Center for Clinical Studies Jena (ZKS)
The Center for Clinical Studies was founded in November 2008 as a scientific service unit of Jena University Hospital (JUH) and has built up an efficient infrastructure for clinical studies at JUH. On 12 November 2014, during the 19th general assembly of the Network of the Coordinating Centers for Clinical Trials (KKS-Network), Jena University Hospital’s Center for Clinical Studies has been admitted as a new associated member.
By establishing this center, Jena University Hospital enhances long-term and high level patient-oriented clinical research in an academic environment. ZKS Jena offers professional support in conception, study coordination/project management and regulatory issues as well as in data management, IT, biometrics and monitoring. In addition, training courses are offered on a regular basis. Prof. Dr. André Scherag has been serving as Deputy Director since 2015 and as Scientific Director of the ZKS since 2024, while Ms. Isabella Schiller is the Managing Director.
Custom-made project support
Staff of ZKS Jena offer comprehensive advice on scientific, organizational, regulatory, methodological and financial aspects of clinical studies to any scientist from Jena University Hospital who wants to initiate a clinical study. In a step-by-step approach, feasibility of the study is assessed and necessary fields of cooperation are discussed. This advice is free of charge for scientists from Jena University Hospital. After scientific and clinical relevance as well as financial feasibility of the planned study have been confirmed, support for all aspects of the study or for specific subtasks is provided. By offering different extents of assistance, investigators get custom-made support for their projects.
Medical Registries
In addition to clinical studies, ZKS Jena has considerable expertise in the area of medical registries which are an important source of knowledge for quality assurance and for assessing medical care in daily routine.
Cooperations
ZKS Jena cooperates with all departments and institutes of Jena University Hospital and also with external customers from national and international university hospitals, public research institutes and associations, and from industrial research. There is close cooperation with the Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics, and Documentation (Director: Univ.-Prof. Dr. A. Scherag) in the field of biometrics and biostatistics. In the field of biobanking, the Clinical Trials Center Jena collaborates with the Integrated Biobank Jena (IBBJ), located at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Diagnostics (Director: PD Dr. Dr. M. Kiehntopf), which supports clinical research while ensuring the highest quality standards and compliance with current ethical, legal, and data protection regulations.