator initiated IND
2. Single patient (emergency use) IND
3. Requirements after IND is approved for use

Speaker: 
Darlene Kitterman, MBA
Director, Clinical Trials Office
University of Illinois Cancer Center

RC+ Program:
Core Competency #3: Medicine Development & Regulation

Contact: Sudeshna De, ccts-training@uic.edu

Topic: Biomedical Informatics/Data Science

Description:

QUICKSet, or “Query UIC Knowledge Set,” is the CCTS Biomedical Informatics Core built version of the i2b2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside) framework. The purpose of this tool is to allow researchers to access de-identified clinical data from the UI Health system to obtain aggregate patient counts. QUICKSet can facilitate a study by helping researchers to quickly establish the feasibility of carrying out a research study or clinical trial, work through hypothesis creation by continually modifying their own searches, and to identify potential cohorts for clinical trials.

Completion of this training module is required to gain access to the QUICKSet system. To request a consultation or supplementary service at CCTS, please visit Research Ally.

Topic: Human Subject Protections

Description:

CIRTification: Community Involvement in Research Training is a human research protections training program designed especially for community partners. If you will be involved in research and responsible for recruiting research participants, obtaining informed consent, or collecting data, this training is for you.  This course will cover:

• Introduction to Research: The basic terminology, activities, and people involved in research and various ethical considerations.
• Research History: Some research abuses that have happened in the past and the rules we have now to prevent those abuses.  This module also introduces the goals of community engagement in research and the important responsibilities shared by community research partners.
• Eligibility & Recruitment: The importance of adhering to study inclusion/exclusion criteria and best practices identifying and recruiting research participants.
• Informed Consent: The key components of informed consent, the kinds of information included in the consent form, how to respond to participants’ questions about enrollment and withdrawal, and discussion of practical challenges and good practices.
• The Institutional Review Board: The people on the IRB, the process of submitting to the IRB, and the criteria that IRBs apply to the review of research.
• Collecting & Protecting Data: How to protect participant privacy and keep data safe and confidential during collection, transport, and storage.
• Handling Issues in the Field: What do to if you suspect a co-worker of falsifying data, run into a study participant outside of work, and get challenging questions from study participants.