Abstract: Certain embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for refining the identification of study candidates. In an embodiment, the method may include receiving a plurality of clinical conditions at a user interface. The conditions may generally be tied to codified terms in electronic medical patient records. The method may also include receiving parameters for tailoring a search of electronic medical data for the clinical conditions. For example, the parameters may weight the conditions and may include ranking the conditions, determining whether the conditions are mandatory for the pool, and determining a percentage deviation for numerical ranges. The method may also include executing an optimization function to create a pool according to the specified conditions and parameters. The method may also include displaying the pool in an order from the most optimal results to the least optimal results.