CRO Career Conversations: Clinical Research Coordinator

Contract research organizations (CRO) operate in many capacities to support the work of healthcare innovators and help move therapies from idea to market. NCBiotech’s CRO Career Conversations speaker series provides an introduction to key roles within the CRO industry and the opportunity to learn about career pathways, day-to-day responsibilities, and more from professionals currently in the field.

The next event in this series highlights the role of Clinical Research Coordinators (CRCs). Join us to learn about the aspects of clinical research that CRCs support including subject screening and recruitment, regulatory maintenance, data collection, and data management activities.

Panelists

Susan Pusek, DRSc
Moderator
Director, Education Programs
NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Susan Pusek, DRSc has over 27 years of experience in clinical/translational research, training and administration. She began her career as a research coordinator and project manager for industry-sponsored, federally-funded and investigator-initiated phase I-IV clinical trials, health services research done in the community and epidemiologic studies. In her current role as Director of Education Programs for the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences (TraCS) Institute at UNC at Chapel Hill, Pusek now develops training programs, seminars and workshops for biomedical researchers and their teams.

Catherine Barnes
Personnel Development and Training Specialist
UNC Clinical Research Support Office (CRSO)

Catherine Barnes has over 5 years of experience in conducting and managing human subjects research, and is a Certified Clinical Research Professional through SOCRA.  She also creates and manages various education sessions for research personnel, including topics like informed consent, source documentation management, phlebotomy and others. Her primary interests revolve around the education and retention of research personnel to ensure that they feel happy in their positions while growing professionally and personally.

Sherry Huber, RN, BSN
Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator
Duke Office of Clinical Research (DOCR)

Sherry Huber earned her BSN from the University of South Carolina and has enjoyed 25 years of nursing experience spanning emergency, labor and delivery, newborn nursery, home health and public health. In her current position as a clinical research nurse coordinator at Duke, Sherry splits her time between dermatology and COVID-19 vaccine trials and treatment studies.  

Kendra L. Marr, BS
Clinical Research Coordinator
Pediatric Endocrinology
WakeMed Clinical Research Institute

Kendra Marr is an experienced Clinical Research Coordinator at WakeMed’s Clinical Research Institute. After earning her degree in Food Science and Nutrition Science from North Carolina State University, she entered the clinical research field to explore her passion for innovation and improving the health of patients. As a coordinator, her goals include effectively managing current research studies and expanding the research opportunities for WakeMed. In addition to her primary job functions, over the past year Kendra has expanded WakeMed’s Pediatric Research division to include a multitude of specialties. When she isn’t working on research, she spends most of her time working toward her MBA or going on walks with her husband and two pups.

Katheryn Peterson, BSPH
Clinical Research Coordinator
Hepto-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) Surgery
Atrium Health

Katheryn Peterson earned her B.S in Public Health from Furman University and has been in Healthcare Research for the past two years. She recently transitioned from an associate's role into the Clinical Research Coordinator role in HPB Surgery within Atrium Health. She currently manages several sponsor studies, internal studies, and the coordination of national Fellows courses. She loves being able to see the research that she is working on improve patients' outcomes and experiences while also surrounding herself with supportive and fantastic co-workers. When she is not at work, Katheryn can be found at the gym, going on a run, or playing with her nieces and nephew.