Across the country, there is an urgent need and growing recognition to build Canada’s clinical research workforce and better support the people who deliver clinical trials. This includes supporting clinical research professionals who are faced with major challenges like system strain, staffing challenges, and limited capacity while still running trials in an ethical, timely and safe way.

As a way forward, clinical trials organizations across Canada are looking to the Clinical Research Workforce Strategy. This national, multi-partnered initiative aims to standardize roles, define career pathways, and ensure equitable access to trials across the country, including BC.

Clinical Trials British Columbia is at the forefront of this mission, as a partner on the initiative. In 2025, Alison Orth co-authored a white paper on “The Hidden Crisis in Clinical Research,” which led to the creation of the national strategy. The Director of Clinical Trials British Columbia, Alison now serves as Chair of the Leadership Committee for the Clinical Research Workforce Strategy.

The Clinical Research Workforce Strategy is key to strengthening our provincial clinical trials workforce, supporting BC’s clinical trials vision:

“Develop and support a skilled and viable clinical trial workforce across the province, including urban rural and remote settings”

Learn about the vision

“A strong, skilled and diverse research workforce is the backbone of clinical innovation. Clinical Trials British Columbia is committed to professionalizing this field and enabling clinical research settings, whether in urban centres or rural communities, to have the human infrastructure needed to bring new treatments to Canadians safely and efficiently.”

— Alison Orth, Director, Clinical Trials British Columbia & Chair of the Leadership Committee, Clinical Research Workforce Strategy

This partnership advances BC’s shared vision for clinical trials and is vital to securing Canada’s global competitiveness and ensuring a sustainable, high-performing research ecosystem.

Clinical Trials British Columbia is championing the ‘human infrastructure’ required for life-saving treatments, ensuring that BC’s leadership and clinical trials expertise help shape a standardized, professionalized workforce across the country.

Related links

• Read the whitepaper: The Hidden Crisis in Clinical Research
• Read the strategy: Canada’s Clinical Research Workforce Strategy
• Read an article by Healthing.ca that features the national strategy: Building the clinical research workforce to bring new treatments to Canadians