A BRIEF HISTORY

Since its founding in 2001 and the realization of its first training the same year, the Vienna School of Clinical Research has developed and grown constantly until today. New courses have been designed, new partnerships and collaborations have been contracted and over 5000 people from more than 90 countries have been trained all over the world.
Follow the development of the Vienna School of Clinical Research throughout the years:

2010

• At the beginning of the New Year Assoc. Prof. MD. Johannes Pleiner, Head of the Medical University Vienna Academic Studies Support Office and researcher at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, is announced scientific advisor. He will support the team in restructuring and developing the course programme.
• In April 2010 the management of the Vienna School of Clinical Research attends the “Marxbox – laying of the foundation stone” ceremony. Thanks to the ongoing support of the City of Vienna, the Marxbox will become the new home of the VSCR in 2011.
• At the Board and General Assembly Meeting in June Univ.-Prof. Christoph Zielinski states that he will not be able to further lead the VSCR as president due to augmented workload. He is elected to Honorary President of the VSCR in appreciation of his leadership in the past four years.
• The beginning of a new cooperation: in September the VSCR signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Hibernia College, an online college providing internationally accredited online education with postgraduate programmes. The two institutions will jointly deliver online education to students worldwide.
• The VSCR has a new partner: Life-Sciences. This organisation is dedicated to support bio-scientists in their efforts to succeed in job and business by offering an online job-market, events, conferences and information about career strategies.
• A successful year in numbers: in 2010 an overall of 814 people participated in 49 courses held by the VSCR; half of them took place abroad.

2009

• The VSCR creates a new course: Advanced Biostatistics. Developed by VSCR Educational Advisor Dr. Simon Day and Prof. Mkaya Mwamburi from the Tufts University Boston, the course consists of two parts divided by a period of two months. The objective is to give participants an advanced understanding of basic skills and a good understanding of some more complex statistical methods.
• The Master of Science in Clinical Research is launched! Developed in cooperation with the Medical University of Vienna (MUW), the programme is meant to provide its graduates the competence to successfully lead research projects and compete on an international level. The faculty members are drawn from the MUW academic staff and international experts in multiple disciplines. Graduates will be awarded the degree "Master of Science in Clinical Research".
• New partner at the VSCR council is the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), a world-renowned Institution for teaching, research and services in the field of International Health Development. VSCR and Swiss TPH will collaborate in providing training and experts with particular focus on the African continent. 
• In 2009 756 people participated in 45 courses held by the VSCR.

2008

• At the general assembly meeting in June Univ.-Prof. Dr. Peter Placheta resignes from his role as Vice President of the VSCR and is from now on replaced by Dr. Ralf Hinzmann (Regional Medical Director, Head of Medicine Austria/CEE at Böhringer Ingelheim).
• In September Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heinrich Klech takes over the position of CEO and Executive Vice President of the VSCR.
• EDCTP (European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership) approves 5 clinical trial projects for Sub-Saharan Africa involving the VSCR as partner being responsible for capacity building.
• New course: in 2008 the VSCR runs for the first time a Summer School for political, financial, administrative and legal health care decision-makers. In collaboration with the annual highly prestigious conference and platform fo political, economic, social and other dialogue of public interest, the European Forum Alpbach, the Summer School entitled "Health Care and Social System" takes place in Alpbach, Austria.
• The record numbers of 2008 show that it has been a very successfull year for the VSCR: 892 participants took part in 46 courses, 17 of which were held abroad.

2007

• 5 YEARS OF VSCR!
• In 2007 the VSCR celebrates its 5th Anniversary. On this occasion key partners are invited, including the core teaching faculty, university partners, sponsors and customers as well as alumni, to proudly celebrate the joint achievements made in the past and the future opportunities and challenges.
• During the anniversary celebration, VSCR regretfully announces that Prof. Hans-Georg Eichler resigned from his role as president and thanks him for his great leadership and generous time commitments during the past years. Named as new president of the VSCR is Prof. Christoph Zielinski who is proudly welcomed.
• New partners: the VSCR starts a collaboration with two universities, the Gazi University Medical School, Turkey, as well as the University of Athens School of Medicine, Greece.
• From February 27 to March 2 the VSCR conducts for the first time a course in French: "Les Aspects Ethiques de la Recherche Clinique" is held at the historic Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. The training is sponsored by EDCTP (European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership) in order to provide basic knowledge to the future members of the Gabonese National Ethics Committee.
• The year 2007 in numbers: 541 people participated in 29 courses held in Vienna and abroad.

2006

• Looking back at the initial years of VSCR, we can proudly say that our organization has become a role model for a successful partnership between the scientific, public and private sectors.
• Two elements are responsible for the successful establishment of the VSCR as a unique internationally recognized "Center of Excellence" for training and education in the field of clinical research: The involvement of all stakeholders and interest groups as well as a highly motivated and committed operational team under the leadership of Mag. Christa Janko.
• A for Albania to Z for Zambia: Since 2001 more than 2600 physicians and other medical experts from more than 75 different countries have attended VSCR courses.
• New countries appear on the list of places where VSCR has become active. For the first time, VSCR successfully conducts GCP and Publication Workshops in China. In addition, the VSCR visits research centers in India to explore potential collaborations with Indian academic centers.
• With the implementation of e-learning, the VSCR enters into a new era. Headed by Dr Karin Fasching, and in collaboration with the German KKS Networks, web-based training modules will be launched to complement the "live"-courses, thus further optimizing the educational program of the VSCR. Beginning 2007, the first course will go online.
• The results of 2006 show record numbers: 36 courses involving more than 700 participants. For the first time in VSCR history, the number of courses conducted abroad slightly exceeds the number of courses held in Vienna. This reflects the growing globalization and mobility of the VSCR.
  
