Improvements in health research and care are driven by research studies, clinical trials, and most importantly, the participants involved. But many clinical researchers and site administrators face challenges, especially during recruitment. This could include trouble finding eligible participants, inefficient recruitment channels, or limited diversity in recruitment pathways.
Timely, streamlined, and patient-centered recruitment processes are vital to successful trials that will ultimately support better care.
That’s why REACH BC exists: a provincial platform that connects volunteers and researchers, enabling health research studies and clinical trials across BC. REACH BC can help you advance your recruitment goals in a simple, patient-centered way.
REACH BC is vital to advancing BC’s vision for clinical trials:
Advance person-centred approaches and designs to create a clinical trial experience that is culturally safe, trauma-informed, inclusive, accessible, and available to all who want to participate.
Why choose REACH BC?
1. Support efficient trial recruitment across participant groups
Post details for your study, and REACH BC’s matching technology will connect individuals who self‑identify as eligible with your study criteria. Researchers can recruit participants, healthy volunteers, or patient partners — all through a single platform.
2. Reach a wide audience across British Columbia, including rural areas
Over 11,000 patients and members of the public have registered to REACH BC, from across the province. This group receives a weekly matching email that promotes studies related to their health research interests. They can also browse open studies on the platform’s publicly accessible study directory, finding them by location, health topic or participation type.
3. Share study results back to participants to support knowledge dissemination and ethics requirements
Clinical trials don’t end with recruitment or participation. REACH BC has a dedicated results sharing feature that allows you to share results back with participants and communities – whether you recruited through the platform or elsewhere. This important feature helps you meet dissemination and research transparency requirements, closing the loop and keeping participants informed on how they made a difference.
4. Draw on the team’s ecosystem expertise to advance recruitment goals
Do you have questions about recruitment best practices? Looking to meet a specific enrollment goal? REACH BC partners with research institutions, industry sponsors, and patient organizations to strengthen engagement and recruitment activities. Our team and dedicated tools can help you navigate the provincial clinical trials ecosystem.
5. Join a rapidly growing community that values listening, engagement and building trust with participants
The REACH BC team cultivates trust and understanding with participants through local engagements. In February 2026 alone, the platform saw 400+ new volunteer sign-ups, twice the usual monthly amount.
6. Connect on a platform that is shaped by input from patients and people with lived experience
By using REACH BC, potential participants are in control of the information they receive and who can contact them, centering their preferences throughout the process. People who reach out to you are already interested in and have received basic information about your study. Developed in BC, the platform is further supported by a strong network of provincial and federal partners that extend its reach and awareness across sectors.
Highlights and successes
REACH BC has seen significant growth over the years and is still growing, reaching not only participants but also researchers, partner organizations, and those in the clinical trials space. Since its launch in 2020:
- 110+ clinical trials have been posted to REACH BC
- 1700+ researchers have used the platform to recruit volunteers
- 4,600+ successful volunteer participations have been facilitated through the platform
- 11,000+ patient and public members have registered
REACH BC is an initiative of Clinical Trials British Columbia. It receives funding and support from Michael Smith Health Research BC and the BC SUPPORT Unit, which is funded under Canada’s Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR).
