Clinical Research Week 2026

Please join us in celebrating Clinical Research Week 2026

The Office of Clinical Research in partnership with the PSOM Society for Penn Clinical Research Professionals are celebrating week long activities, in recognition of our Clinical Research Professionals (CRPs) ; and to observe the International Clinical Trials Awareness Day during the week of May 13, 2026.

Clinical Research Week is designed to demonstrate our unwavering support of our >1000 Clinical Research Professionals and to celebrate their contributions.

Order Merch! “Ask Me About Research” buttons and "Clinical Research in Action" brochures, email OCR at psom-ocr@pobox.upenn.edu

Order now thru Friday, April 24th for items before May 13th, order placed after will be delivered after May 13th.

Payment will be through the requesting department. OCR can coordinate the order/shipment through an approved Penn vendor.

Please see below for the schedule of activities for 2026.

clinical research week penn medicine 2026

Clinical Research Week Calendar of Events

MONDAY, MAY 11

High Five Virtual Flash Mob

Enter your virtual appreciation message. Limit to 1 sentence for ease of reading on slideshow.

See last year's Virtual appreciation message/ Hi Fives research teams shared with their colleagues!

!!CANCELLED TODAY!! Data use cases and resources (AI, Learning Health System, transition of PennDNA, Penn Data Commons)

will be rescheduled for a new date/ time in near future. Zoom online link will be sent to registered attendees.

TUESDAY, MAY 12

Recruitment Tables

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The Office of Clinical Research will host tables in PCAM Atrium for research teams. Teams will have the opportunity to speak with patients, families and caregivers about their studies and hand out flyers and brochures.

We will be hosting a research participant recruitment table on Tuesday, May 12^th and Thursday, 14^th. Contact Tom Hohing to reserve a spot thohing@upenn.edu

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13

CREATE Award ceremony (In-person event)

The award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May 13th, at 12pm or virtually on zoom.

Luncheon for in-person attendees who RSVPd

Location: William and Lois Kelley Research Building (KRB) Gaulton Auditorium.

Nominations are now closed for CREATE Awards.

The Society for Penn Clinical Research Professionals (SPCRP) is excited to host the CREATE Awards for Clinical Research Expertise & Advancement Through Excellence.

This is the third year with award categories to highlight clinical research professionals in roles with clinical licensure, regulatory or monitoring & compliance roles, data management and informatics roles, and research administrative or financial officer roles. Our clinical research programs would not function without these colleagues, and we are excited to continue to highlight their contributions along with the research coordinators, assistants and managers.

CREATE Award Categories:

Distinguished Performance in a Research Assistant Role – recognizes CRPs with varied responsibilities in facilitating clinical trials including working with patients

Distinguished Performance in a Clinical Research Coordinator Role – recognizes CRPs with varied responsibilities in coordinating clinical trials including working with patients

Distinguished Performance in a Research Role with Clinical Licensure – recognizes CRPs who apply their clinical expertise to promote safe data collection from patients

Distinguished Performance in a Regulatory or Monitoring & Compliance Role – recognizes CRPs who use expert knowledge of regulatory standards to promote patient safety and data integrity

Distinguished Performance in a Data Management and Informatics Role – recognizes CRPs who facilitate the collection, analysis and security of clinical data

Distinguished Performance in a Research Administrative or Financial Officer Role – recognizes CRPs who manage the budgetary and/or logistical systems that facilitate clinical research

Excellence in Leadership of Clinical Research Professionals – recognizes mentors and leaders of CRPs who share knowledge and advocate for their colleagues

Clinical Research Professional Lifetime Achievement Award – recognizes CRPs who have dedicated their careers to the success of clinical research at Penn Medicine

Clinical Research Operations Innovation Award – recognizes an innovative process change or tool and the individual or team who created it to solve operational gaps in clinical research at arch at Penn Medicine

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Information about the award ceremony will follow. Please contact the SPCRP board with any questions about the nomination categories and process at psom-penncrc@pobox.upenn.edu.

See last years’ CREATE Award winners here, and other society events on the SPCRP website.

Contact the executive board to find out how to get involved in society initiatives.

THURSDAY, MAY 14

Recruitment Tables

We will be hosting a research participant recruitment table on Tuesday, May 12^th and Thursday, 14^th. Contact Tom Hohing to reserve a spot thohing@upenn.edu

Career Paths in Clinical Research: What's next for me?

How did seasoned Clinical Research Professionals figure out their Whys? and Whats? on their career journey? Let's chat with them during an online moderated panel of CRPs from Penn Medicine (CHPS, CCI, IS, Nursing Education, OCR).

Thursday May 14th, 2:30pm- 3:30pm EST. Zoom link.