Focusing on You: New Website Showcases Ongoing Clinical Trials
Olveen Carrasquillo, M.D., Chief of General Internal Medicine at the University of Miami Health System, discusses the importance of participating in clinical trials and how UHealth’s new user-friendly site, UMiamiHealthResearch.org, puts all ongoing studies in one place. Participant Marilyn Diaz talks about why she volunteered for a Covid-19 vaccine study.
TRANSCRIPT
Narrator: Focusing on You: Innovations in Modern Medicine from your team of experts at UHealth, the University of Miami Health System.
Marilyn Diaz: I’m good. 99, 97, that’s pretty good.
Pam Giganti: Marilyn Diaz is taking her temperature as part of a clinical trial she enrolled in for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Marilyn Diaz: I did it because I wanted to see a cure. I wanted to see an end to COVID.
Pam Giganti: Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo, chief of general internal medicine at UHealth, says we need more people like Marilyn to volunteer, not only for COVID-19 studies, but other clinical trials aimed at curing other diseases.
Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo: I think with COVID has made it clear the importance of having people participate in research studies. The fact that we have vaccines in less than a year was not possible without the hundreds of thousands of people that volunteered for clinical trials.
Pam Giganti: That’s why UHealth is launching a new user-friendly website called umiamihealthresearch.org
Dr. Carrasquillo: Explains it in very simple plain language, what the study’s about. Many people they’re looking to enroll. And it’ll have some of the specific criteria, what they’re looking for.
Pam Giganti: There are ongoing trials for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental health, pediatrics, and much more. Some may even be done right from home.
Dr. Carrasquillo: It’s really important that we take people from all races, all ethnicities, all income levels, all educational levels, and come from different parts.
Pam Giganti: Dr. Carrasquillo says UHealth’s new website is part of a movement by the National Institutes of Health to encourage more people to take part in clinical trials.
Dr. Carrasquillo: We’re part of something called the Clinical and Translational Science Awards, it’s an Institute by the NIH, that’s trying to make it easier for people to participate in clinical research.
Pam Giganti: Marilyn doesn’t know yet if she got the actual vaccine or a placebo. Either way, she’s happy to help move science forward.
Marilyn Diaz: If the researchers and the scientists are working so hard to help find cures, I think it is our duty to come forward and to help others.
Tags: cancer clinical trials, clinical trials, COVID-19, diabetes clinical trials, Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo, enroll, focusing on you, heart disease clinical trials, research studies, volunteer
