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Master of Public Health

Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research

Earn Your Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research Online

Position yourself for success in one of healthcare's rapidly growing fields. Designed for working professionals, Kent State University's Online Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research program allows you to customize your coursework to match your career goals—whether you're focused on research methods, regulatory affairs, or data management and analysis. Study with experienced faculty from Kent State's College of Public Health and build specialized expertise that’s in demand across the swiftly expanding landscape of clinical research.

Program Snapshot

100% online course delivery
Total credits: 12
Approximate cost per credit: $695 in state, $705 out of state
Earn your certificate in as few as 2 semesters

Build the Career You Want

Take your career to a higher level with Kent State’s affordable, flexible undergraduate and graduate public health programs. Our 100% online programs allow you to keep up with your current responsibilities while you study. Find out how these programs can help you create the career and positive public health impact you want to have.

Download our guide to learn more about:

Career Opportunities
Customizing Your Degree
The Student Experience
Admission Requirements
Tuition and Financial Aid

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Get Career-Boosting Clinical Research Skills in as Few as Two Semesters

You are the ultimate expert on your career goals and interests. Recognizing this, the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research program from Kent State’s College of Public Health empowers you to choose exactly the courses you need to reach your goals. If you choose to include a clinical research practicum, a dedicated coordinator will help you find a placement for on-site practical experience in your community so you can translate your new learning to real-world impact.

Complete the certificate on your own schedule and elevate your profile in this core health profession. If you decide to earn a master’s degree, the credits for this certificate will transfer to the STEM-designated Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology or the STEM-designated Master of Public Health in Epidemiology.

Education That Works for You

Courses in this flexible program are delivered asynchronously, helping working professionals like you maintain your other commitments and responsibilities while pursuing professional education goals.

Kent State University is proud to be accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) and recognized for outstanding service to the extended military community, and all students, with the Military Friendly Gold Designation.

Maximize Your Professional Potential with Minimum Expense

Post-graduate education doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. Kent State University offers an affordable clinical research certificate program where you will develop your expertise under the mentorship of faculty with substantial real-world research and clinical trials management experience coupled with in-depth public health understanding.

All course content is available on your schedule, and the total tuition for the program is under $9,000.

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Clinical Research Graduate Certificate Program Overview

Kent State University's flexible program offers clinical research certification for professionals. It allows you to study on your own schedule and get optional practical experience in your community. Choose your curriculum to advance your understanding of a range of topics in the field, digging deep into one area or sampling several.

Clinical research: To deepen your expertise in clinical work, select from subjects including clinical epidemiology research methods, biostatistics, qualitative methods or experimental designs.

Public health: Learn about the public health perspective on clinical research, covering topics such as the fundamentals of public health epidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, ethics and regulatory affairs.

Research management: Examine clinical research through various management lenses, including cost-benefit analysis, ethical issues, healthcare privacy and security, and clinical trials management.

Learn Online, Excel in the Lab

Kent State’s Graduate Certificate in Clinical Research offers the opportunity to include a clinical research practicum with your online coursework, which can elevate your professional profile by strengthening your research skills. If you choose this option, a dedicated practicum coordinator will help you arrange a placement in your community.

View Courses

Stack Credentials to Raise Your Professional Profile: Apply Your Certificate Credits to a Master’s Degree

Deepen your healthcare expertise and enhance your resume with the Kent State online Master of Public Health (MPH) program. Designed for working professionals with a passion for advancing healthcare, this rigorous and respected 46-credit-hour program also offers asynchronous coursework, enabling you to seamlessly manage professional and personal commitments.

Apply your clinical research knowledge immediately in the workplace and apply your credits to your Master of Public Health in Epidemiology or the Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology. With this innovative program design, you can save on tuition for your master’s degree while solidifying your expertise and positioning yourself for leadership roles in the evolving healthcare landscape.

Explore the Online MPH in Epidemiology
Explore the Online MS in Clinical Epidemiology

Program Structure and Organization

Choose four of the 21 available courses to design your 12-credit-hour online clinical research graduate certificate to meet your professional goals. Focusing on one course at a time, you can complete two seven-week courses each semester while keeping up your other commitments. If you choose to include the clinical research practicum, a dedicated coordinator will help you find a local placement where you can translate your learning into real-world practice.

