ResearchMatch Makes Finding Clinical Studies Easier

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

The tool is designed to help patients seeking clinical trials find appropriate studies for their conditions.

ResearchMatch, a collaborative project, led by the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical & Translational Research, has announced the introduction of Trial Finder, a new search function to help make connections. “We have long sought to help match patients with research conducted across the ResearchMatch network, and this new functionality will further empower research volunteers and families seeking to participate in studies and trials anywhere in the country,” Paul Harris, Ph.D., professor of Biomedical Informatics, research associate professor of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Office of Research Informatics, said in a press release

The new service is designed to help patients find information regarding research opportunities for their specific conditions. The service works by asking a few short questions to help search for appropriate trials. Results are then displayed in an easy-to-read format, and results can be saved, shared, and printed for discussion with physicians, friends, and family. The service connects to the thousands of studies available on ClinicalTrials.gov.

In future updates, Research Match plans to add a dictionary package to help users interpret medical and scientific terms often included in clinical trial descriptions. They also plan to expand the tool to disseminate trial results to volunteers extending the connection beyond the last study visit.

“We are grateful that the National Library of Medicine makes this information public, as it allows us to better meet the needs of our volunteer community,” said Jill Pulley, director of Research Support Services. “Now we can make it easy for volunteers to take action by providing them an organized list of results that they can review with their doctors and families.

“We think everyone will benefit from being better connected, but we believe it will be especially beneficial to those volunteers living with a rare or debilitating disease, as they are often the ones most desperate for information, access and hope.”

ResearchMatch.org has registered more than 74,000 volunteers spread among all 50 states, and approximately 2,520 researchers from 104 participating institutions use ResearchMatch to recruit volunteers for more than 408 studies