Mission
Delays in recruiting participants are a major barrier to progress in clinical and translational research. BU CTSI’s Research Recruitment and Retention Program (R3) exists to help researchers succeed in efficiently meeting participant recruitment goals for clinical and translational research studies, including randomized clinical trials. We assist both investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored research at BU, BMC, and our partner institutions. Our approaches to recruitment will take advantage of BMC clinical and administrative data; diverse recruitment approaches that have succeeded at BU, BMC, and affiliated health centers; the insights of experienced clinical investigators; and novel approaches such as social media outreach.
What we offer PIs
Initial Consultation
- Research Recruitment and Retention faculty investigators and coordinators are available to meet with investigators one-on-one, at no cost for those planning to conduct or currently conducting clinical or translational research.
- On request, we will provide an estimate of the fee that would be charged to recruit for your study.
- To request a consultation please apply here
Recruitment Strategies That Have Succeeded at BU
- Clinical Data Warehouse at Boston Medical Center (CDW) is a comprehensive repository of clinical, administrative, and financial data on all patients who receive care at BMC or Boston HealthNet, including a large proportion of low-income and minority populations. Clinical researchers who have IRB/HIPAA approval are able to, with the help of a CDW developer–
- Get counts of patients with specific clinical characteristics
- Identify patients with specific clinical characteristics to target for recruitment
- Cross-reference data from EPIC, Logician, SDK, SCM, OR and ED
ResearchMatch
ResearchMatch provides a way to connect people who are trying to find research studies with researchers who are seeking people to participate in their studies.
ResearchMatch.org is a national web-based recruitment registry that will help ‘match’ researchers with willing volunteers all over the country who may wish to participate in research studies.
Roundtable Speaker Series
TrialSpark: A data-driven clinical trial recruiting tool that helps researchers complete studies faster presented:
by Ben Liu, CEO and co-founder of TrialSpark
Unique challenges in the recruitment of exceptionally long-lived individuals presented by Stacy Andersen, PhD
- Staff members will reflect the diverse ethnic and cultural background of our patient population and have expertise in research involving the low-income, minority communities we serve, including children and the elderly, as well as other special populations.
Trials Today
To end disease tomorrow, begin with Trials Today.
Whether you are looking for treatment, or want to help out with research that will improve treatment, diagnosis, and prevention, there are studies that need you!
We know figuring out where to start can be the hardest part about finding research studies you might like to join. That’s why we’ve made it easier for you to find the information you need. We made a quick way to search the thousands of studies available on ClinicalTrials.gov. By answering a few short questions, we can help you find a list of studies that may interest you.
ClinicalTrials.gov is a database of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the United States and around the world. This information should be used in conjunction with advice from health care professionals.
To search for clinical trials please follow this link.
