Good Clinical Practice

Building the Novartis Academy on Coursera and a certified course for clinical investigators

The challenge:

There is a lack of diversity in clinical trials which can have a catastrophic effect on the efficacy of medicines in underrepresented groups. In 2021 Novartis and the Novartis US Foundation announced the Beacon of Hope, their 10-year commitment to co-create programs that address health and education inequities and create greater diversity, equity, inclusion and trust across the research and development ecosystem.

We wanted to capitalise on our partnership with Massive Online Open Course provider Coursera, to support efforts to establish Centers of Excellence, training new principal investigators and trial managers, and improving the quality of clinical trials to meet the needs of patients served by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The solution:

We launched the Novartis Academy on Coursera with the course Introduction to Good Clinical Practice. This was part of a wider three course certified specialization. My role was to map Novartis’ existing content, design the course modules to appeal to the target audience, and ensure the learning objectives were aligned with the certification requirements.

This included instructional design, assessment design, the management of external vendors and support with the Novartis Academy partnership.

A woman with short, curly hair and glasses, smiling softly in a professional setting with a blurred office background, wearing a dark blazer. Overlaid text reads "Clinical Trial Experiences: Novartis Perspective."
Two women having a conversation in a medical office, with medical posters on the wall, books on a shelf, and a window with a plant outside.

Results:

Over 13,000 enrollments to the first course ‘Introduction to Good Clinical Practice’ with an average 4.7/5 rating

Over 22,000 enrollments to the Novartis Academy overall (to date)

A social media post by Novartis US announcing the launch of a virtual, three-part clinical trial learning series for investigators on Coursera, aimed at developing clinical trial leadership skills. The post highlights collaboration with Coursera and the goal to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in clinical trials, with a hashtag #healthequity. The accompanying image shows researchers working at computers in a laboratory setting.