Helping patients find clinical trials faster at UAB.
Explaining a single clinical trial can take a PhD an hour and a half. With UAB in Birmingham, we're building a system where AI does the first pass at matching patients to active trials and doctors, coordinators and supervisors review it together.
- of AI matches reviewed by a person
- 100%
How it went
- The problemEach trial takes an expert a long time to explain, so few patients hear about them
- IntakeA simple way for curious patients to share their information and get a follow-up
- MatchingAI agents suggest active trials that fit each patient
- ReviewDoctors, coordinators and supervisors check and act on every match together
The problem
Clinical trials can change people’s lives, but most patients never hear about the ones they qualify for. Part of the reason is that trials are hard to explain. Walking one person through what a trial involves can take someone with a PhD an hour and a half. There aren’t enough hours for that.
More than a chatbot
The easy answer would have been to put a chatbot on a website. We built something bigger: a system the whole team works in.
- Getting people in the door. Patients who are curious can share their information quickly, so the team can follow up instead of losing them.
- Matching. AI agents compare each patient against the trials that are actively enrolling and suggest the ones that fit.
- People make the call. Every match goes through human review. Doctors, coordinators and supervisors work from the same place, so nothing waits on a missed email.
The AI does the slow, technical first pass. The experts spend their time on the conversations that matter.
Why it matters here
This is for UAB, right here in Birmingham. Getting the right patient into the right trial faster is good for the patient, the research and the city.
What a clinic can take from this
- Let software do the first pass, and let people decide. That works for intake forms, reminders and scheduling too.
- Make it easy to raise a hand. A short form that gets someone a follow-up beats a long one nobody finishes.
- Put the whole team in one place. Most delays happen in the handoff between people.