Let's talk medical research

The start of the new year always feels weighty: Who will I be in 2020? What will I achieve? Here’s one tone-setting question for us all to consider: What book will I read first? For an inspirational 2020 kickoff, we recommend David Fajgenbaum’s Chasing My Cure. 

In 2014, Stacy Hurt was enjoying a booming career in the pharmaceutical company and life with her husband and eight- and ten-year-old sons. Though Stacy's life was not easy – her youngest son has, in her words, "profound disabilities", and requires around the clock care – her family was thriving.

Lindsey Wahlstrom-Edwards is Director of Partnerships and Distribution at Antidote. She works with health nonprofits and patient advocates to connect their communities with research.

In our Delivering on Diversity series, we’ve spoken with Clinical Ambassador CEO and Founder Allison Kalloo about a variety of topics related to minority engagement in medical research.

Video content is booming, especially on social media platforms like Facebook, where users now spend more time interacting with video than viewing text or image-based content. But knowing where to start and how to get the content right can be confusing.

Clinical trials help people access tomorrow’s treatments today. In the age of precision medicine and tumor profiling, this statement is particularly true for oncology patients. According to a recent ProPublica article, even in Phase I trials, 20% of clinical trial participants now see a reduction in tumor size, compared with 5% of participants in the 1990s.

Every conversation about minority participation in medical research inevitably  winds up with the “T” word – Tuskegee.

At Antidote, we aim to make it easy for researchers and patients to connect. And a big part of that work is creating opportunities for people to learn more about medical research and dispelling myths about medical research participation, both for patients and researchers.

Increasingly, medical researchers acknowledge the need for more diversity in study participants so that trials can better predict the real-world impact of a drug or medical device. Yet a big question remains: How can researchers better reach diverse populations to drive minority participation in medical research?

Minority participation in medical research is important for all conditions, but is critical for ailments that disproportionately impact people of color, like lupus.