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blog April 17, 2020

COVID-19 Community Research Study

We’re all aware of the challenges we face in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s no vaccine. There’s no therapy. There’s no cure. This virus even waits in your system—for weeks, in some cases—before it even lets you know it’s there. And by then, you’ve probably infected others.

So right now, information is our most valuable weapon in fighting this pandemic. With cases in the US doubling every three days, public officials and healthcare workers need information—they need surveillance—about who has been exposed, when and where people are exposed, and the geographic infection patterns of the virus as it spreads. They need to know how a suspected COVID-19 patient was assessed, how he or she was treated, and how he or she responded—in as much detail, and with as much visibility, as possible.

So it is within this context that I’m humbled to announce Javara’s involvement in the COVID-19 Community Research Project study with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Oracle. This community-based surveillance study will track COVID-19 outcomes to provide policy-makers and healthcare workers with precisely the information they need—while also providing EMR data to enable much-needed research; the very type of research that will eventually lead to a breakthrough.

Let me say that again: the breakthrough that will finally begin to dampen the COVID-19 pandemic—which will happen—will come through clinical research. The information that finally sheds light on transmission, infection, prevention strategies and treatment options—will come through clinical research.

The same clinical studies that we work on every day.

The same clinical studies that we now hear about every day.

The same clinical studies that are dependent on every day volunteers.

Like you. And me. Our parents. Our friends. Our coworkers.

When we started Javara, we did so in part to encourage health systems and academic medical centers to include clinical research opportunities as part of their everyday care—for everyday people. Our vision was to accelerate access to clinical research so that we could play a part—big or small—in advancing global public health.

And now here we are—in a strange new world—where there’s a critical need for clinical and observational research to combat a scary new virus that threatens us all… and we’re needed in a very big way. But our mission, dedication, and commitment remains the same—it’s all just taken on a new sense of urgency. A sense of urgency that is shared among our like-minded partners at Wake Forest Baptist and Oracle, who would also agree that information is our most valuable weapon to combat this virus.

So I’m hopeful.

And confident.

I’m hopeful because thousands and thousands of really smart people around the world are researching, learning and sharing more and more information about COVID-19—in real-time. And I’m confident that community partnerships such as this one—which genuinely validates our approach of integrating patient care with clinical research—will not only help to provide vital information for this pandemic, but will also provide valuable learnings that can be applied to the next one.