How to Find Clinical Trials Currently Recruiting Participants

Are you interested in volunteering to participate in a clinical trial or medical research study whether it is for pay or for the access to the latest breakthroughs in medicine, and wondering where to find the right one? There are always many studies recruiting both healthy volunteers and patients with specific ailments or disorders but the clinical trials can sometimes be difficult to locate.

If you are thinking about volunteering as a subject for a clinical trial and wondering where to go about searching for studies appropriate to your needs, the following list should steer you in the right direction. Below is an overview of 12 different places and ways to begin searching for currently recruiting clinical trials.

Pharmaceutical Companies
Search for clinical trials on pharmaceutical brands' websites or call the companies directly to inquire. In most cases the corporate website or daughter sites for their brand name medications will have a toll free number listed on their "Contact Us" page. If all else fails you can always call this general information number to obtain a direct URL or phone number contact for the office involved in recruiting clinical trial subjects.

Craigslist
You can also find medical research opportunities at your local section of a classifieds site such as Craigslist. Clinical trials often use the "Etc" link under the "Jobs" heading and the "volunteers" link under "community".

Backpage
Another online classifieds website that is sometimes useful for finding clinical study opportunities is Backpage. This website also has a "volunteers" link under the "community" heading where many research study recruiters post ads. Additionally, take a look directly at the "focusgroup/studies" category under "jobs".

The Metro Daily Newspaper
The Metro is a free paper offered in many major cities throughout North America. It is most commonly distributed inside or nearby subway stations, bus stops or other public transportation hubs. If you live near a major city and have access to The Metro, pick one up and look for clinical trials and medical research studies seeking participants in the back few pages of the paper. There are usually quite a few advertisements of this kind.

Free Weekly Alternative Papers
Another place you may find listings for clinical trials currently recruiting is within the pages of your city's free weekly or biweekly alternative newspapers. These papers are usually found near the for-sale newspapers, in similar dispensers. You might also find them near the exit/entrance of local coffee shops and trendy area stores. Examples would be, for instance, the Boston Phoenix, Weekly Dig (Boston) or the New York City's Village Voice. Look around in the sidebars or back pages, see if you can uncover any leads.

Clinical Trial Databases
There are several websites that offer a searchable database of clinical trials and medical research studies. Most allow you to search according to medical condition, location and/or type of drug used in the study. Examples of clinical trial database sources include Clinical Connection and Center Watch.

Hospital Websites
Try searching for open clinical trials on various research hospital websites. It can sometimes be tricky to find direct links to currently recruiting medical research studies but with a little searching you will likely come across some hidden listings more often than not. A good place to start is the research link, which is usually on a hospital's homepage. You also may try navigating to specific departments by specialty and browse the research links within those.

Medical Schools and Universities
Medical schools and universities conducting any sort of research often have a website layout similar to that describing the same prescribed of the hospital websites. Try your search for clinical trials using the same procedures suggested for hospitals to begin with. You might also find what you need by searching for "clinical trials" in the university websites' general search box.

Public Transportation
Public busses and subway trains have multiple advertisements displayed in their interiors. It is very common to see ads for research studies seeking participants posted. Next time you are on public transportation make a point to look around at the ads on your train or bus. The research study recruitment ads will be noticeable if you pay attention.

College/University Bulletin Boards
Look around on posts and bulletin boards dispersed throughout college or university campuses, especially at the schools well known fro their medical research facilities. Sometimes in certain departments you'll find study opportunities for particular specialties.

Coffee Shop Bulletin Boards
Visit your local coffee shops and look around to see if they have a bulletin board. This is another great place to find clinical trial opportunities.

"Deal" Related Message Boards
Some message boards and forums whose concentration is on ways to save money, ways to make money and how to get good deals or free items will often dedicate at thread to paid surveys and paid research study opportunities. Examples include Gottadeal and DealIdeal forums.