Texans have a new way to get involved with clinical trials. Doctors and scientists use those trials to find answers to nagging health problems. A new website matches potential patients with research studies.
Zandra Velenti is a lupus patient who has dealt with the effects of her autoimmune disease for more than a decade. She’s all too familiar with the fatigue and aching that accompany her health problem.
“I do get some swelling of the joints,” Velenti explained. “I do get the butterfly rash. I’ve been losing a lot of hair lately.”
She’s volunteering for a clinical trial at the U.T. Health Science Center to help determine why lupus patients often suffer from memory or attention problems.
Now, the Health Science Center is part of a new website, an effort to bring together more patients and doctors who need them for studies. The website is called “Research Match” and in its first month of operation, it includes 46 academic medical sites around the country, including San Antonio.
“One of the main challenges they face is trying to identify potential research subjects,” said Dr. Robert Clark, assistant vice president for clinical research at UTHSC. “The individuals are out there in the community, but trying to link up with them is not an easy matter.”
The non-profit website is strictly confidential. The partners hope it will bring more people like Velenti into the study arena.
“I’m really hoping that by doing the clinical trial, they might possibly find a cure,” she said, “and maybe if not for myself, for my children or my grandchildren.”
Clark said, “I think it’s going to really open the door for a lot more efficient approach to clinical investigation.”
There are many opportunities for patients to participate. At the U.T. Health Science Center alone, doctors and scientists are running about 200 different studies at any given time.
