ResearchMatch

Service Overview

ResearchMatch is a national registry that endeavors to connect interested research participants (both normal controls and those with specific medical conditions) with appropriate research projects.  With a continually growing pool of over 100,000 potential volunteers, this registry can assist researchers in searching beyond their own institutions for patients with common or rare diseases, or quickly finding healthy volunteers who live locally. 

Please contact Jessie Lee, MS, for further information.

How does ResearchMatch Work?

ResearchMatch will 'match' any interested individual residing in the United States with researchers who are approved to recruit potential research volunteers through the system. After an individual has self-registered to become a volunteer, ResearchMatch's security features ensure that personal information is protected until volunteers authorize the release of their contact information to a specific study that may be of interest to them. Volunteers are simply notified electronically that they are a possible match and then make the decision regarding the release of their contact information.

For more information or to register as a potential research participant please go to ResearchMatch at:

                                         ResearchMatch.ctsc.med.cornell.edu

How use ResearchMatch

For the first year of the project, only researchers affiliated with participating CTSA institutions may be eligible to utilize the recruitment tool, but plans exist to ensure the recruitment tool will be available beyond the CTSA by 2011. The researcher component of ResearchMatch is scheduled for release in late March 2010. In the meantime, interested researchers may complete ResearchMatch's Researcher Interest Form. Competing this form will ensure that you are contacted regarding upcoming optional researcher training that features the release of these recruitment tools.

ResearchMatch offers two access levels, feasibility access and recruitment access. Feasibility access allows you to search for and view aggregate data on the registry population (e.g., determine how many females there are in the registry under the age of 18 with type II diabetes, living in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut). Feasibility access is quick and easy and does not require any IRB approval. Recruitment access allows you to actively recruit volunteers through ResearchMatch. This type of access requires (1) an existing Weill Cornell IRB-approved study, and (2) submission of an amendment to this study specifically for approval to use ResearchMatch. If IRB requirements have not yet been met, you can register immediately for feasibility access and then add studies for recruitment access once approvals are in place.

When you register at ResearchMatch, you will need to complete the entire registration process in one sitting. While the registration process itself is quick, you must have required information available before starting the process. The following should help you prepare:

To register a study for ResearchMatch feasibility access (ability to view aggregate data on the registry population), you must:

  1. Provide your institutional contact information (i.e., your Weill Cornell e-mail address)
  2. Create a ResearchMatch username and password

To register a study for ResearchMatch recruitment access (ability to recruit ResearchMatch volunteers), you must:

1. Have an active research study that has been approved by the Weill Cornell Institutional Review Board (IRB). You must be the Principal Investigator (PI) or an individual who is authorized to recruit for the IRB-approved study on behalf of the study PI at Weill Cornell. (If you are not the PI, you must provide his/her contact name, email, and phone number in addition to your own contact information.)

2. Prepare an amendment of your protocol notifying the Weill Cornell IRB that you will be using ResearchMatch as recruitment tool. The amendment documents must include the following:

  • The Weill Cornell IRB amendment form.
  • A copy of the amended IRB application. Please add ResearchMatch to section B6 (subject recruitment).
  • A completed ResearchMatch recruitment language form. (Please click here for a blank copy of the form.)

3. Once the amendment has been approved, the approved IRB stamped recruitment language form must be uploaded to ResearchMatch.

4. If your study is IRB exempt, you must provide documentation of this exemption.

Clinical & Translational Science Center 1300 York Ave., Box 149 New York, NY 10065