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How do people find clinical trials for COVID-19 and other conditions?

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June 22, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve every day. Many organizations are working to find the best way to address this disease. Clinical trials will help find the best ways to prevent and treat this infection.


People join clinical trials for many health conditions. There are resources to help find clinical trial.

What is a clinical trial and why would I want to find one?

Clinical trials test new medical treatments. The goal is to find out what is safe and effective. Sometimes clinical trials give people access to the newest medical treatments.

Some medical treatments can be affected by certain personal factors. A person’s gender, age, race, ethnicity, health status, or genetics might affect how they respond to a treatment.

That’s why it’s important to have clinical trial volunteers from different backgrounds. Some groups are not well represented in clinical trials - read our post about why diversity in research is so important.

How do I find a clinical trial?

One way to start searching for a clinical trial is to talk with your doctor. They can provide some guidance as to what research studies may be right for you.

You can also search for trials yourself. Study registries let you search for clinical trials for any disease or condition. One example of a study registry is www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Most registries will tell you the purpose of the trial. Registries will also give basic information about who can participate. You can find out where the study is taking place and how to contact the researchers. Once the study is finished, researchers can use the registry to share results with the public.

To learn more about searching for clinical trials, check out this video by the Baylor College of Medicine.

GHUCCTS can also help you find a clinical trial by searching through current studies at our institutions. There you will find out why research volunteers are so important for improving health, including ending the coronavirus pandemic.

Follow us on Facebook for information about clinical trials. Let us know what questions you have about how clinical trials work.


The official name of the virus that started a worldwide outbreak in late 2019 is “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2.”  The abbreviation is SARS-CoV-2. When the virus infects someone, the diagnosis is called “Coronavirus Disease 2019.” The abbreviation is COVID-19. In COVID-19, ‘CO’ stands for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease.

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