# Improving Clinical trial Education, Recruitment, and Enrollment at CTSA Hubs (I-CERCH) - HEAL Supplement

> **NIH NIH U24** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $1

## Abstract

In response to the national opioid public health crisis, NIH has launched the HEAL (Helping to
End Addiction Long-term) Initiative, which intends to speed research that will improve treatment
for addiction and enhance pain management. The HEAL Pain Management Effectiveness
Research Network (ERN) is a key component of the initiative and to be successful, these ERN
trials will need to efficiently recruit participants and minimize dropouts. To ensure HEAL Pain ERN
studies accrue and retain the number and diversity of participants required to assess primary and
secondary outcomes, we propose a Supplement to the Recruitment Innovation Center to support
the development of a robust recruitment infrastructure, complete with the tools, resources, and
innovative strategies needed to proactively address recruitment barriers and rapidly identify and
mitigate emerging roadblocks across sites. Led by Paul Harris, PhD and Consuelo H. Wilkins,
MD, MSCI, this supplement will focus on supporting and incorporating recruitment and
engagement expertise through all study stages (design, planning, protocol development, start-up,
implementation, and dissemination) to accurately assess recruitment feasibility, minimize
challenges, and optimize recruitment, retention, and return of value to all participants. We will
leverage existing resources available in the Recruitment Innovation Center (RIC) and capitalize
on important thematic areas of competency of our team that includes; 1) participant-centered
approaches that recognize varying needs and preferences of individuals with pain; 2) multifaceted
approaches that combine informatics tools and contextual data sources and systems (e.g.
electronic health records) to guide comprehensive recruitment strategies; 3) engagement of
patients, community groups and clinicians in all stages of the studies; and 4) application of existing
and novel recruitment methods and tools to advance the evidence base for best practices in
recruiting these populations. The overarching goal of this supplement is to aid in the efficient
recruitment and retention of a diverse sample of participants for HEAL Pain clinical trials. We will
leverage the vast expertise and centralized infrastructure of the RIC and collaborate with each of
the three Trial Innovation Centers (TICs) to support NIH’s trans-agency efforts to develop
scientific solutions to the national opioid crisis.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10656029
- **Project number:** 3U24TR001579-07S1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Paul A. Harris
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2016-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10656029

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10656029, Improving Clinical trial Education, Recruitment, and Enrollment at CTSA Hubs (I-CERCH) - HEAL Supplement (3U24TR001579-07S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10656029. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*