More than 120 people packed Byers Hall auditorium at UCSF Mission Bay on October 31 to learn tips, strategies, and pearls of wisdom to improve diversity among research participants and why this is critical to advancing health science. Speakers and panelists came from UCSF’s School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Pharmacy, Center for Vulnerable Populations and California Preterm Birth Initiative. The CTSI Participant Recruitment Program and Differences Matter Research Action Group sponsored the event.
“The seminar was a great way to highlight the importance of focusing on recruitment of groups that have been underrepresented in clinical studies including racial and ethnic minorities, women, older adults, and LGBT populations. All researchers have a responsibility to focus on enrolling a diverse study population. We are fortunate to have resources and experts at UCSF to support recruitment of underrepresented populations including free consultations and web-based “how-to” videos at recruit.ucsf.edu,” stated Vanessa Jacoby, MD, director of the Participant Recruitment Program at CTSI.
Various attendees expressed additional interest in UCSF's effort to improve the recruitment of diverse research participant populations and gleaned key takeaways from the panel.
"I have been working on ways to make it easier for diverse populations to join our study. The seminar has motivated me to keep pushing through the challenges and roadblocks that occur, because this really will make a difference to participants,” shared attendee Aleka Gürel, MPhil, research analyst at the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.
View the Video Webcast & Slides from the Event
Related Announcements
- The UCSF Clinical Trials site (clinicaltrials.ucsf.edu) now has “about” pages in Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Studies are automatically listed on the UCSF Clinical Trials site if they are registered on clinicaltrials.gov. Here are a few steps you can take to optimize your listing.
- Panelist William Brown recently published a new paper: Mixed-Method Evaluation of Social Media-Based Tools and Traditional Strategies to Recruit High-Risk and Hard-to-Reach Populations into an HIV Prevention Intervention Study.
Recruitment Resources
- CTSI offers consultations on any aspect of recruitment—including recruitment of underrepresented populations. The first hour is FREE! Visit consult.ucsf.edu to put in a request.
- Learn more about using the EHR for recruitment using the Recruitment Letter Service. Letter templates are available in Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese.
- The Participant Recruitment Program has a new one-stop-shop for recruitment resources: visit recruit.ucsf.edu to learn about tools and tips for recruitment.
- UCSF’s CTSI has a practice based research network that facilitates research partnerships with community-based clinics with diverse populations. Go to SFBayCRN.org to learn more.
Have an idea? Want to get involved?
Learn more about the Differences Matter Research Action Group
Get in touch with the Participant Recruitment Program at [email protected].
Event Highlights from Social Media
@ARCHDrNguyen on https://t.co/ZuHLkpB4zl initiative @UCSF to diversify #research participants & investigators for #equity , depth of science pic.twitter.com/rJrBtqOtZv
— RVargas (@RAVMPH) October 31, 2017
Underrepresentation is disease agnostic. Thanks @ARCHDrNguyen. #ctsi #disparities #differencesmatter #prp pic.twitter.com/VRcXPAsAzH
— Hala (@HalaBorno) October 31, 2017
Europeans and white Americans consist of 12% of world population but 81% of genetic studies--@estebanburchard @UCSF recruitment symposium
— Tung Nguyen (@ARCHDrNguyen) October 31, 2017
Here are some belated notes from today's phenomenal @CTSIatUCSF event on how to increase enrollment of under-represented populations in research: 1/? https://t.co/lbEfTk0sY2
— Aleka Gürel (@AlekaGurel) November 1, 2017
Panel: social expansiveness & social precision key to engaging diverse participants in clinical research. Also ask us for a consultation! pic.twitter.com/sQ2az7JIyP
— UCSF Center for CE (@UCSF_CCE) October 31, 2017
Despite statistics that beg for clinical research w/participants belonging to groups burdened w/#healthdisparities, science is still biased. pic.twitter.com/BDSWaDjafl
— UCSF Center for CE (@UCSF_CCE) October 31, 2017