NIH Announces First National Research Study Recruitment Registry
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<ResearchMatch.org> is a not-for-profit secure Web site, designed to provide people who are interested in participating in research the opportunity to be matched with studies that may be the right fit for them.
ResearchMatch offers an easy-to-use, free and safe way for volunteers to connect with thousands of researchers who are conducting research on a wide range of diseases.
The site is a collaborative effort of the national network of medical research institutions affiliated with the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs). The CTSA program, which is led by the , a part of the National Institutes of Health, is focused on enhancing local and national efforts to enhance the translation of laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients.
"Participant recruitment continues to be a significant barrier to the completion of research studies nationwide - recent NIH data indicates that just 4 percent of the U.S. population has participated in clinical trials," said NCRR Director Barbara Alving, M.D. "ResearchMatch is a tool that can improve the connection and communication between potential participants and researchers providing opportunities for the public to contribute to advancing new treatments."
The convenient and user-friendly registry employs a familiar research matching model that is complementary to Clinicaltrials.gov. One key difference is that ResearchMatch places the burden of connecting the right volunteers with the right study on the researchers, whereas Clinicaltrials.gov asks volunteers to identify the trials that could work for them.
"ResearchMatch offers a convenient solution to the complex, competitive and often costly participant recruitment system," said Gordon Bernard, M.D., principal investigator of the Vanderbilt CTSA, which hosts the national registry. "NIH data indicates that 85 percent of trials don't finish on time due to low patient participation, and 30 percent of trial sites fail to enroll even a single patient. We aim to help combat these challenges with ResearchMatch."
