Our vision
GRAS aims to become a pole of excellence in biomedical and operational research in West Africa
What Are Our Missions ?
The main missions of GRAS are :
- To contribute, through innovative health research, to the settlement of public health problems and, consequently, to the improvement of the health of populations,
- To contribute to the strengthening of the skills of health research professionals.
What values guide us?
GRAS is a leadership institution committed to innovative health research, with a qualified and experimented staff dedicated to excellence and responsibility.
The GRAS institute is made of a multidisciplinary team, most of its members have a background in the field of health research. In support of the fifty permanent collaborators, who are mainly young, a number of experts support GRAS in achieving its objectives and missions. The internal and external collaborators work in a spirit of teamwork, solidarity, conviction, winners, etc. This cooperation between the different actors brings an added value in the field of public health. Since its creation, GRAS has developed good relations with governmental and private health institutions for the accomplishment of its projects.
Our Units
The Groupe de Recherche Action en Santé (GRAS) has a General Management Board, an Administrative and Financial Management Board (Human Resources Department, Project Management Department and Capital Management Department), a Quality Management Board and a Scientific Board.
At the core of the rationale of the institution, the Scientific Board has six units.
The Clinical Trials and Epidemiological Studies Unit
This division is responsible for the design and implementation of clinical studies. It is also engaged in capacity building of health research teams and junior researchers in Burkina Faso and elsewhere. The department is composed of epidemiologists, clinical trial experts, clinical research coordinators, physicians and clinical study nurses.
The Biomedical Sciences Unit
The Division of Biomedical Sciences assists in the design and implementation of both basic and interventional studies. It oversees the collection, processing, analysis and shipment of biological samples. It is also responsible for training staff in all biological techniques available in the centre. The team is certified for the management of hazardous biological samples and their shipment according to IATA rules. It is made up of biologists, pharmacists and biomedical technologists
The Pharmacy and Cold Chain Unit
The cold chain and the management of investigational products and drugs are essential for the implementation of clinical research projects. This is the interest of this unit, which is mainly made up of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and biologists. It is responsible for :
- managing the reception, storage, controlled destruction and shipment of investigational products in accordance with the regulations and the manufacturer's prescriptions;
- preparing and delivering investigational medicinal products to participants in clinical trials
- ensuring that the cold chain for the storage of investigational products and biological samples is well maintained and in good operating conditions.
The Social Sciences Unit
It designs and conducts socio-anthropological studies and is closely involved in the design and conduct of operational studies. It is a support group for the conduct of clinical trials, research studies based on demographic and health surveillance systems. The department is made of social anthropologists, demographers, field officers, etc.
The Clinical Operations Unit
It is an inner support group for clinical research activities. It consists of physicians, biologists, epidemiologists, clinical research associates and project managers, and is focused on providing quality services to any clinical study sponsor in Africa, according to international standards, the sponsor's standard operating procedures and regulatory requirements.
The Data Management Unit
With a strong and proven experience in the handling of several data management software such as Epi Info, Dbase, File Maker Pro, Microsoft Access, RedCap and Open Clinica, Df Explorer etc., this unitt has a real time clinical study data management system with a network system and high-speed internet access, a data archiving system, according to good clinical practices. It is also familiar with the electronic data capture system with a data security procedure applied on a daily basis. The team is ready to provide this expertise to clinical research sponsors in Africa for the development, maintenance and cleaning of databases according to good clinical practice. This division consists of data managers and data entry officers.