involving minorities in clinical trials Archives

Diversity in Clinical Trials: Being Left Out

Diversity in Clinical Trials: Being Left Out By Marina Shayevich Why do African Americans develop breast cancers with significantly higher basal gene expression? 1 Why do Hispanics develop type II diabetes at an earlier age than other groups? 2 Understanding the functional reasons for disease processes is necessary to develop targeted treatments. Yet because clinical research lacks sufficient diversity, reasons for and mechanisms of disease development are not fully understood. Some reasons for minority patient under-representation in clinical trials are known. For example, strict eligibility criteria, like chronic kidney disease,3 hypertension or diabetes exclusions, leave out many groups, [...]

Diversity Initiatives? Are They Worth It?

Diversity Initiatives? Are They Worth It? When I asked audience members at a panel discussion during the inaugural Clinical Leader Forum, held in Philadelphia on May 10-11, 2017, three questions about diversity in clinical trials, I got some surprising answers. The questions were: How many attendees come from organizations that value diversity? How many come from organizations that prioritize diversity? How many attendees acknowledge their own personal biases that may impact their ability to effectively address diversification? Although many in the audience came from organizations that value diversity, there were fewer that came from organizations that are [...]