Content

The course will be offered monthly in two-hour sessions at the Natcher Conference Center, NIH, beginning in January 2003. About 30 minutes of each symposium will be available for questions and discussion. Extensive use of examples of successful (and not so successful) behavioral RCTs will be a hallmark of the series of symposia.

Recommended textbook:

Intended Audience

The intended audience is NIH extramural and intramural employees, with required advance registration to attend physically each symposium. (See below for VideoCasting attendance.) Extramural staff is responsible for preparing announcements for research programs (e.g., Requests for Proposals/Applications) and for administering grants involving RCTs. In addition to involvement in these kinds of activities, Intramural staff is engaged in RCTs as researchers. We anticipate that the audience will be mainly composed of individuals with doctoral or medical/nursing research degrees. (Intramural Fellows are not eligible. They may wish to consider applying for the Summer Training Institute.)

All symposia will be available to NIH and public audiences via VideoCasting .  

For schedule and viewing instructions, see http://videocast.nih.gov/.  The NIH Office of Extramural Programs/Office of Extramural Affairs/Office of the Director is providing the necessary  financial support to make videocasting available. The VideoCasts will be closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.

Sign-language interpretation for the hearing-impaired will be provided.  Individuals requiring reasonable accommodations for disabilities in order to participate should note their needs on the registration form.

Learning Goals

The overall goals of the series of symposia are to provide sufficient information so that participants will be able to: 

• Describe the principles underlying the conduct of unbiased clinical trials.
• Contrast biomedical vs. behavioral interventions in the context of RCT
•  Evaluate and interpret critically the literature on RCTs for behavioral interventions.
• Contrast and evaluate alternative research designs in terms of their appropriateness.
• Contrast and evaluate methods for monitoring, coordinating, and conducting RCTs.
• Select appropriate outcome measures, enrollment strategies, and randomization techniques.

Registration Procedures

Advanced registration is required to attend in person each symposium. Enrollment will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please enroll only for the symposia for which you are certain you can attend.  We will let you know whether you are enrolled or are on the waiting list. If you enroll and later learn that you cannot attend, please inform us so that we can offer your space to a colleague on the waiting list. 

Registration is not required to view the VideoCasting of the symposia.

Please complete and return a registration form. The form is available in Adobe PDF.  While it can be filled in our your computer, it does not automatically submit your information. You must save the form to your computer for printing and faxing or for e-mailing as an attachment. You must fax or e-mail it to:

Mr. Iain Mackenzie
Conference Manager
The Hill Group, Inc.
Fax: 301-897-9587
E-mail: imackenzie@thehillgroup.com

Curriculum, Schedule, and Location

A series of seven symposia are scheduled monthly, commencing January 10, 2003. Click here for topics, dates, locations, and faculty. All symposia will be held at the Natcher Conference Center on the main NIH Campus.

Videocasting of the Symposia

We are live videocasting and archiving the entire series of symposia, thanks to generous support from the Office of Extramural Research, Office of the Director. See http://videocast.nih.gov/default.asp for information on how to view them over the Internet. Videocasting is open to everyone, not just to NIH staff. You will need to know the date and time of each symposium in order to find the videocast link. You can get this information at:

 http://obssr.od.nih.gov/Conf_Wkshp/NIH-RCT/Content.htm. 

Faculty Roster

The faculty consists of experienced researchers and science administrators from the outside of as well as inside of the NIH. Two faculty members will provide instructions at each symposium.

Continuing Education Credit

Questions about the Series