  

2005

• Moscow, Lambaréné, Cairo, Athens, Kilifi - the number of VSCR courses organized abroad increases again remarkably.
• VSCR continues to find new sponsors - in 2005, Servier and Hilton Hotel Vienna join.
• The VSCR sends the first Austrian community worker to Lambaréné, Gabon. Markus Gemeiner has worked for VSCR since 2003 and is the first "Auslandszivildiener" in the Albert-Schweitzer-Research Laboratory where he will spend 14 months.
• New courses in 2005: Project Management in Clinical Research, Introduction to Biostatistics, Ethical Aspects of Clinical Research, Introduction to Clinical Epidemiology.
• In May, the VSCR organizes a conference entitled VISEAR - Vienna Initiative to Save European Academic Research. In collaboration with and under the lead of Dr Christiane Druml, around 40 European experts analyze the situation of academic research in Europe. A number of publications resulted from the workshops and discussions at this conference.
• The activity report of VSCR in 2005 reflects further growth: 29 courses in Vienna and abroad involving more than 560 participants.

2004

• Besides new courses held in Austria and abroad, two other outstanding milestones have been achieved which raised broad interest.
• The VSCR changes location and moves into a new building in Kölblgasse 10 in the third district of Vienna. On 6th July 2004, the new seminar rooms equipped with modern state-of-the-art training facilities opened its doors for the VSCR team to move in. An Opening Celebration with around 200 national and international partners and friends of the VSCR was organized to celebrate the new "home" of the School.
• On 10th December 2004, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the Austrian Foreign Ministry, approves an application submitted by the VSCR for the establishment of a community service position in the Reseach Laboratory of the Albert-Schweitzer-Hospital Lambaréné (Gabon). This research laboratory is led by Prof Peter Kremsner, a scientist from Austria, and becomes a competent center for the realization of VSCR courses in Africa.
• In September 2004, the VSCR, together with the Medical University of Vienna and the American Austrian Foundation, are presented to renowned representatives of the US-based scientific community. During a luncheon conference held in the Austrian Embassy in Washington DC, Vienna and Austria are presented to as a hub for knowledge transfer between East and West and North and South.
• The 2004 activity report lists 27 courses organized in Vienna and abroad involving more than 500 participants.

2003

• In summary: A year full of highlights.
• In its third year of existence, the Vienna School of Clinical Research tripled the amount of organized courses. The VSCR course calendar shows new course titles: Introduction to GCP and Publication Workshop. Both courses become real "hits"!
• At the same time the VSCR also turned into a "Flying School": Introduction to GCP and a two-days Health Outcomes Research Seminar were the most demanded programs: these courses have been held with great success in Istanbul, Warsaw, Lisbon, Mexico City, Lambaréné and Beirut.
• A further major milestone is the accreditation of 9 VSCR courses as part of a postgraduate program launched by the Medical University of Vienna.
• The VSCR obtains its first EU-grant. A total budget of around € 700.000,-- is awarded out of the EU INTERREG program for training 30 Austrian and Slovakian physicians to become clinical research professionals. Around 20 % of the overall budget is contributed by the Vienna Business Agency.
• The university network continues to grow: the Medical Universities in Warsaw and Bucharest get on board.

2002

• In its second year of existence the VSCR can already show highly successful results: 260 graduates from more than 35 different countries have completed VSCR courses. Clinical research has become a topic of extended public interest across country borders.
• The co-operation with meanwhile 12 renowned universities guarantees that the contents taught in our courses correspond to state-of-the-art science. The new academic partners that joined the VSCR network include University of Ankara, Tufts University Boston, Postgraduate Medical University Bratislava, Albert Schweitzer Research Laboratories Lambaréné, Russian Cancer Research Center and University of Cape Town.
• Another milestone in this year is the geographic extension of the VSCR activities towards Africa.
• An initiative under the name of EDCTP (European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership) has been launched by the European Commission with the goal to promote clinical research activities in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to advance the development of new forms of therapies against malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The VSCR acts as a partner for training and education in this organization.
• The VSCR course program is extended by an Advanced GCP Course for Experts in Clinical Research as well as by a new diploma program entitled "Health Outcomes Research Training" which consists of three parts and targets a new audience: public health care decision-makers.
• The list of sponsors is growing: MSD, Impact Malaria Sanofi and Boehringer-Ingelheim.

2001

• January 2001: a vision turns into reality!
• The VSCR offers its first course - Introduction to Clinical Research - thus starting its mission to become a top training center for clinical research.
• This very first course - involving 30 participants from 7 countries and 22 lecturers from 8 countries - already shows the goal for the years to come: to be a hub for the international exchange of knowledge.
• At this point, VSCR has 6 scientific partners from Central and Eastern Europe: University of Vienna, Charles University Prague, Semmelweis University Budapest, University of Zagreb, Russian Academy of Sciences and the Medical University of Gdansk. The City of Vienna, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture as well as Eli Lilly are the main sponsors of the Vienna School of Clinical Research. Support is also provided to the VSCR by the Intercontinental Hotel Vienna and Bank Austria Creditanstalt.
• A new course is added to the VSCR program: "Scientific Aspects of Clinical Trials - Protocol Development Workshop" which ranks among the highlights of all VSCR courses.
• In this year, VSCR organizes a total of five courses involving 126 physicians from Central and Eastern Europe.