Connecting UD researchers with study participants

Welcome! The Center for Human Research Coordination helps recruit, screen and register research participants for studies underway across the University of Delaware. We also support UD researchers with secure data management of their studies involving human subjects.

On our site, visitors can explore all UD studies currently seeking participants, and UD researchers and collaborators can access the services and training we offer to their teams.

Working with an expert team

As a leading research university — in the top 3% nationally, the University of Delaware conducts hundreds of studies involving public participants each year, on topics ranging from stroke to how children learn vocabulary. The Center for Human Research Coordination staff has a wealth of experience working with research participants, as well as with UD researchers seeking expert training in human subjects data management.

Now open on the UD campus

Located at the University of Delaware’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus, the Center for Human Research Coordination is a member of UD’s vibrant network of research core facilities, providing UD’s colleges, research institutes and research centers with centralized services for advancing research and discovery.

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The University of Delaware is a nationally classified research institution. Launched in 2021, the Center for Human Research Coordination (CHRC) is one of 17 core research facilities at UD, dedicated to supporting research occurring within each of the University’s colleges, research institutes and centers.

News / Events

REDCap ONLINE, migration completed

REDCap ONLINE, migration completed

Last Updated: Jan. 3, 2023 The server migration of the CHRC/CHS REDcap server to the new CHRC REDCap server is complete and the REDCap server is now in normal operational mode.    Please update the bookmark in your browser(s) to:...

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What we do

The Center for Human Research Coordination (CHRC) helps to recruit, screen and register research participants for studies underway across the University of Delaware. If you are a UD researcher seeking assistance or a member of the public interested in participating in a UD study, we are here to assist you.

Recruitment

CHRC helps guide faculty and their research teams with various tools to help facilitate recruitment for individual studies and disease/injury registries.

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Study Coordination

We coordinate screening, scheduling, transportation and more for research participants via phone, email, text or in-person.

Data Management

CHRC helps develop data capture projects, and connect research teams with databases that use a secure repository that is 21 CFR Part 11, FISMA, HIPAA, and GDPR compliant.

Training

We provide education and training in the use of REDCap, a secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases. The software is free for any research project that UD is involved in.

Registries

CHRC helps support registries of human participants for researchers to draw from for screening or potential recruitment, allowing similar studies to focus on data collection and analysis.

Star Campus

Supporting research across UD

Collaboration across disciplines is a hallmark of research at UD and CHRC is leading the way. Utilizing the groundwork laid by Tom Buchanan and his team at the Delaware Rehabilitation Institute, CHRC is building upon their solid foundation resulting in 10,000+ research participants in their current database. More from the UD research community:
Maria Palazuelos

A Growing Need

According to Maria Palazuelos, director of research compliance, research with human subjects has been growing at UD, as evidenced by the volume, complexity and interdisciplinary nature of the submissions to the University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). These projects have nearly tripled in the past decade, Palazuelos said, from about 800 submissions in 2011 to nearly 2,300 in 2021.
Curtis Johnson

Benefits of the Center

Curtis Johnson, assistant professor of biomedical engineering (left), doesn’t need any convincing about the benefits of the new center. “Finding eligible participants is a lot of work, and that’s not our strongest suit, as engineers,” Johnson said. “They’ve handled all of the patient screening and scheduling. It’s not just time-saving; it’s the difference between being able to do the research or not. It’s been like night and day for us.”
Chuck Dougherty

People Helping People

As stroke survivor Chuck Dougherty knows, the ultimate goal of UD research studies involving people is to help people. So if more studies can be done, the benefits to the public are clear. With an ever-present smile, he said he “blames” his progress in stroke recovery on UD.
Karin Silbernagel

Leading the Way

The Center for Human Research Coordination (CHRC) is led by Director Karin Silbernagel, associate professor and associate chair of UD’s Department of Physical Therapy. The new center will help recruit, screen and register research participants for studies underway across the University. CHRC is staffed by experienced professionals dedicated to serving the needs of our users.

Contact Us

If you need further assistance or have a specific request, please fill out the form below and we will get back to you shortly.