Global Clinical Scholars Research Training

  • Certificate Program
Faculty member speaks during a GCSRT in person session.
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Application Deadline: September 17

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Develop advanced clinical research skills through this rigorous, blended-learning experience that prepares clinicians and clinician-scientists worldwide to design, conduct, and communicate impactful health care research.

  • Blended

This program requires attendance at three intensive workshops — two in-person and one virtually. 

Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

$17,500

Please see more program fee information below. 

Certificate

This program offers HMS Associate Member status. 

One Year, 3 Required Workshops; 7-10 Hours/Week

In between workshops, you will spend time viewing pre-recorded materials, attending live online lectures, reviewing sessions with faculty, and working on team assignments and your capstone.

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Overview

The Global Clinical Scholars Research Training certificate program is tailored for clinicians and clinician-scientists in the United States and abroad, offering advanced education in health care research and methodologies. Through a blended learning approach—combining online resources, live virtual seminars, and interactive workshops—the program is designed to strengthen your skills at every stage of the research process, from drafting grant proposals and initiating projects to analyzing data and presenting findings. Most applicants have an intermediate background in clinical research and have authored at least one conference abstract, publication, or peer-reviewed article.

Workshop 1

  • October 21–24, 2025
  • Location: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Workshop 2

  • April 14–17, 2026
  • Location: Live Online

Workshop 3 and Graduation

  • October 19–23, 2026
  • Location: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Learning Objectives

  • Design and conduct both observational and experimental clinical research
  • Analyze, interpret, and present clinical research data effectively
  • Write and refine successful grant proposals
  • Lead clinical teams in diverse health care settings
HMS Postgraduate Medical Education logo Postgraduate Certificate

Participant Types

Designed for faculty-level clinicians or clinician-scientists with advanced degrees such as an MD, PhD, MBBS, DMD, DDS, PharmD, or DNP. Successful candidates typically have at least one abstract, publication, or peer-reviewed article.

About the Program

Over the course of one year, you will explore the latest advancements and best practices in clinical research—improving your ability to drive health care innovation and achieve better outcomes. You will learn alongside a talented group of peers from around the world, collaborating to create a deeper and more enduring understanding of advanced clinical research topics. 

Program Format

This one-year blended program is designed for working professionals, and features three intensive workshops, two in-person and one online, with virtual seminars in between. Participants can expect to dedicate an average of 7-10 hours per week to coursework, which includes viewing pre-recorded materials, attending live online lectures, participating in faculty review sessions, collaborating on team projects, and working on an individual capstone assignment. Attendance at the workshops is required for successful completion of the program.  

Who Should Apply

This program is designed for clinicians working in clinical research at the faculty level (or equivalent). Candidates holding an MD, PhD, MBBS, DMD, DDS, PharmD, DNP, or an equivalent degree are eligible to apply. The review committee will consider candidates with a master’s degree for admission on a case-by-case basis. Most successful applicants have authored at least one conference abstract, publication, or peer-reviewed article. 


Global Clinical Scholars Research Training is truly a global program. The latest cohort of students represented 43 countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, India, Nigeria, and many more. Past student participants have included chief physicians, directors, fellows, scientists, and specialists. Clinicians, residents, and lecturers who demonstrated strong career interest in clinical research on their application materials also were admitted to the program.

 

Curriculum

Designed to empower scholars to deepen their understanding of the clinical research process and refine their skills to achieve high-quality results, the program curriculum features five to six interactive webinars monthly and more than 85 recorded online lectures.

The courses provide scholars with a comprehensive understanding of the clinical research process, which they can then build upon with specialized knowledge in their chosen concentration of either Advanced Quantitative Methods in Epidemiology and Principles and Practice of Clinical Trials. The program requires scholars to complete the core foundation courses along with the selected concentration and elective.

*Students may select from one of the following electives: 

  • Secondary Analysis of Clinical Trials
  • Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
  • Drug Development
  • Precision Medicine 

*Subject to change

Global Clinical Scholars Research Training explores the following themes throughout the intensive workshops and virtual seminars, tutorials, and group and individual assignments: 

  • Epidemiological Principles
  • Advanced Statistical Methods
  • Research Ethics

Scholars will develop a formal research proposal based on an original research question, with the writing process beginning prior to the second workshop. Throughout the program, both faculty and peers provide structured feedback to support each scholar’s progress. Upon completion, a faculty panel will evaluate and rank the capstone projects. The top ten proposals will be selected for presentation in a live webinar series open to all program participants, and the authors of the top three proposals will be invited to present their work at the final in-person workshop in Boston.

All participants must complete the following academic and attendance requirements in order to be granted a Certificate of Completion from Harvard Medical School.

Attendance at Workshops and Webinars

  • Learners are required to attend and actively engage in all workshops.
  • Learners may be required to attend live, interactive webinars scheduled in between workshops. If a learner cannot attend due to an occasional scheduling conflict, it may be possible to complete an alternative assignment.

Successful Completion of Assignments

  • Learners are required to complete and submit on time and receive passing grades on course-related assignments. These may include quizzes, exams and individual or team-based assignments.

Program Faculty and Teaching Team

Jamie Robertson.

Jamie M. Robertson

PhD, MPH

  • Program Director, Global Clinical Scholars Research Training and Foundations of Clinical Research
  • Senior Research Scientist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Sagar Nigwekar.

