ACRC Collaborations and Working Groups

< Back to Alberta Clinical Research Consortium (ACRC)

The ACRC includes Alberta Health Services, the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, Covenant Health, the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the Ministry of Technology and Innovation, and Alberta Innovates, who is fulfilling the secretariat role in addition to providing project management and facilitation services.

Like every successful consortium, the ACRC’s value is in harnessing the knowledge, skills, and expertise of its members. This means the ACRC incorporates best practices and the applicable regulatory guidelines thereby ensuring quality by design in all of its activities and outcomes.

By working together, the ACRC strives to improve the efficiency of clinical research in order to provide Albertans with access to the best and most innovative health care. Alberta’s enhanced culture of research excellence and integrity will help funders/sponsors realize the best return on their investment, decreased start-up and study approval times, hasten participant recruitment, and improve retention.

In addition, the ACRC contributes and aligns itself to initiatives such as the Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) and N2 – the Network of Networks that are working to promote a strong national research community that will attract additional investment.

N2 Network of Networks

The ACRC Partners with N2 to offer Alberta’s research community national resources for clinical trials.

Discover Our Working Groups

The ACRC facilitates many advisory committees and working groups that consist of members from across the province.

Decentralized Clinical Trials

Goal: To develop resources (guidance and best practices) that enable researchers to conduct research studies remotely. Decentralized trials are becoming popular with sites and sponsors because they improve patient access, convenience, and diversity.

We will:

  • Convene a working group representative of researchers, study staff, industry stakeholders, REBs, pharmacies, and public representatives who are champions and/or subject matter experts in conducting DCTs.
Digital Health Evaluation

Goal: To help develop tools and resources for researchers and companies to navigate the emerging regulatory environment of digital health validation.

We will:

  • Develop a Digital Health Regulatory Roadmap along with guidance and educational materials on components of the digital health evaluation process.
Integrating Clinical Health Research into Care

Goal: To enable the embedding of clinical health research processes as a routine, integrated component of the healthcare system.

We will convene a working group comprised of researchers and physicians to:

  • Assess the feasibility of integrating clinical health research processes into healthcare delivery and define “integration” within Alberta’s current state and context.
  • Create a repository/report on exemplar projects through consultation with researchers to understand barriers and enablers of integration.
  • Develop metrics for evaluating integration.
  • Create a community of practice that assists researchers and providers to better integrate clinical trial activities as part of routine practice.
Innovative Trial Design

Goal: To build capacity in innovative trial designs (Adaptive, Master Protocol Studies, Agile).

We will:

  • Increase clinical research capacity and expertise through education opportunities for researchers to facilitate the dissemination and uptake of innovative trial designs.
  • Work with the partner organizations to support innovative trial designs.

Do you have expertise in innovative trial designs and are interested in this project? Contact the ACRC.
Clinical Health Research in the Community

Goal: To build the capacity of community-based physicians and clinical/research staff in clinical health research.

We will:

  • Create opportunities for community physicians and staff to network.
  • Co-develop tools and templates to assist in building a clinical health research program in the community setting.
  • Provide guidance and best practice for CHR in the community through a community of practice group.
  • Create opportunities to build partnerships between researchers and their teams with funders, sponsors and investors.
Glossary and Common Terminology Maintain the current Glossary and Common Terminology and bi-annually review suggested terms for inclusion in the Glossary to avoid ambiguity in the province.
Indicator Working Group Develop clear, concise provincial indicators that showcase Alberta’s strengths and abilities. Then showcase the Alberta research community through a dashboard of provincial clinical health research indicators.
Legal (Ad Hoc)

Standardize legal review guidelines for contracts and agreements related to clinical research by producing and/or supporting:

  • A Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement resource template.
  • A model clinical trial agreement.
  • An efficient signatory process for Clinical Trial Agreements.
  • Coordinated contract negotiations for multi-site industry-sponsored studies.
  • A clearer flow of information between investigators and legal review departments.
Provincial Training

Develop provincial standards and opportunities for clinical research training by establishing:

  • A pan-Alberta clinical research training program.
  • An investigator- initiated study toolbox.
  • A clinical research space for sharing best practices, tools, resources, upcoming events, and networking.
Privacy (ad hoc) Explore areas within the initiatives that have privacy implications and identify potential strategies to address those areas; and explore opportunities and strategies on how to move forward together.
Tiger Team

Investigate and/or solve inter-organizational hand-offs on clinical research administrative processes that are:

  • Seamless, timely, consistent and standardized.
  • Common across institutions.
  • Meeting standards.
  • Benchmarked nationally and internationally.

Contact

ACRC