The overall goal of the NIH-sponsored CRCA is to support a structured program at Tulane University Health Sciences Center to develop effective clinical researchers from promising advanced trainees in clinically-related disciplines. The Tulane CRCA Program is a 2-year graduate training program in clinical research that is a joint educational enterprise of the Tulane Schools of Medicine and Public Health and Tropical Medicine. This program will bring together trainees from a diverse background, including Tulane Medical School, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Xavier University College of Pharmacy, to enable the development and training of creative, independent, and productive clinical investigators. As part of the development of the program, a new Master of Public Health in Clinical Research degree awarded by the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine has been established. Trainees in the CRCA Program will acquire the necessary skills to design and conduct clinical investigations into emerging medical treatments and technologies, new diagnostic techniques, and new approaches to the study of pathobiology. Tulane University Health Sciences Center and its associated hospitals including the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (formerly Charity Hospital of New Orleans), and the New Orleans Veterans Affairs Medical Center serves a multi-ethnic population. A large proportion of patients are African-American, Hispanics and Asians. Furthermore, a broad spectrum of disease conditions are seen, including arthritis, asthma, cancer, heart failure, hypertension, genetic disorders, COPD, diabetes, HIV and renal disease. This diverse patient population ensures the exposure of the CRCA trainees to important populations. Lastly, the CRCA Program will develop interests in clinical research at an early phase of training.

Prior to the CRCA program, participants in the various training programs of Tulane University Medical Center, Xavier's College of Pharmacy, and the Tulane Department of Biomedical Engineering had very little formal training in the techniques and science of clinical investigation. Specifically, rarely did trainees pursue questions related to efficacy and effectiveness of therapy, issues involving design and validation of clinical studies, epidemiology and advanced biostatistics, or considerations of quality of life, health behavior and policy analysis. Thus the CRCA program will be beneficial to current and future trainees.

The CRCA curriculum offers both basic and clinical research training resulting in expansion of the pool of well-trained clinical investigators. Opening the CRCA curriculum to additional trainees outside of Tulane Health Sciences Center (i.e., trainees with graduate degrees in pharmacy and biomedical engineering) further expands the group of trainees resulting in a broad base of individuals to become independent, funded and committed clinical investigators.