A Day in the Life of a Senior Clinical Trial Coordinator at UCLA Health
A senior clinical trial coordinator's day at UCLA Health involves a mix of direct patient care ("seeing patients with a physician, recording side effects") and administrative tasks ("reviewing budgets and treatment plans"). The work is highly detail-oriented, requiring meticulous record-keeping to analyze patient responses to experimental medications, as the coordinator explains, "a very rigorous bookkeeping system...to document everything."
Healthcare, Clinical Research, Data Management, Patient Interaction, Administrative Tasks
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Cindy Tong
Sr. Clinical Trial Coordinator
UCLA Health, Hematology/Oncology
UCLA, 2017
UCLA FEMBA 2026
Biology & Related Sciences
Healthcare, Medical & Wellness
Research and Development (R&D)
Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. A typical day involves a mix of direct patient interaction and administrative tasks, including reviewing medical records, contacting pharmaceutical companies, and managing budgets.
2. The role demands meticulous attention to detail and record-keeping to precisely document patient side effects and analyze their causes, contributing to the effectiveness of clinical trials.
3. The work includes collaboration with physicians and nurses to ensure optimal patient care and the smooth execution of the clinical trial protocol, highlighting the importance of teamwork in this field.
Transcript
What does a day in the life of a senior clinical trial coordinator look like?
Yeah, I definitely stumble in the parking lot at 8:00 AM, checking my phone to make sure my schedule looks fine for the day. I'm thinking about all the meetings I have, especially all the patients I need to see.
I want to be very aware of what I expect myself to do that day. So I'll walk in and go to my desk very quickly. I'll browse any emails that need immediate attention, like those from pharmaceutical companies, my physicians, or patients.
I'll spend about 30 minutes on that. My patients don't really need my attention until about 8:30, and then I'll head over to clinic. Most days, I'll be in clinic from 8:30 to 12:30, sometimes seeing patients in the afternoon.
I just want to make sure everything is there for them. The nurses know exactly what labs to draw, the medication is on site, and we're present. I see the patient with a physician, so I'm recording any side effects they have or any new medications they've taken.
It's a very rigorous bookkeeping system. We want to document everything so we can analyze whether their side effects are due to the experimental medication, an interaction with their normal medication, or just the disease itself.
In the afternoon, I'll take a very quick lunch, a brief mental health break to walk around the block and get some sunshine, and then I'll return. I'll definitely focus on a lot of administrative tasks.
This includes answering more emails, taking more phone calls, reviewing budgets, and looking at treatment plan outlines. That's how most of my days are split.