The mission of the GCRC is to advance patient oriented research by providing specialized expertise and highest quality care in a professional and user-friendly environment.

We strive to make your time here as a subject or as a visitor as comfortable as possible while advancing the state of medical knowledge. Please check out the guidelines for visitors and research subjects.

Cliical research and clinical trials are many times used interchangeably. Clinical research is where they try out "ideas" that have been discovered, tested, and proven in labs on humans. The term "clinical trials" refers to a specific type of research studies that are performed here on the GCRC. These are studies where new drugs are tested to see if they are safe, effective, and what dose is best to use. There are other studies that test which of two drugs works better. There are even more studies that help to understand how the mechanism that our bodies have that makes a drug or nutrient or food work. These studies tell us how the body absorbs a particular "drug" or nutrient or diet, or where it gets transported after it is made available. The term drug here generally refers to different types of compounds or chemicals or even herbal substances.

Should You Volunteer? More Information about participating in medical research at UNC-Chapel Hill can be found at http://php.unc.edu/research/services/research_volunteers.php. This website provides an informational brochure helpful to those interested in volunteering for research.

Additional information on clinical trials, including links to sites providing information for volunteers, can be found at the UNC Office of Clinical Trials. Information on some research studies, by disease area can be found at www.unchealthcare.org.

Si usted es participante o visitante y desea averiguar más sobre la participación en ensayos clínicos pulse aquí.

The GCRC Office of Research Subject Advocacy has created a Research Subject Information Pamphlet that is available throughout the GCRC (yellow tri-fold pamphlet). Please ask at the GCRC Nursing Station for a copy of this brochure or click one of following the links -- Advocacy for Research Subjects (Word .doc) (Web .htm)

Here are directions, a UNC Hospital Map, and the Chapel Hill Bus Info (it's free).