Ben Liu Spotlight
October 20, 2023
Ben Liu is a clinical research coordinator with the breast imaging division, working closely with Rita Freimanis, MD. Since Ben started at UCSF in 2022, he has worked to manage the logistics of a new filter-mammogram study, ensuring regulatory compliance and best practices, collecting and managing study data, and screening and recruiting participants as well as obtaining their informed consent, particularly by overcoming language hurdles. The goal of this study is to catch breast cancer tumors early at a more treatable stage, and a diverse participant pool is required to produce generalizable results from the study.
Ben has found great personal satisfaction working with Dr. Freimanis, “I appreciate her relentless support and mentorship that has helped me and my coworkers grow as a clinical research coordinators and helped me advance my career goals. I am inspired by her never-ending curiosity to learn and her kind and caring attitude to all patients and staff.”
A significant part of Ben’s role is reaching out to Mandarin and Cantonese speaking patients to encourage them to take part in this important mammogram research. The study’s PI, Dr. Freimanis has emphasized the importance of having a very diverse participant pool, and so Ben has done his part to recruit more Asian participants, who now constitute a commendable 20% of the study’s subject pool. With only about half of eligible women in the United States receiving mammography exams, producing results that can speak to all potential recipients is crucial. Ben’s family moved to the Bay Area from Guangzhou, China when he was 11, and his language skills and shared background help potential participants feel confident about the nature of the research.
He said, “It makes me feel good to use my abilities to help people who tend not to participate in any research decide to participate.”
Years ago, Ben’s father had lung cancer and as Ben took him to his required hospital visits, Ben was impressed by how important it was for everyone working in the medical field to approach what they do with an attitude of service. He became interested in pursuing a medical related career. He originally studied psychology, and previously worked in the Behavior Health Department at the Northeast Medical Services clinic in San Francisco. There he was inspired by the example of his coworkers and this experience both provoked his interest in medical research and provided him a lot of patient-facing experience, which has helped him establish an empathetic connection with potential study participants. He described the rewarding nature he has found in his current position as clinical research coordinator, “I enjoy helping patients get the services that they need, and to provide a smooth and warm service to them.”
Ben and the rest of the team work to ensure this representative subject pool by reaching out to patients who have appointments with the Avon clinic for mammogram screening. Often, there have been obstacles to recruiting Chinese speaking participants in US medical research, as the language barrier can breed uncertainty and worry. Ben’s goal is not to persuade potential participants, but to help them understand the potential of this research and thus allow them to make their own informed decision. He said, “I explain to them the benefits of this study, and how it could benefit women’s health or breast cancer in general. Many people are very passionate and enthusiastic in helping because they know that medical technology needs someone to volunteer for this research in order to make advances.”
The position of clinical research coordinator also calls for much more than his empathy and ability to establish a personal connection. He is meticulous in monitoring for any protocol deviations or data entry errors that could be very harmful to the study. Then, when Ben feels he needs to stretch a different side of his talents from the often very detail-oriented tasks of work; deep involvement in data entry, data management, answering queries, and other administrative tasks, he turns to music. He has been a musician from an early age, starting a band with his friends that performed for their high-school graduation and still meets up from time to time to jam. On weekends when the band can’t get together, Ben loves to go out to karaoke and belt out his favorite Chinese songs; drawing from the emotional core that allows him to establish such important connections through his work.