Patients Helping Doctors (PHD)

In fighting disease, patience is not a virtue. Patients are. Embedded within each patient is the information – medical records, biological material such as tissue, blood, and DNA, and our biology as observed in clinical trials – that is crucial to understanding and managing disease. But too often that information remains isolated – unknown and unavailable to researchers.

The PHD Program draws patients directly into medical breakthroughs by:

• Promoting tissue banking through our BioBank Central Web portal;
• Working with the policymakers to ensure that electronic health records meet the needs of and are available to researchers;
• Working with physicians and patients to improve enrollment in clinical trials through our Web site referral program in collaboration with Emerging Med;
• Communicating and engaging with community physicians to gain a solid understanding regarding their views about clinical research and their ability to conduct or participate in it.

Read more:

"Clinical Trials Recruitment and Retention: Best Practices and Promising Approaches" (PDF): A report on the solutions showing potential for breaking down barriers that currently impede clinical trials.