Accessibility and availability of state-of-the-art clinical trials has been consistently recognized as a glaring unmet need in diverse and underserved communities in the United States. Indeed, the National Institutes of Health Minority Health and Health Disparities Strategic Plan 2021-2025 was developed by NIMHD, in collaboration with all the NIH Institutes, to outline NIH’s commitment to improving minority health and reducing health disparities. Two of the Strategic Plan’s major goals focus on issues of diversity and inclusion in NIH-funded research and in clinical trials as follows:

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Goal 7: Ensure appropriate representation of minority and other health disparity populations in NIH-funded research. 

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Goal 8: Promote evidence-based community engagement, dissemination, and implementation of minority health and health disparities research best practices. 

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This mandate has led the Clinical Research Alliance to develop a model of offering the options of modern cancer clinical trials to diverse and underserved communities at risk that previously had not had the opportunity to participate unless they out migrated to referral centers, many of which were not practically available to them. In addition, cultural, language and medical literacy issues were not reconciled in most areas, and funding to supplement deficiencies have been lacking. The purpose of this conference therefore, is to raise awareness among the  communities at large, as well as provide practical and actionable information to interested and committed stakeholders, from industry to health care providers across the spectrum of involvement.

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