Apply Today
Contact Us

Experienced Teams: Leading You to Further Career Development

The Master’s in Clinical Research degree is designed to provide graduate-level training in the skills and techniques needed to conduct high-quality medical research. Our program stands out as being taught by a team of multidisciplinary clinical researchers who are renowned in their respective disciplines, world-wide and locally. 

This self-funded, professional graduate degree program is housed in the Department of Medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, which has received a Tier 1 rating in medical research from U.S. News & World Report. The UCSD Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute as a collaborator partner provides curricular and staff support to the CREST and MAS programs and salary support for select faculty members. 

Recruitment, Admissions, Student Affairs & Career Services advising, and day-to-day, operational, fiscal as well as administrative duties are managed and provided by personnel from the Office of Advanced Professional Education and Development, at the UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies. This department specializes in providing high-quality administrative support for professional, graduate students enrolled in UC San Diego Health Sciences master’s programs, as well as supporting the Academic Leadership team and program Faculty.

Accreditation for this degree provided by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Training in this program adheres to core clinical research competencies outlined by the Association for Clinical and Translational Science. In addition, program leadership regularly gathers feedback from an extensive panel of expert advisors across both academia and the biotechnology industry. This MAS degree is conferred by the UC San Diego Graduate Education and Post Doctoral Affairs (GEPA) and the Campus Registrar’s Office.

Program Directors

Raphael Cuomo•••

Raphael Cuomo, PhD, MPH, CPH, FRSPH

Associate Director, Master of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research
Associate Professor, UC San Diego
Course Director – Data Management & Informatics
Course Director – Health Services Research
Course Co-Director – Clinical Research Graduate Seminar Series
Chair – Committee on Graduate Admissions
Academic Coordinator – Master’s in Clinical Research

J. Allen McCutchan•••

J. Allen McCutchan, MD, MSc

Associate Program Director, Professor Emeritus, Department of Medicine - Division of Infectious Diseases, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Ravindra L. Mehta•••

Ravindra L. Mehta, MD, FACP, FRCP

Program Director - Associate Chair for Clinical Medicine, Department of Medicine, UC San Diego School of Medicine
Professor Emeritus of Medicine
Director - UCSD CREST and Master of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research Program

Program Faculty

 
Our Faculty
Administrators
Advisory Board
John Bellettiere•••

John Bellettiere, PhD

Co-Course Director - Epidemiology I & II
Assistant Adjunct Professor - Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Balambal Bharti

Balambal Bharti, PhD

Co-Course Director - Epidemiology I & II
Project Scientist - UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center

Raphael Cuomo•••

Raphael Cuomo, PhD, MPH, CPH, FRSPH

Associate Director, Master of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research
Associate Professor, UC San Diego
Course Director – Data Management & Informatics
Course Director – Health Services Research
Course Co-Director – Clinical Research Graduate Seminar Series
Chair – Committee on Graduate Admissions
Academic Coordinator – Master’s in Clinical Research

Colin Depp

Colin Depp, PhD

Course Director - Behavioral Science Research, ISP Database Coordinator
Education Director - Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute
Associate Professor - Department of Psychiatry, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Jennifer J. Ford•••

Jennifer J. Ford, MBA

Director - Conflict of Interest (COI) Research Compliance and Integrity, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, UC San Diego

Jennifer Graves•••

Jennifer Graves, MD, PhD, MAS

Associate Professor - Neurosciences
Director - Online Course and Program Development
Director - UCSD Neuroimmunology Research Program
Director - Rady Children's Pediatric MS Center

Michael Hogarth•••

Michael Hogarth, MD, FACP, FACMI

Course Director - Data Management and Informatics Chief Clinical Research Information Officer, UC San Diego Health,
Professor - Department of Medicine, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Samantha Hurst

Samantha Hurst, PhD

Course Director - Qualitative Research, Project Scientist, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Regent Laporte

Regent Laporte, DVM, PhD, MSc

Course Director - Translational Research Fundamentals, Applied Translational Research, Applied Translational Research II
Program Director - Specialized Certificate in Translational Science, UC San Diego Extension and Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute

