Louise Hanby, Clinical Data Co-ordinator, ICON Clinical Research

Degree subject Pharmacology
Job title Clinical Data Co-ordinator
Employer ICON Clinical Research

I'm responsible for reviewing the quality of data during clinical trials. It's a fast-paced atmosphere and I love the buzz of working in a team on the studies.

On the medical side, I use my pharmaceutical background to check medical information. On the technical side, I work with the databases where we store the trial results. This can be challenging as it involves working with our database administrators to programme the necessary checks into the system: for example, spotting when an abnormal blood pressure reading is entered. The job also has an administrative element, creating spreadsheets and reports.

I usually spend the morning reviewing the medical information sent to us the night before. After that the job varies: I could be programming database checks, writing operating procedures, in training, or in a meeting with sponsors – the pharmaceutical companies that contract us. We are expected to take on responsibility fairly quickly: I have already been given the job of training a team from India.

I found out about my employer by talking to people in my year who were already working here. The job appealed because I really enjoy working with medical terminology. I didn't want a lab job so I was pleased to find an office-based role where I could use my degree. However, there are different departments here so if I wanted to work in a lab, or go into another area such as business development or clinical, I could transfer.

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