I would start out by saying the obvious, which is that since companies are willing to people as a CRA without having any clinical background would mean that it is not a complete necessity. On the other hand I do think that the specific role you are performing in the clinical research field could demand more or less of a clinical background. For the roles that are related to performing data analysis (statistics, etc.) I do not really see any benefit from having a clinical background. For the roles that are related to writing protocols and other procedural related activities I definitely see a major benefit to having a clinical background. In my opinion having a clinical background to perform these procedural related tasks is invaluable. I believe that the real life clinical experience cannot be duplicated by any classroom or educational related knowledge, and allows you to be create more accurate and efficient studies.