Clinical Trials

What is it? A clinical trial is a research study to answer specific health questions using human volunteers. There are generally two types of clinical trials:

• Experimental treatments to test whether specific therapies are safe and effective under controlled environments
• Observational studies to assess health issues in large populations in a natural setting

More information can be found at the National Institutes of Medicine website. We invite you to learn about more clinical trials at UCSF and clinical trials and research projects at the Department of Psychiatry.