“…Nearly 80% of clinical trials conducted in the United States must extend enrollment by at least one month beyond the study completion period.”

Getz, K. “Meeting and Extending Enrollment Deadlines”  PARAXEL Pharmaceutical R&D Statistical Sourcebook 2000. P. 104. 

Studdy Buddy was born out of a need of recruitment aid for research studies.  The general population does not seem interested in participating in studies despite the immense societal benefits.  Research is how we—as a society—generate generalizable knowledge that contributes to medicine and treatment of disease.  New medicines generated 40 % of the gain in life expectancy over the past 25 years, but only about 2% of the United States population gets involved with clinical trials.

Doesn’t make sense, does it?

But how can we blame the population?  We are not far removed from the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, and the incident during the 2001 Asthma Study at Johns Hopkins was just under 15 years ago.  The perception of research is a risky one.  Popular culture hasn’t done any service to research perception either.  Movies like Ghost Busters portray people getting hurt during studies, specifically a young male getting unnecessarily shocked during a Bill Murray run research study.  While it is funny, the population builds their perspective based on the media they consume in popular culture and the news. 

Why should you think differently?

A plethora of rules and laws regulate human participation research.  Research is tightly run and has many checks and balances in the process.  From the Nuremburg Code in 1947 to current federal laws & regulations known as The Common Rule, human participation research has strict oversight. 

Now this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use your judgment and be discerning when it comes to participating in a study.  We will continue to post articles like this one informing you about the various and complicated aspects of research and continue to walk you through the process of participating. 

Not only do studies incentivize participation with monetary rewards, participation in research gives you the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of science and knowledge, which collectively improve the overall health of our society.   

So, I invite you to join us on Studdy Buddy and contribute to the health of our society!