The Flexibility and Support You Need to Succeed

Six rolling start dates throughout the year so you can begin the program when it fits your schedule
No GRE requirement
Asynchronous courses and a powerful, user-friendly learning management system
Four focused seven-week courses, including an optional clinical research practicum in your community

Earn your graduate certificate in as few as two semesters, while keeping up with your other life commitments with the focused, asynchronous online courses in Kent State’s online clinical research program. Let Kent State help you achieve your professional public health goals.

Talk to an Admissions Outreach Advisor

A Career That Counts in an Expanding Industry

The field of clinical research is undergoing significant expansion. O*Net Online, a career site sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, characterizes many clinical research roles as having a bright outlook, with rapid job growth and new or emerging occupations. A sampling of occupations within this group of fast-growing professions includes clinical trial managers, clinical research nurse coordinators, clinical research scientists and toxicologists.^1,2

Clinical research pays well. Chart your course.

With a Graduate Clinical Research Certificate, you'll be positioned to choose from diverse roles that value clinical research credentials:

$112,000

Median salary for Clinical Trial Managers³

$91,797

Average salary for Clinical Research Nurses⁴

$115,369

Average salary for Toxicologists⁵

$115,369

Average salary for Toxicologists⁵

Beyond the Paycheck: The Rich Rewards of Clinical Research Careers

In addition to financial benefits and job security, clinical research roles offer the profound satisfaction derived from contributing to medical science and public health advancements. Careers in clinical research are defined by their potential to innovate, improve patient outcomes and tackle health challenges with integrity and dedication.

Kent State is committed to fostering leaders in clinical research, combining academic rigor with practical research insights and opportunities. Here, you can train to contribute effectively to healthcare advancements, addressing ethical, legal and technical challenges with professionalism and compassion. Embrace the journey with Kent State, where your academic and professional aspirations can help improve lives.

Clinical Research Graduate Certificate Program Outcomes

The Clinical Research certificate equips you for advanced roles in clinical research, research management or public health by building knowledge on a range of essential topics. You can focus on clinical research practices and regulatory standards critical for the field, prepare to navigate ethical and regulatory complexities with confidence and apply different management perspectives to clinical research or a mix of approaches. Whichever emphasis you choose, Kent State's online clinical research certificate will enhance your capacity to contribute meaningfully to public health and clinical research endeavors.

View Course List

Fast-Track Your Research Career

In Kent State’s clinical research certificate program, you’ll gain skills and expertise that will make you valuable to organizations across the continuum of healthcare and public health. Leading organizations in these areas will welcome your expertise:

Government agencies
Research institutions
Healthcare providers and insurers
Schools and higher education institutions
Non-profit organizations
Global health organizations

Courses

Choose four courses from this list to shape your curriculum and support your professional goals. Each course earns three credit hours.

BST 52019 BIOSTATISTICS IN PUBLIC HEALTH (3 CREDITS)

The course provides students with an understanding of basic statistical methods in public health research, as well as the skills to perform and interpret basic statistical procedures. Students learn how to use statistical analysis software to analyze real data from public health-related studies. They then learn how to interpret the analysis and present the results to public health professionals and educated lay audiences. The course will include a lab component which will enhance student awareness and informed usage of SAS for public health analysis. Students will learn how to input, read, store, export and modify data in SAS and be able to use common SAS procedures to analyze public health data and conduct independent SAS programming.

EPI 50013 Clinical Epidemiology Basics

In this course, students develop an understanding of clinical research, good clinical practices, research environments and methods used in clinical research. Students gain an understanding of the use of clinical investigation, from the product development stage to the application of investigations in contract research organizations. Ethical implications and regulatory issues are examined.

EPI 50014 Clinical Trials Management

This course examines guidelines for good clinical practices. Students learn how to conduct and manage clinical trials; understand clinical trials data; develop instruments and protocols; recognize quality control and data issues; know approaches to recruitment, retention and participant assessment; identify adverse events and measurement of response variables; and acquire skills in study closeout procedures.

