Dr. BJ Rimel, a gynecologic oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, had a problem. She and her colleagues couldn’t find enough participants for cancer research studies. That changed in 2013, when they did away with paper consent forms. Instead of having to fill out paperwork in the doctor’s office, interested participants could sign up online to be contacted about research opportunities. The result, says Rimel, is more applications and much greater participation in research that can save lives. “We were able to close some studies that had been open for years without being able to find the right people,” she says. “We were able to find participants very quickly online to complete our research faster and accelerate new treatments.”