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Mentors, staff, relationships feed clinical research pursuits
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LAS VEGAS – The first step to get started in clinical research is finding a mentor, according to a panelist here at the Vision Expo West Global Contact Lens Forum.
“A mentor will inspire you, move you forward and hold you accountable,” veteran researcher and Primary Care Optometry News Editorial Board member Milton M. Hom, OD, FAAO, FACAAI(Sc), told attendees.
“I still have mentors,” he said. “If you already have mentors, start thinking about mentoring other people. There are a lot of things you cannot read on the Internet.”
Collaboration is also a key, a lesson he said he learned after writing a book chapter on his own.
“Staff is important,” Hom continued. “You have to have infrastructure, staff and study coordinators to do clinical research.”
Hom said he has been involved in the National Eye Institute-sponsored Dry Eye Assessment and Management (DREAM) Study since 2007 with Penny Asbell, MD.
“This impressed upon me the need for infrastructure,” he said. “They need dedicated time and space to do all of the study paperwork and prep and certification.”
Hom said that industry supporters look for study sites that can enroll patients quickly.
“If I know a clinical study is going to come up, I start making my list of prospective patients,” he said. “I get them ready for the day enrollment starts.”
He added: “A lot of effort is required to do clinical research, but it’s rewarding. It’s financially rewarding, it will stretch your borders, make you a better practitioner and enable you to contribute to optometry.”
Panelist Jeffrey Sonsino, OD, FAAO, who said he became interested in research as an undergraduate, offered this advice: Show up, become friends with people who are doing what you want to do, be curious and observe.
He shared a story about how he got his first opportunity to conduct research and publish it by starting out washing glassware in a research lab three times a week. His second opportunity to get involved in research was a result of “pestering” one of his optometry professors into allowing him to participate in a study.
“When you have relationships with people who are doing the stuff you want to do, it’s funny how you can get a phone call out of the blue on research projects and collaborations,” Sonsino said.
More research opportunities arose when he moved from an academic medical center into private practice.
“We are doing a lot of unfunded stuff,” Sonsino continued. “We have an interesting question that comes up in the clinic, and I want to answer it in an inexpensive way. I recruit patients and we do a bunch of neat little studies.”
Panelist Christine W. Sindt, OD, FAAO, also performs research to answer questions in her practice.
“Get to the root of why you are doing something,” she said. “If you know why you’re doing it, you’ll collect the appropriate data. Keep asking ‘why.’”
Realize what is driving you, she continued. It may be curiosity, money, fame or a sense of belonging.
Sindt offered advice on performing industry-sponsored, investigator-initiated research.
“You have to be at the top of your game,” she said. “It has to be well thought out with definitive end points, and you have to have a proven track record of getting it done. They know your data will be good and who your study coordinators are.”
You must be well-known to get invited to conduct industry-initiated research, Sindt said.
“You have to be around for a while or tag onto someone else’s study,” she said. “I would caution against doing it just for one company; keep yourself neutral.”
Studies can be self-funded, she added.
“The best things I have accomplished – I have taken out loans to do projects,” Sindt said. “I truly believed this was my calling.”
She stressed the importance of realizing your biases.
“We have to be willing to give them up if the research provides different answers,” she said. “Build a network of people with differing opinions and listen. Always be a skeptic. Be very careful if you are in your comfort zone.” – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO
Reference:
Sindt C, et al. Evidence-based eye care and clinical practice: A review of research in clinical practice. Presented at: Vision Expo West, Las Vegas. Sept. 13-16, 2017.
Disclosures: Hom reports he is a consultant for AGN, Bausch + Lomb, Shire and Sun Pharmaceutical. Sindt reports she is consultant for Alcon, Allergan, NovaBay and Shire and is president and owner of EyePrint Prosthetics. Sonsino reports he is a consultant for Alcon, Allergan, Contamac, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Optovue, SynergEyes, Visionary Optics and Visioneering. He is a principal in LVR Technology.