How Diverse Clinical Trials Can Advance Black Health

Clinical trials are one of the foundations of modern medicine. Data from clinical trials provides insights on how people are likely to respond to a treatment, which helps doctors understand when to use the treatment, how to advise patients who may receive it and what outcomes to expect from it. “If we don’t have adequate representation in the trial, we can’t be sure how the treatment will affect people from different backgrounds,” says Zul Surani, associate director of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Cancer Research Center for Health Equity at Cedars-Sinai Cancer. “There are historically marginalized communities all around us. Striving for equity means ensuring all persons get quality care. Clinical trials are a major part of that, as they can hold the key to a healthier future.” Why diversity matters in clinical trials As valuable as clinical trials are, they have long been limited by one shortcoming: a lack of ethnic, racial, sex and gender diversity. Participants have been mostly white, heterosexual males. “If we’re testing treatments almost only on white males, we’re left with big gaps in knowledge,” says Dr. Robert Haile, director of the Cancer Research Center for Health Equity. “Genetics, environmental factors, lifestyle, gender and...