Clinical Trials Operations Principal Investigator (PI) Intensive

Training Courses for Clinical Research Investigators

Instructor-led courses and eCourses are available for UCSF PIs*. All courses are free of charge.


Who should attend these trainings?

* All UCSF Principal Investigators (PIs) and similar roles, including but not limited to:

  • Fellows,  
  • those training to become PIs,
  • department or division administrators (DAs),
  • department or division managers (DMs),
  • other comparable-level research team members.  

Clinical research staff and study team members should participate in the CTO Foundations and Advanced series.  


When should each course be attended?

Retaking each course every two years, or as needed/desired for continuing education, is recommended.  


What else should you know?

Course schedule is subject to change, at the discretion of the Training Team.

Register at learning.ucsf.edu; see below for detailed instructions.

Logistics: After registering, monitor your inbox for a confirmation email from the UC Learning Center, which will include a calendar invitation with Zoom details. If you do not receive that email, contact [email protected].    

Accessibility: UCSF welcomes all participants to our events. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this event because of a disability, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Registering for CTO Clinical Research Investigator Foundations Intensive – Detailed Instructions
  1. Go to the UC Learning Center: https://learning.ucsf.edu/
  2. Login using your MyAccess credentials (required even if you are already logged into MyAccess)
  3. Click the Search icon
  4. Search for "CTO PI Intensive" or click here for the direct link
  5. From the list, find the October PI Intensive offering, and click ADD
  6. Then click REGISTER
  7. If you have questions, email [email protected]

What courses are part of this series?

eCourse

CTO 300e: Foundations of Clinical Research (Online | On-demand)

This course reviews the foundations of clinical research at UCSF for PIs, including top PI responsibilities, best practices for protocol writing, training, manual of operations and procedures (MOPs), standard operating procedures (SOPs), documentation, checklists, and more. The course introduces resources for each of the topics covered.

Note: This eCourse may be completed at any time, outside of the CTO Clinical Research Investigator Foundations Intensive training series.

 

Completing CTO 300e: Foundations of Clinical Research shortly before the instructor-led Intensive begins is highly recommended.

 

Take the course: CTO 300e: Foundations of Clinical Research

 


CTO Clinical Research Investigator Foundations Intensive

The CTO Clinical Research Investigator Foundations Intensive (a.k.a. PI Intensive) provides foundational information and resources for PIs conducting clinical trials at UCSF.  

Instructor-led sessions are conducted on Zoom. Attending all modules is recommended, but not required.

For all courses below: Resources for the covered topics will be provided.


Schedule

Day 1: Tuesday, April 14, 2026 | Day 2: Wednesday, April 15, 2026 | 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Spring 2026 agenda coming soon!

Day 1: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 | Day 2: Wednesday, October 21, 2026 | 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Fall 2026 agenda coming soon!


Instructor-led Courses

CTO 302: Adverse Events, Protocol Violations, & Incidents: Documentation & Reporting

​​​​​This course covers best practices for identifying, documenting, and reporting (when necessary) the following occurrences: Adverse Events, Protocol Violations & Research Incidents, and other Safety-Related Information. It includes a review of the UCSF IRB’s requirements for reporting events and addresses how IRB reliances may impact reporting requirements.

CTO 303a: Pre-Award Tasks

This course covers basics of, and tips and tricks for, Pre and Post-Award tasks. Topics include: feasibility, pre-submission, study start-up, working with institutional partners including the Office of Clinical Trial Activation, coverage analysis, budgeting, and other details important to PIs conducting interventional research studies.

CTO 303b: Post-Award Tasks

This course provides a brief overview of study and financial award set-up, purchase orders, amendments, clinical research billing compliance responsibilities, study closeout, and more.

CTO 304: Hiring & Managing Research Staff

This course covers the role of research study team staff, best practices for estimating the amount and type of support needed for a research study, guidelines for sharing research staff effort with other PIs, navigating recruitment and onboarding, and management of staff, emphasizing the clinical research coordinator (CRC) role.