University of California San Francisco
Office of
Collaborative Research
Research Operations & Management

From research plan to real-world execution.

Project managers and clinical research coordinators who launch, coordinate, and manage your research: biospecimen pipelines, clinical studies and trials, and complex scientific programs. We join at the point the work needs us, for as much effort as it needs.

What does your research need?
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Biospecimen & translational research coordination

We build the pipeline from clinic to bench: clinical collaborators, protocol and regulatory approvals, consent, collection, processing, and handoff to your lab or UCSF CoLabs, with clinical metadata that travels with every sample.

When
Before the protocol is written, when possible. Pipelines are easier to design than to retrofit.
For whom
Basic and translational labs that need human samples but lack clinic access, and clinical investigators building a biobank.
Structure
Coordinator effort for the clinical side of the pipeline, with OCR data management alongside.
Cost
Scoped to project needs and capacity. Funded through grants, institutional partnerships, or OCR pipeline development awards.
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Our services

Three ways we support research.

Each is a distinct capability, and none is a career stage of another. Most engagements draw on more than one: the same coordinators often deliver both clinical and biospecimen work, and project managers support basic, clinical, and translational science alike.

01 · Biospecimen & translational research coordination

Connect your lab to the clinic.

We build and run the pipeline that brings human samples from clinical settings to research laboratories, with the clinical metadata that makes them useful.

02 · Clinical research coordination

Start up and run human-subjects studies.

Coordinators who take a protocol from feasibility through activation, enrollment, and close-out, for investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored studies alike.

03 · Research project & program management

Keep complex initiatives on track.

Project and program managers who run the operational side of multi-investigator and multi-institutional science, in basic, clinical, and translational work.

How we work

Three stages, whether it's a single-site study or a consortium.

The same operating rhythm applies to a clinical trial and a multi-institutional program. What changes is the mix of people: coordinators for human-subjects work, project managers for the program around it, data managers alongside both.

  1. 01 Plan & Assess

    First conversation

    We learn the scientific objectives and what delivering them will take: feasibility, clinical partners, the regulatory path, staffing, infrastructure, and budget. You leave with a scoped plan and a realistic read on timeline.

  2. 02 Launch & Establish

    Startup

    Protocols, IRB and regulatory submissions, contracts and activation, workflows and SOPs, databases, and the coordination structure the work will run on, whether that is a study team or a consortium's governance.

  3. 03 Execute & Manage

    Ongoing

    Day-to-day coordination: visits, samples, milestones, budgets, reporting, and quality control. We resolve operational problems as they arise, keep investigators informed, and hand over a dataset that is ready when the science is.

Our record

A portfolio that has grown every year.

Below, each service with a few of the projects and programs our team runs today. The full list is on Programs & Projects.

29

active programs and projects in 2025, up from 10 in 2023, across 12+ departments, divisions, and programs.

Biospecimen & translational
11active biospecimen projects and biobanks

Pipelines that bring tissue, blood, and other samples from UCSF clinics to research labs and CoLabs.

A few examples3 of 11
All biospecimen projects
Clinical research coordination
15studies with OCR coordinators in 2025, up from 4 in 2023

Coordinators on clinical trials and human-subjects studies, from startup and consent through study visits.

A few examples3 of 15
All coordinated studies
Project & program management
5active programs, including clinical research units we manage

Managers running consortia, multi-project programs, and the operations of clinical research units.

A few examples3 of 5
All managed programs

Many projects draw on more than one service; coordinators often deliver both clinical and biospecimen work, so category counts overlap.

Biospecimen pipeline awards
Testimonials
“OCR engages with and supports the UCSF community. The ‘collaboration’ in its name reflects exactly what it does: connecting people and building interdisciplinary partnerships. I’ve come to see OCR as a source of innovation.”
UCSF faculty leader
“OCR exemplifies what makes UCSF great. Grassroots organizations like OCR are essential to building a stronger, more connected research community.”
UCSF faculty member
Our staffing model

Experienced people, without the full-time hire.

Investigators and institutional partners work with our staff in whatever form fits the project. In every form, our staff join as part of the research team: they learn the science, stay with the project, and leave behind workflows the group can keep running.

  • Fractional effort on your project

    A coordinator or manager at the fraction of effort a single project needs, rather than a full-time position.

  • Dedicated staff through grants or partnerships

    Staff supported by an award or an institutional partnership, embedded with your team for the life of the work.

  • Shared coordination across programs

    Coordinators who work across several related studies, so smaller projects get experienced coverage.

  • Operational oversight for existing groups

    Senior coordinators who bring structure, supervision, and standard workflows to a clinical research unit you already have.

  • Cross-functional support from OCR's other arms

    Data management, research development, and community management when the project calls for them.

Our team

Our project managers and coordinators

Six people who work across studies and programs, so each project gets experienced support at the effort it needs.

Corey Rathe
Corey Rathe, MS
Program Manager
Natalia Dikinov
Natalia Dikinov
Lead Senior Clinical Research Coordinator
Ohnmar Chan
Ohnmar Chan
Senior Clinical Research Coordinator
Francisco Quintanilla
Francisco Quintanilla
Senior Clinical Research Coordinator
Lina Kamil
Lina Kamil, MPH
Clinical Research Coordinator
Olivia Murley
Olivia Murley
Clinical Research Coordinator
Our partners

Institutes, hospitals, and programs

Partners hold dedicated capacity on our team; other UCSF investigators are supported as bandwidth allows.

Talk to us about partnership
Get started

Discuss your research needs.

You can bring us in at any point: early planning, study startup, an active study, or a program that is expanding or restructuring. The earlier the conversation, the more options we have.

Institutes, departments, and hospitals
Talk to us about partnership
Scoping conversation
Scope a project with us
By email
Free to ask

Choose a stage and we'll tell you what is useful to include in a first email.

No protocol, budget, or IRB approval required · or email ocr@ucsf.edu