The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the nonprofit Bidwell Training Center co-developed a new program for translational workforce diversification and development to foster diversity and inclusion in clinical research. The STricklAnd Research Training (START) program provides students in the Medical Assistant program at Bidwell a career path in clinical research. We created a 12-hour didactic package that covers responsible conduct of human subjects research and good clinical practice as an add-on to existing vocational curriculums. Students have the option of completing a clinical research-related externship at Pitt, which includes mentoring, shadowing, and protocol-specific training on a study team whose intention is to hire them as a clinical research assistant. Those who accept a position at Pitt receive continued mentorship, education, and professional development through Pitt CTSI. In the first three cohorts, two of which had access to research externships at Pitt, 92% of students successfully completed the instruction in clinical research. We plan to expand START to new venues to train and hire local community members from diverse backgrounds who can bring their lived experience to research programs.

Research involving the dead has not been regulated, and little, if any, institutional oversight has been provided. As a result, the numbers and types of research projects involving the dead are at best poorly characterized and at worst, unknown. The University of Pittsburgh instituted a mechanism for oversight of such research in June 2002. In this article, we report the experience of that oversight body, the Committee for Oversight of Research Involving the Dead (CORID), during its first 18 months.