Upon introducing Applied Clinical Trials' Insiders Guide to the Clinical Trials Profession in November's From the Editor, our Editor-in-Chief Lisa Henderson referred to several pieces of advice she had gathered from seasoned industry professionals on the Applied Clinical Trials Editorial Advisory Board. Here, as an online extra, is more of what our Board members felt was either the best advice they've ever been given or the best advice they had to give based on their own experience.

The best advice I ever received is that it is at least as important to manage your boss as your staff.  You should never assume your boss knows what you are doing and you should always try to align yourself with your boss's goals.

—Jeffrey Litwin, MD, Executive VP and Chief Medical Officer, eResearchTechnology

It's never too late. Every day is a day to treasure. Every day, in the people we meet, the activities we choose, the decisions we make, we are laying the groundwork for our next phase. Every day we put off going to school or taking a vacation, having a baby or learning to do something is a day we do not get back. Today I may be 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 but it is still not too late.

These are lessons I had heard but when I heard it from Jean, the career counselor who hated her job and was returning to school at 50, it made me think. She died 25 years later after a very successful second career.

—Erica J. Heath, CIP, President, Independent Review Consulting

On outsourcing: “Successful partnerships manage the relationship, not just the deal.” —Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business Review, 1994

On dealing with colleagues: “The pharmaceutical industry is a small world; you will encounter the same people over and over again.  Don't burn your bridges.”

On communicating: “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.” —from Jim Sartori, Marketing Manager at E.R. Squibb & Sons, 1969   

On viewpoints: “Don't say or write anything about someone that you would not say to their face.” —from my Mother and my Wife

On winning: "Second place is first loser" —from my Hawaiian outrigger canoe racing coach

—John R. Vogel, PhD, Drug Development Consultant, John R. Vogel Associates, Inc.

My advice to clinical trial professionals is the same as it is to clinicians. You hone your skills in clinical development in the same way you do for clinical medicine, by taking on a wide range of projects in as much depth as you can. Like clinical medicine you learn from your successes and mistakes and its better to learn from someone else’s mistakes than repeat them so seek advice from your colleagues. Just as each patient brings their own unique medical problems so each clinical development program seems to create its peculiar difficulties but in both cases the range of your prior experience helps you to find the solution.

—Edward Stewart Geary, MD, Vice President & Global Safety Officer, Eisai

Be interested in other cultures, languages, and disciplines. Clinical development is a global, multidisciplinary effort.

Apply highest scientific standards and ethical principles but, in parallel, consider the economics of drug development and the overall financial constraints in the pharma market.

Take pride in what you are doing. Quality and productivity of your work should ultimately benefit sick human beings (or prevent them from acquiring serious illnesses).

—Johanna Schenk, MD, FFPM, Senior Partner & Managing Director, PharmaProjekthaus, GmbH & Co. KG

My advice is get an MBA. Understanding the business ramifications of clinical research decisions is more important than most imagine—an MBA will enable you to “think broadly.” I've had the privilege of mentoring two employees who wanted to do Master’s level training. Neither of them thought about an MBA, but after discussion they both embarked down that road. Both of these individuals have gone on to highly successful careers in clinical research, and have told me more than once “that was the best advice anyone has ever given me.”

—Timothy Pratt, PhD, MBA, Clinical and Business Consultant

As a quality assurance professional with over 34 years of experience, the best advice I ever received was; understand what people do and why they do it, and then see how you can best achieve compliance in their environment.

—Stanley C. Rogers, Executive Vice President, SMHW Associates, LLC

A degree in medicine is obsolete in about four years, so you need to refresh it every day; keep your eyes, and your mind open to new ideas. Finally, I always keep in mind a motto from Leonardo; “sad is the pupil who does not outdo his teacher.”

—Domenico Criscuolo, MD, FPPM, chief executive officer, Genovax

Clinical research is besieged today with public scrutiny, skepticism, and often profound distrust. When building a career in this field, you should keep in mind that good practices and ethics are not just a matter of guidelines and regulations, but more fundamentally a matter of the choices we make with regard to how to make a contribution while at the same time pursuing self development. Career changes often arise as opportunities for advancement and new challenges. Sometimes they might be in some sense forced upon us because we cannot in good conscience accept certain practices or behaviors. The latter career changes will likely present the more true opportunities as well as the more real challenges. When faced with career decisions, being true to yourself will always be the best choice.

—Francis P. Crawley, Executive Directory, Good Clinical Practice Alliance Europe

An advice is string of comments I received from a senior clinical scientist, when I left academia to join industry as a clinical scientist:

“Always do the right thing.  No one can fault you for that.”  “Keep your nose clean, because this is a small and tight-knit industry.”  “Be respectful and nice to people as you grow and move up in your career.  Those may be the same people you will need to count on in time of difficulty—and, there will be difficult times."

—Felix Khin-Maung-Gyi, PharmD, MBA, CIP, RAC, CEO, Chesapeake Research Review, Inc.