Anne M. Liljenstrand•••

Anne M. Liljenstrand, PhD

Course Director - Professional Development Seminar
Effective Communication Managing Director - The Bader Group

Etienne Macedo

Etienne Macedo, MD, PhD, FASN

Course Co-Director - Mentor Program and ISP Seminar Series A and B
Assistant Professor - Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Sheldon Morris•••

Sheldon Morris, MD, MPH

Co-Course Director - Patient Oriented Research I & II
Course Director - Translational Regenerative Medicine
Assistant Clinical Professor - Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Hemal Patel•••

Hemal Patel, PhD

Course Director - Scientific Communication Skills
Professor - Department of Anesthesiology, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Bernice Ruo

Bernice Ruo, MD, MAS, FACP

Clinical Professor of Medicine - Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, UCSD

Andrew Sarkin•••

Andrew Sarkin, PhD

Director of Evaluation Research - Health Services Research Center (HSRC)

Siddharth Singh

Siddharth Singh, MD

Course Director- CER/Comparative Effectiveness Research
Assistant Professor - Clinical Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Florin Vaida

Florin Vaida, PhD

Course Director - Biostatistics I & II, Professor, Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Seble Chernet

CREST Program Administrator - Department of Medicine / ACTRI, UC San Diego

Raphael Cuomo, PhD, MPH, CPH, FRSPH

Associate Director, Master of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research
Associate Professor, UC San Diego
Course Director – Data Management & Informatics
Course Director – Health Services Research
Course Co-Director – Clinical Research Graduate Seminar Series
Chair – Committee on Graduate Admissions
Academic Coordinator – Master’s in Clinical Research

Cynthia Grande

Career Advisor & Outreach Manager Office of Advanced Professional Education and Development, UC San Diego Extended Studies

Krisztina Hershon, MSc

Director - Graduate Degree Programs Office of Advanced Professional Education and Development, UC San Diego Extension

Susan Leach

CREST Program Representative - Department of Medicine / ACTRI, UC San Diego

Hugo Villar, PhD, MBA

Dean of UC San Diego Extension

Melissa Zamudio, MA

Graduate Student Program Advisor & Coordinator - MAS in Clinical Research, Office of Advanced Professional Education and Development, UC San Diego Extended Studies

David Adler, PharmD

Senate Emeritus - UC San Diego School of Pharmacy

Susan Carpenter, PhD

Director - Clinical Services Lilly Biotechnology Center, Eli Lilly & Co.

Eileen Casal, RN, MSN

Sr. Director - Clinical Affairs Dexcom

G. Bryan Cornwall, PhD, MBA, PEng

Associate Professor - USD Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering
President & Founder - Cornwall Bioengeneering & Communications

Gary S. Firestein, MD

Dean and Associate Vice Chancellor for Clinical and Translational Research Director, Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTRI)
Distinguished Professor - Medicine, UC San Diego Health Sciences

David Frakes, MD, FRCPC, FAPA

Vice President & Regional Medical Officer - Western North America PPD Biotech

Carolyn Kelly, MD

Professor Emeritus - UC San Diego School of Medicine

John D. Malone, MD, MPH, FACP, FIDSA, FACPE

Head Clinical Investigations - Naval Medical Center San Diego Research
Program Manager - Navy Medicine West at U.S. Navy Medicine

Larry Mimms, PhD

Chief Executive Officer - ProciseDx, LLC

Carlos M. Nunez, MD

Chief Medical Officer - ResMed

Ted Okerson, MD, MAS, FACP, FACE, FTOS

Senior Field Physician & Senior Director - Cardiovascular/Metabolic Disease AstraZeneca

Kourosh Parivar, M.Pharm

VP & Head - Clinical Pharmacology Pfizer Oncology

Vinod Pullarkat, MD, MRCP

Clinical Professor - Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation City of Hope Medical Center

Maria Savoia, MD

Dean - UC San Diego School of Medicine

K.A. Ajit Simh, MS

President - Shiba Biotechnology, Inc.

Keith Wilner, MD, PhD

Executive Director - Pfizer