Sagar Nigwekar

MD, MMSc

  • Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
  • Assistant Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital
Gearoid McMahon.

Gearoid McMahon

MB, BCH, FASN

  • Associate Physician Renal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital
  • Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Julie E. Buring, ScD
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health 
Senior Epidemiologist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Associate Physician, Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics and the Hospitalist Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Brian Claggett, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Jeffrey Drazen, MD
Distinguished Parker B. Francis Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Chief of Pulmonary Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Group Editor, New England Journal of Medicine

Vanessa Garcia Larsen, PhD
Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Brian Healy, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Susan Z. Kornetsky, MPH
Director of Clinical Research Compliance, Boston Children's Hospital

Kerri LaRovere, MD, RPNI, MMSc
Chief, Neurocritical Care Program in Neurology, Boston Children’s Hospital
Program Director, Pediatric Neurocritical Care Fellowship, Neurology Track, Boston Children’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Sayeed K. Malek, MD, FACS
Clinical Director of Transplant Surgery, Physician Lead, Transplant QAPI, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School

Martina McGrath, MB, BCH, FASN, FRCPI
Transplant Nephrologist and Medical Director of Live Kidney Donation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Finnian R. McCausland, MBBCh, MMSc, FRCPI, PG CertMedEd
Faculty Director for Global Education, Harvard Medical School
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Sagar Nigwekar, MBBS
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Assistant Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital

Pamela Rist, ScD
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Jamie M. Robertson, PhD, MPH
Senior Research Scientist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Amil M. Shah, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Cardiovascular Medicine Specialist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Aneesh Singhal, MD, MBBS
Vice Chair, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital

Eve Valera, PhD
Associate Professor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
Research Scientist, Massachusetts General Hospital

David Wypij, PhD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Senior Lecturer on Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Director, Statistics and Data Coordinating Center, Department of Cardiology, Boston Children’s Hospital

Paul Bain, PhD, MLIS
Manager, Research and Instruction, Countway Library, Harvard University

John Barbieri, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Director of the Advanced Acne Therapeutics Clinic, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Andrew L. Beam, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Michael Cho, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Danielle Coppola, MD
Vice President, Immunology, AbbVie

Stephanie Eckman, PhD
Fellow in Survey Methodology, RTI International

Rachel Kelly, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital
Associate Epidemiologist, Harvard Medical School

S. David Kimball, PhD
Interim Senior Vice President, Office of Research and Economic Development, Rutgers University
Vice President, Innovation and Research Commercialization, Rutgers University

Maralee McVean, PhD
Vice President, Pharmacology and Toxicology Services
Pre-Clinical Research Services

Matthew Moll, MD, MPH
Instructor in Medicine, Channing Division of Network Medicine
Associate Physician, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Jessica Paulus, ScD
Investigator, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Studies
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Tufts University School

Geoffrey Poitras, PhD
Professor of Finance, Simon Fraser University

Petra Sevcikova, PhD
Senior Research Fellow, Health Systems, Blizard Institute – Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Radley Christopher Sheldrick, PhD
Research Associate Professor, Health Law, Policy, and Management, Boston University School of Public Health

Priya Singhal, MD, MPH
Global Head and Senior Vice President, Safety and Benefit Risk Management, Biogen, Inc.

Adrienne Tierney, EdD
Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University

Wiebke Weber, PhD
Scientific Manager, Chair for Statistics and Data Sciences in Social Sciences and the Humanities, LMU Munich
Research Fellow, Research and Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology, UPF, Barcelona

Program Fee

Program fees do not include airfare, accommodation, meals, or educational materials. For more information, visit Learner Policies. 

  Program Fee
Application Deadline: September 17, 2025$17,500

Application Requirements

Applicants must submit a CV, a written statement, and meet specific deadlines.

Frequently Asked Questions

To prepare your application for submission, please have the following documents available:

  • Current contact information and credentials: This information is required for the online application.
  • Curriculum vitae/résumé/list of awards or publications: You will be prompted to upload either your CV or résumé (.doc, .pdf).
  • Written statement: Please provide a 250-500 word explanation as to why you would like to be considered for this program. Please note, you may be asked for additional information to support of your submission. All program specific requirements can be found within the application.*
  • Letter of recommendation: The recommender must be a department/division head/director/chair or supervisor. The letter should be dated within 12 months of the application submission date and should address your suitability for the program and support your attendance at the workshops. Please note: The letter of recommendation may be submitted at a later date, but it is required for your application to be considered.

There is no application fee for this program.

*Your personal statement is an opportunity for the admissions committee to hear your voice. We strongly discourage the use of generative AI technologies, like ChatGPT, in your application essay. If an essay does use generative AI, then it must be acknowledged. If an essay is suspected to have used one of these tools without attribution or in its entirety, we reserve the right to deny your admission to the program or request that you submit a new essay in order to be considered.

We will acknowledge receipt of all applications and maintain all application information in strict confidence.

Students can expect to hear a decision on their application within four to six weeks from the date all application materials were submitted. Payment Plans are available for this program. Please contact the Admissions and Enrollment Services Team to learn more.

Kikelomo Babata.

Kikelomo Babata, MD

Global Clinical Scholars Research Training program participant

"We owe it to our patients to figure out which changes in the clinical research process can lead to better outcomes, and to make sure we’re doing more of that."

How Dr. Kikelomo Babata Is Shaping the Future of Neonatal Care

Learner Stories and Insights

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