HOPA member Vivian Loo PharmD, BCOP is a Senior Protocol Content Administrator at City of Hope whose practice includes creating clinical content for oncology clinical trials in the electronic health record Epic Beacon oncology module. Her focus is on CAR T and other immune effector cell therapies, and endocrinology clinical trials. Her previous experience includes creating content for leukemia, genitourinary, and gene therapy clinical trials.

Please describe your current position and the uniqueness of your type of work

My role as protocol content administrator serves as a hybrid of clinical oncology pharmacy, research, and informatics. I help to develop and maintain study-specific clinical content for build into Epic Beacon using study documents such as clinical trial protocols, pharmacy/cellular therapy manuals, and lab manuals.

I work with physicians, clinical trial nurses, clinical research coordinators, and study sponsors to ensure the proposed content adheres to protocol requirements and addresses site-specific workflows, and that medications and supportive care are built accurately and safely.

In addition to pharmacy workflows, my role is responsible for incorporating nursing and laboratory processes into the Epic build and requires comprehensive knowledge of the entire research structure. This position uniquely allows for creativity as there are different ways to approach building a clinical trial while considering patient population, medication administration constraints, hospitalization requirements, system enhancements and limitations, and end user feedback.

Tell us a little about your recent publication in the Journal of Patient Safety

Our team’s work is centered around ensuring that our Epic Beacon plans for oncology trials follow protocol requirements while maintaining clinical trial participant safety. Of the various research roles at our institution, our team is one of the first to comprehensively review protocol documents as we initiate our Epic build. Therefore, we are often able to make early interventions to clarify information or identify errors that, if not caught, can potentially lead to patient safety issues.

Our team collected and analyzed one year of data surrounding these interventions. The results of our study were published in October 2023 in the Journal of Patient Safety. Our study demonstrated that there is a gap in patient safety during clinical trial implementation as evidenced by our potential patient safety impact interventions. While standard of care interventions are well documented, to our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind documenting interventions made during clinical trial implementation.

Please tell us about the potential impact of your research on patient care.

It is my hope that our team’s role in research will bring visibility to the need for dedicated clinical content specialists, especially at institutions with high volumes of clinical trials, to ensure that clinical trials are implemented accurately and safely while upholding protocol objectives.

What is one of the proudest moments of your career?

One of the proudest moments of my career was when our team received a Medication Safety Officers Society (MSOS) Cheers Award in 2021 for our work promoting patient safety and research integrity in investigational treatment plans.

As a newer practitioner, what advice would you offer to other oncology trainees who are just beginning their career?

I would highly advise oncology trainees to take advantage of opportunities to work in different settings and health systems, whether it’s during rotations, or even during the early years of one’s career. My time working in other health systems and settings was essential in providing important clinical and informatics knowledge that I have applied and built upon in my current position. I also encourage oncology trainees to stay inquisitive and take every opportunity to learn and explore non-traditional career pathways.