Optimizing Recruitment through Engagement and Innovation

Guest post by Mahaya Clark, Clinical Research Coordinator, MCCRC

I attended the annual conference, “Research Participant Recruitment & Retention: What is Working Across the Nation?” on September 9^th at the John Hopkins School of Nursing. The conference bought together nationwide and local research professionals, various stakeholders and study team members focusing on best practices and innovative strategies for research participant recruitment. Associates from MedStar Health Research Institute attended along with our colleagues from the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translation Science (GHUCCTS). 

We heard from notables such as Ken Getz, founder and chairman of CISCRP, about building trust, engaging communities and disseminating results as ways to engage patients in research. We learned about many exciting and innovative methods for recruitment that are being utilized across the country including social media, patient portals and deeply rooted community-engagement strategies. Dr. Sherrie Wallington of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center discussed ways we can achieve complete community involvement with our research through Community-Driven Research. She stressed not just simply conducting research and recruiting from certain communities, but truly engaging, partnering and getting the community involved and invested in research. Rose Hallam from The Ohio State University presented on cross promotional strategies for recruitment and making those avenues work together for the optimum recruitment results.

The day was full of dynamic presenters and lively cross-institutional dialogue. There were many takeaways that we could bring back to continue to advance the research done here at MHRI. It was a conference that anyone involved in clinical research would greatly benefit from. Pictured below are MHRI associates along with our GHUCCTS colleagues from Georgetown and Howard Universities.