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Information for Study Participants and the Public Partners HealthCare, a non-profit organization, is a leading biomedical research organization and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.  Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, the founding members of Partners HealthCare, continually top the list of independent hospital recipients of funding for research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) across the country. Medical research is done to study the human body and learn about disease—what causes it and how it can be treated or prevented. By taking part in research studies, volunteers help researchers contribute to advances in medical science. Partners HealthCare conducts over 4000 clinical research studies. Our Human Research Protections Program (HRPP) ensures that the rights and welfare of human subjects participating in research conducted by our investigators are protected. It also ensures that research at Partners meet the highest ethical standards and are conducted in compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations. We invite your questions, comments, concerns, or complaints: If you have questions, comments, concerns, or complaints about research at Partners, we would like to hear from you. You may write to us at: Partners Human Research Office 116 Huntington Avenue, Suite 1002 Boston, MA 02116 Or telephone: 617-424-4100 Or email us at: irb@partners.org Research volunteer resources We have listed a number of websites providing information about research at Partners, as well as information about research in general. The links to these websites are listed below: Research volunteer rights http://healthcare.partners.org/phsirb/BillofRights.htm Frequently asked questions about volunteering in research http://healthcare.partners.org/phsirb/Research_FAQ.htm Information about research at Partners http://www.partners.org/Medical-Research/Default.aspx Active research at Partners http://www.partners.org/Medical-Research/Current-Research-Activities/Default.aspx Other helpful websites Center Watch is dedicated to providing patients and their advocates with a variety of information services and educational materials on clinical research. Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), is a unique first-of-its-kind non-profit organization founded to educate and inform the public and the entire research community. National Institutes of Health (NIH) – an agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Information about health Information about participating in clinical research ClinicalTrials.gov provides regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research in human volunteers. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – an agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) an agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.