Recruitment & Retention Consultation
Everyone benefits when research studies are designed to reach and retain all participants. However, even the most well-designed protocols can fall short if they fail to effectively engage all participants that would benefit from the study or study outcomes. That’s where this consultation service comes in.
The Recruitment & Retention (R&R) Consultation Service supports study teams across Feinberg and our clinical affiliates in developing and refining strategies to enhance participant engagement across the research lifecycle. Whether you're in the early stages of study planning or mid-recruitment, we provide practical, evidence-informed solutions that help your research meet recruitment and retention goals.
The service is co-led by Kathryn Macapagal, PhD, and Andrés Alvarado Avila, with support from consultants James Foran and Bryant Norton. Collectively, our team brings decades of experience engaging many populations across a wide range of study designs and health conditions.
We specialize in non-traditional and high-impact recruitment strategies that reach participants where they are, including, but not limited to, paid and organic social media advertisements, culturally tailored community outreach, and participant engagement through dating applications.
Our services for study teams include:
- Pre-award consultation: Guidance on participant recruitment and retention plans, budget planning, and grant application language
- Active recruitment support: Social media strategy and execution, community-based outreach, ad design, performance tracking, and optimization
- Retention planning: Evidence-informed approaches to keep participants engaged and reduce attrition
Research that engages all is rigorous research. We’re here to help your study team achieve its recruitment goals while advancing science.
Contact Us
If you need assistance regarding the R&R service, please email the NUCATS Recruitment and Retention team.
