Before research development, AI tools, and strategic partnerships, our core work was helping investigators move clinical and translational research from idea to execution — building the infrastructure, regulatory scaffolding, and day-to-day coordination that human subjects research actually requires.
More basic and translational researchers are now pursuing human subjects work — but not every investigator has the clinical connections, clinic access, or experience navigating the regulatory and operational requirements that make these studies possible.
Human subjects research demands the right clinical partners, a feasible protocol, IRB approval, biospecimen and data workflows, participant-facing coordination, regulatory documentation, and ongoing project oversight.
Our team supports projects from the earliest planning stages through active execution — serving as the connective tissue between the research lab, clinical collaborators, regulatory offices, and operational teams.
Most programs draw on more than one. We tailor support to the study, not the other way around.
Design and operation of sample-collection workflows that connect clinical settings to research labs — consent, processing, chain-of-custody, banking, and downstream assay hand-offs.
Full-spectrum support for clinical studies and clinical trials, from activation through monitoring — meeting investigators wherever they are in the lifecycle of the study.
With experienced senior Clinical Research Coordinators on the team, OCR provides operational leadership, staff supervision, and workflow standardization for groups that need additional structure or capacity.
Our coordination model flexes with the science. The same team takes on three distinct shapes depending on what the study needs.
Acts as an on-demand Clinical Research Unit for groups without a dedicated one — guiding investigators new to human-subjects work through regulatory and procedural requirements.
Shares CRCs with established CRUs whose bandwidth is consumed by clinical trials, ensuring non-clinical projects still get timely, adequate coordination.
Places CRCs strategically inside specific institutions or departments to act as an honest broker — supporting research across multiple divisions and bridging clinical groups.
From the clinic to the assay, our lifecycle keeps science moving and provenance intact. Alongside every specimen runs a data pipeline we build and maintain with the same care.
Consent + SOP-driven sample collection at the site.
Centrifuge, aliquot, label — chain-of-custody logged.
Biorepository integration: barcoded, temperature-monitored.
Manifested, IATA-compliant shipping to downstream cores.
Hand-off to single-cell, proteomics, sequencing partners.
Consent + SOP-driven sample collection at the site.
Centrifuge, aliquot, label — chain-of-custody logged.
Biorepository integration: barcoded, temperature-monitored.
Manifested, IATA-compliant shipping to downstream cores.
Hand-off to single-cell, proteomics, sequencing partners.
Clinical and sample metadata captured at the source, in REDCap or the study database.
PHI stripped or coded under the IRB-approved plan before anything leaves the clinic.
Secure transfer to the study's data environment — logged, versioned, and access-controlled.
Structured, backed-up storage linked to the specimen record by a shared ID.
Range checks, missingness reports, and harmonized variables — in partnership with OCR data management.
Periodic audits against source so the dataset is ready for analysis and sharing.
Clinical and sample metadata captured at the source, in REDCap or the study database.
PHI stripped or coded under the IRB-approved plan before anything leaves the clinic.
Secure transfer to the study's data environment — logged, versioned, and access-controlled.
Structured, backed-up storage linked to the specimen record by a shared ID.
Range checks, missingness reports, and harmonized variables — in partnership with OCR data management.
Periodic audits against source so the dataset is ready for analysis and sharing.
UCSF Health acquired St. Mary's and St. Francis earlier in the year. With Ted Abraham leading affiliate networks, OCR is piloting an on-site CRC for three years to broaden the clinical research portfolio — acting as an honest broker across community physicians and multiple departments.
A funded award that helps researchers establish or improve pipelines for obtaining human biospecimens from clinical settings — allocating up to 50% of an OCR CRC's effort for study setup, participant recruitment, consent, sample acquisition, and data management.
Project Managers and CRCs contribute fractional effort across multiple studies — making high-quality clinical research support accessible to investigators who don't need (or can't fund) a full-time hire.
“OCR gave us the connective tissue between our lab, the clinic, and the regulatory office. Our study would not have launched without them.”
“We didn't need a full-time coordinator — we needed the right twenty percent of one. OCR made that possible.”
“Their senior CRCs brought structure to a group that had been improvising for years. The standardization was immediate.”
Most projects draw on more than one arm. Start with one, and the others are a conversation away.
Tell us where you are — pre-award, in startup, or mid-flight — and we'll show you exactly where our team can plug in.