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WHO
Signe Denmark worked in transplant surgery
research at MUSC before transferring to
her current position as program manager of
the Research Opportunity Core at the South
Carolina Clinical & Translational
Research Institute (SCTR). She serves as
the central contact for any industry
sponsor or contract research organization
that has an industry-funded study protocol
and is looking for research site
participation. Once contacted, Denmark
reaches out to the appropriate
investigator on campus, evaluates his or
her interest and works to get the study
started. Her office also helps match
investigators who are interested but don't
have the research staff or space available
to successfully execute the research
protocol.
 Signe
Denmark connects research organizations
and pharmaceutical companies to
investigators and research groups at MUSC.
She wants every researcher on campus to
know she is available to help with
budgeting for clinical trials, the
contract process, matching study
coordinators and any other study start-up
activities.
DAILY ACTIVITIES
Denmark meets with investigators and
research groups at MUSC to determine their
particular interest areas and their
research needs. She also networks with
contract research organizations and
pharmaceutical companies to explore new
study opportunities. When she finds a new
clinical trial, the race to find an
investigator is time sensitive and results
driven.
"Time is money," she said. "The quicker
and more efficiently I can identify an
investigator that is interested and has
the patient population to support a
clinical trial, the more competitive MUSC
is for large research opportunities and
future study funding."
BIGGEST PROJECT
MUSC was recently made an official partner
site with Quintiles, a contract research
organization that "helped develop or
commercialize all of the top 50
best-selling drugs on the market,"
according to the company's website.
"As a partner site, MUSC is one of the
first sites to evaluate new clinical trial
opportunities that Quintiles has
available," Denmark said. "We also get a
glimpse into the Quintiles pipeline for
clinical trials that they are bidding on."
The Quintiles relationship means MUSC
investigators may have a head start on
enrolling patients into a trial before
other institutions get involved.
CHALLENGES
Since joining the SCTR in October, Denmark
has been busy making contacts with the
more than 500 investigators at MUSC. She
came from an environment where she knew
how research within her department worked.
Now she has to learn the main research
contacts in all of the departments and
find out about their processes.
"I am in the relationship-building stage,"
she said. "I want to be able to identify
opportunities by understanding
investigators' unique needs and interests
to build a track record of success."
GOAL
Denmark wants every researcher on campus
to know that she is available to help with
identifying clinical trial opportunities,
budgeting for clinical trials, writing
contracts, matching study coordinators and
any other study start-up activities.
Denmark's office is located at 125 Doughty
St., suite 100, and she can be reached at
792-4146 or denmarks@musc.edu.
Friday, Jan.
18, 2013
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