Community outreach is another strategy that can be adopted for recruiting patients for clinical trials. There are different ideas as to what it means – from such things as putting up posters in community halls, to organizing events for people to learn more about a particular condition. (I’ve seen this work particularly well for Alzheimer’s – a topic people are generally interested in learning about).

It can also work for pre-existing events. For instance, through having a stall at a 10k Run. Or through building a relationship with an organization that has members who are likely to be in your target audience – which could include such things as churches or adult learning centers.

Another method is to locate a research site in a community – either a bricks and mortar one, or a mobile one – which can be particularly effective for reaching traditionally underserved populations.