“There are historically marginalized communities all around us,” says Dr. Haile. “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.”
For that reason, Surani, Dr. Haile and the rest of their team at the Cancer Research Center for Health Equity are committed to making sure more people know about clinical trials and understand their benefits.
“It’s always difficult to recruit large numbers of volunteers for clinical trials,” says Surani. “It’s even harder to
recruit volunteers from groups that are underrepresented in clinical trials because of limited access or mistrust.”
For example, many study sponsors recruit patients from large academic medical centers, but the patient populations at those centers don’t necessarily represent the general population in the surrounding communities. Underrepresented groups may lack insurance and stay away from these medical centers because they think they can’t get treated there. Undocumented persons may be worried about the consequences of registering at a hospital.
“We also see mistrust of the healthcare system in the LGBTQIA+ community because many of those individuals have had bad experiences with it,” says Surani. “A few important cancer screenings also are framed in historically gendered language, and LGBTQIA+ individuals don’t necessarily feel included in those conventional framings.”
A tailored outreach strategy
Recognizing the unique concerns of LGBTQIA+ patients, Surani and Dr. Haile are involved in plans for a dedicated LGBTQIA+ health center at Cedars-Sinai. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in clinical trials.
“We have to tailor our approach to each individual community,” says Dr. Haile.