Webinar: Increasing Diversity among Principal Investigators & the Clinical Trial Community
Thursday, September 1, 2022 | 11 AM - 12 PM CST
PART 6 OF CHI’S 10-PART SERIES: FROM RESEARCHER TO PATIENT - MAKING CLINICAL TRIALS MORE DIVERSE
This educational program will explore the relationship between communities of color, who are often underrepresented in clinical trials, and diverse teams of principal investigators. The discussion will focus on how building diverse teams of healthcare professionals and clinical trialists may result in better clinical trial patient recruitment and overall trial success. A 2020 study indicated that only 23% of African Americans and 26% of Latin Americans have a physician that shares the same race or ethnicity, while for white Americans, that number is 82% (1). Moreover, research often shows that minority patients prefer to be treated by minority doctors, and racial concordance between patients and providers may lead to better health outcomes. For example, in an analysis of over 100,000 patient surveys from 2014 to 2017, a team of Penn Medicine researchers found that patients were more likely to give the maximum patient rating score when they shared the same racial or ethnic background as their physician (2). This educational program convenes a group of clinical trial experts to discuss how increasing diversity among the ranks of providers, principal investigators, and other clinical trial professionals may result improve clinical trial recruitment among communities of color. This program is in partnership with the Black Healthcare & Medical Association.
Series Host
Dr. Neelum Aggarwal, MD
Professor, Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center
Dr. Neelum T. Aggarwal, MD, is the Chief Diversity Officer at American Medical Women’s Association and Associate Professor, Departments of Neurological Sciences and the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center. She is the Senior Neurologist for the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center (RADC), Research Director at the Rush Heart Center for Women, and serves as the Principal Investigator and Site Principal Investigator for multiple NIA funded research studies and consortia led clinical trials. Her work focuses on how sex, gender and social determinants of health are associated with risk, detection and treatment of cognitive changes associated with dementia. Dr. Aggarwal is a long-standing voice for community based research, clinical trial participation, public health initiatives, both in Chicago and nationally. She serves as the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), and was past chair of the Governing Council of the American Medical Association- Women's Physician Section.
Currently, she co chairs the Inclusion, Diversity and Education in Alzheimer's Disease - Outreach and Policy subcommittee and the Advisory Group on Risk Evidence Education for Dementia. As the Strategic Advisor for the Science Runway, a Chicago Innovation Mentor (CIM) and past National Chair for the Women in Bio Mentoring, Advisors and Peers Committee, she is uniquely positioned to work with diverse groups of colleagues, mentor and sponsor women and men in the medical, life sciences and STEM sectors. She completed her medical degree from the Rosalind Franklin University - Chicago Medical School, completed her neurology residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and completed an aging and neurodegenerative disorders fellowship at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
Dr. Carl Hill, PhD, MPH
Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Alzheimer's Association
Carl V. Hill, Ph.D., MPH, is the chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer for the Alzheimer’s Association, overseeing strategic initiatives to strengthen the Association’s outreach to all populations and providing communities with resources and support to address the Alzheimer’s crisis.
In this role, Dr. Hill is responsible for developing cross-functional partnerships with organizations to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. As a result of his leadership, the Association has broadened its reach to previously underserved communities with partners such as the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, National Indian Council on Aging, National Black Nurses Association, National Association of Hispanic Nurses, African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation.
Within the Association, Dr. Hill collaborates with human resources to attract talent and develop resources that champion staff diversity and a culture of inclusion. He authored an editorial in the Journal of New England Medicine (JAMA) Neurology highlighting the need for more diverse, representative perspectives to address disparities and pursue equity in dementia science.
Dr. Hill previously served as the Association’s vice president, Scientific Engagement. Prior to joining the Association, he served as director, Office of Special Populations, at the National Institutes on Aging (NIA). Throughout Dr. Hill’s six years in this role, he led the development of the NIA Health Disparities Research Framework, which stimulates studies focused on health disparities related to aging. He also directed the NIA Butler-Williams Scholars Program, which provides yearly training for early career investigators interested in aging research.
Dr. Hill earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where he trained with the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health (CRECH) and the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA). He is an alumnus of the National Medical Fellowships Inc./W.K. Kellogg Foundation Health Policy Fellowship Program. Dr. Hill holds a master’s degree in public health from Morehouse School of Medicine, and he received its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2019. As a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Public Health Prevention Service, a training and leadership program, he helped to establish the Center for Bioethics in Research and Healthcare at Tuskegee University.
Dr. Monica Parker, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Emory Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Dr. Parker is a graduate of Fisk University and The University of Nebraska Medical Center. She completed her residency in Family Medicine at the University of Mississippi. As an active clinician, she joined the Emory School of Medicine faculty in 1995 as medical director of Emory Clinic of Social Circle. She has transitioned roles as a geriatric, primary care provider to that of clinical research investigator.
She is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded investigator for several projects. She has co-authored several articles for peer reviewed journals in the areas of Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias, aging and disparities for people of color. She is the director of both the Outreach, Recruitment and Education (ORE) and Minority Engagement Cores (MEC), of the Emory Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center of Emory University.
A recipient of several honors, she most recently was given a Yellow Rose Award by the Georgia Legislature Women’s Caucus 2021. Castle- Connolly Associates named her one of Atlanta’s Top Doctors, in Family/Geriatric Medicine 2009-2013, as published in the Atlanta Magazine.
In Partnership With
Related Content
