ABSTRACT
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has required urgent scientific response to investigate the disease, its prevention and treatment and interactions with cardiovascular conditions. Consequently, a centralized workflow was needed to effectively recruit, screen and connect volunteers to COVID-19 research opportunities. Objective: To create a centralized registry to match eligible and interested volunteers ≥18 years with COVID-19 outpatient research studies at an academic health system. Methods: Key stakeholders, including researchers and participant advocates, collaborated to build the Hopkins Opportunity for Participant Engagement (HOPE) Registry in English and Spanish. REDCap, a secure web-based application, served as the Registry platform. Study teams recruiting for outpatient studies were invited to present their studies through the Registry. Study volunteers were recruited using multiple methods, including patient portal messages, email, social media, and online advertisement. The Registry included COVID testing results and participant survey of demographic and COVID-19 related questions. Branching logic was used to pre-screen and present participating studies for which the person was eligible. The individual then selected which studies, ifany, they were interested in. Study teams received an automatic notification and reached out directlyto individuals expressing interest in their study ( Figure ). Results: The HOPE Registry includes 7 studies and has enrolled 4186 people. Over half (55%)were >55 years and the majority were female (64%). Racial/ethnic groups represented were Whites(80%), Black s (9%), Asians (4.7%), Hispanics (5%), and American Indian (0.3%). Participants were interested in: 29%, treatment study;37%, vaccine study;and 66%, donating plasma. Within 10weeks, 585 persons were matched with an actively recruiting study. Conclusions: The ongoing HOPE registry has shown promise in engaging individuals with COVID-19 research and improving research recruitment workflow.