EPI 50017 Pharmacoepidemiology

Pharmacoepidemiology uses epidemiology methods to understand medication use and distribution at the population level. This introduction to the field of pharmacoepidemiology examines risk-benefit and epidemiology approaches to examining medication use and therapeutic trials. Drug and device manufacturing to market are explored.

EPI 50018 Regulatory Affairs in Clinical Research

This course helps students develop an understanding of the individual researcher and organization's responsibilities in research and the development of clinical trial products. Detailed exploration of examples from the field helps students understand regulations from the government and industry, privacy concerns, liability and ethical issues related to clinical trials research.

EPI 52017 Fundamentals of Public Health Epidemiology

This course introduces the principles, methods and application of epidemiology. It also highlights applications of epidemiology to understanding disease etiology, transmission, pathogenesis and prevention, along with public policy development and evaluation. The history of epidemiology, disease causation and prevention concepts, disease frequency and excessive risk measures, epidemiologic study designs, causal inference, outbreak investigation and screening are covered. Students will gain experience with the calculation of rate standardization; measures of disease frequency association and impact; and sensitivity and specificity of screening tests.

EPI 63019 Experimental Designs for Clinical Research

Principles of experimental designs as they apply to clinical research and clinical trials are presented at an intermediate level. Students understand randomized control trial designs and alternative designs. Study methodology, including randomization and blinding techniques, is covered. Topics include evidence-based medicine; risk prediction and risk scores; instruments and measurement; data issues; and recruitment, retention and adherence.

EPI 63021 Ethical Issues in Public Health and Clinical Research

This course introduces students to historical and contemporary ethical issues that arise during public health and clinical or biomedical research studies. It broadly covers human subjects research, the responsible conduct of research and the good clinical practice guidelines.

EPI 63192 Research Practicum in Clinical Epidemiology

The research practicum allows students to gain hands-on experience conducting research in a clinical setting, such as a hospital or other approved organization. Students complete the experience under the supervision of a field preceptor and faculty member.

HPM 63006 Cost-Benefit Analysis in Public Health Programs

This course provides an overview of cost-benefit analysis as applied to the evaluation of public health programs. Students apply principles of cost-benefit analysis and related cost-utility analysis to case studies in the public health sector.

HPM 63008 Healthcare Privacy and Security

This course introduces students to the fundamental concerns addressed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). The course will explore the Privacy and Security Rules, and the HITECH Act Provisions, Enforcement, and Omnibus Final Rule. By the end of this course, you will have a comprehensive understanding of healthcare privacy and security.

SBS 63010 Qualitative Methods for Public Health Research

In this course, students will be guided through an exploration of the uses and value of qualitative approaches to research with humans through a combination of resource review and guided applied practice. Students will be provided with information about various methodologies that comprise qualitative inquiry, and will engage in practice efforts to analyze provided data and assess the quality of research reports.

SBS 63011 Qualitative Data Analysis

Students will be introduced to the process and goals of qualitative data analysis relevant to research design and study purpose. The course includes opportunities to conduct coding and other types of analysis of qualitative data using both computer-assisted and manual processes. Students will focus on descriptive or generic approaches for qualitative and mixed-methods research. Students will additionally learn about and be provided opportunities for guided practice in quality control measures that include the creation of an audit trail, "member checking," composition of analytic memos, and other forms of researcher-initiated documentation.

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Choosing the right online program comes with lots of questions, and our admissions outreach advisors are here to help you sort through them all. Connect with this friendly, knowledgeable team for personalized guidance. They’ll make sure you have everything you need to feel confident about your next steps at Kent State.

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Sources

Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from onetonline.org/link/summary/11-9121.01
Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from onetonline.org/link/summary/19-1042.00
Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from payscale.com/research/US/Job=Clinical_Trial_Manager/Salary
Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Clinical-Research-Nurse-Salary#Yearly
Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Toxicologist-Salary
Retrieved on August 28, 2025, from www1.salary.com/institutional-review-board-irb-director-salary.html