GROUPS CREATE CERTIFICATION ACADEMY

The Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) and the American Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians (AAPP) have merged to create a professional medical society that will unify, certify and educate clinical researchers. The new entity will be known as the Academy of Pharmaceutical Physicians and Investigators (APPI), ACRP recently announced.

Under the agreement, all pharmaceutical physicians and physician investigators who are members of AAPP automatically become members of APPI and ACRP. APPI will offer a single certification examination and a recertification process. ACRP's certification programs for clinical research assistants and coordinators will continue, the association said.

ACRP was founded in 1976 to address the educational and networking needs of researchers and others who support clinical investigations. AAPP, founded in 1993, has provided educational programming for pharmaceutical physicians; promoted therapeutic knowledge and development of drugs and diagnostics; and worked to protect patient and study subjects' welfare, ACRP said, adding that APPI will continue this mission and those services.

For more information, go to http://www.acrpnet.org/ (http://www.acrpnet.org/).