Rick Watts

Background

About Rick Watts

Rick is a Fellow of the Institute of Clinical Research (FICR) and Chartered Scientist (CSci). Specialties: Academic clinical trials using REDCap, Clinical data management, SAS programming, Data coding, and apparently, REDCap system validation! In 1997 Rick was working as a software development manager for the Lloyds Bank Group when he discovered that his future wife’s career in medical research was far more interesting than banking. He jumped ship and established a small consultancy business that built study databases, managed data, and conducted small-scale clinical trials. However, it’s hard being a small fish in a big pond. In 2001 Rick moved his family to Alberta and started work as a SAS programmer and data manager for a local CRO. In 2008 Rick was recruited to be the team lead for the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute’s new “Clinical Research Informatics Core”. Rick brought his somewhat unique combination of systems, software, and clinical trials knowledge to the team, which was established in order to provide sustainable data collection and management services for WCHRI members. In 2009 WCHRI became the first institution in Canada to install the REDCap electronic data capture system, an event that has proved to be significant, both for Rick and for research data collection at the University of Alberta. Rick currently manages a team of four Research Informatics Specialists while also acting as systems manager for the University’s REDCap systems. The team provides data management support for researchers at the University of Alberta and consultancy for researchers conducting multi-site Health Canada regulated clinical trials through the Maternal Infant Child Youth Research Network (MICYRN).