Webinar: How the Prevalence of Chronic Diseases Impacts Clinical Research
Tuesday, March 3, 2022 | 11 AM - 12 PM CST
PART 3 OF CHI’S 10-PART SERIES: FROM RESEARCHER TO PATIENT - MAKING CLINICAL TRIALS MORE DIVERSE
About the webinar
This education program focuses on chronic medical conditions in underrepresented groups and how these conditions impact clinical trial participation. Specifically focusing on kidney diseases, the discussion will center around eligibility criteria, safety, and dialogue with patients from underrepresented communities. One study found that a“lack of diversity in clinical trials is a moral, scientific, and medical issue. When trial participants are homogenous (e.g., primarily one gender, race/ethnicity, or age group), findings may be skewed and result in a body of clinical knowledge that is not generalizable”(1). New NIH data shows “35% of African Americans suffer from kidney failure and Hispanics have experienced a 70% increase in kidney failure cases since 2000”(2). Furthermore, African Americans are “10 times more likely to develop kidney failure related to hypertension, and 3 times more likely to progress to kidney failure than Caucasians”(3). In a study through the American Journal of Nephrology, in 3,000 chronic kidney disease-related clinical trials, only 34 were directed toward African Americans. With African Americans comprising 13.2% of the US population and having an elevated risk, this number is exceptionally low (4). This educational program brings together industry experts to discuss the impact of chronic conditions on clinical trial enrollment in underrepresented groups and solutions to address barriers in trial participation related to chronic diseases through patient communication, revised eligibility criteria, and community engagement.
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.
DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS
Dr. Monica Parker, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Emory Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Monica Willis Parker, MD is a graduate of Fisk University and The University of Nebraska Medical Center. She joined the Emory School of Medicine faculty in 1995. She has transitioned roles as a geriatric, primary care provider to that of clinical research investigator. She now leads the Minority Engagement Core (MEC), one of six cores of the Emory Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Dr. Parker serves as Co-investigator on several NIH-funded projects. She advocates and educates about the importance of research participation for the elimination of health disparities in persons of color. She has co-authored several peer reviewed articles on the differences in neurocognitive disorders between African and European Americans, African American caregiving needs, and research participation for African Americans with colleagues at Emory, the Mayo Clinic, and Ohio State University.
Active in many civic and social organizations, she was appointed the inaugural Health and Human Services Facet Director of The Links, Incorporated. She serves/has served on several Boards, which include AGRHODES Nursing and Rehab centers, Georgia Alzheimer’s Association Board of Governors, The Health Outcomes Task force for the National Alzheimer’s Association, Georgia Museum of Art (GMOA) and the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism for the State Bar of Georgia.
A recipient of several honors, she has received the 2021 Yellow Rose award from the Georgia Women’s Legislative Caucus , Atlanta Magazine’s “Groundbreaker of the Year”2016; “A Key to A Cure” Award recipient of the Wesley Woods Foundation, and one of Atlanta’s Top Doctors, in Family/Geriatric Medicine 2009-2013, by Castle-Connolly Associates.
Jeffrey (Jeff) W. Sherman, MD, FACP, is Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at Horizon Therapeutics. Jeff has more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry at IDM Pharma, Takeda Global Research and Development, NeoPharm, Searle/Pharmacia, and Squibb/Bristol-Myers Squibb. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Xeris Biopharma.
Jeff received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Lake Forest College and medical degree from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science/The Chicago Medical School. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Northwestern University, where he also served as a chief medical resident. Additionally, he completed fellowship training in infectious diseases at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) and was a research associate at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UCSF in allergy and immunology. Jeff is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of a number of professional societies as well as a Diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Internal Medicine. Jeff also serves on the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science College of Pharmacy Advisory Board and the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Alumni Board.
Jeff is a past chairperson and former member of the Drug Information Association (DIA) Board of Directors. He also was chairperson of the DIA Annual Meeting, received an Outstanding Service Award, is an inaugural fellow, and had served as the DIA liaison to the FDA Clinical Trial Transformation Initiative (CTTI) Steering Committee. Jeff now serves as the Horizon representative to CTTI and in addition serves on the Board of Advisors of the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP). He is also a member of the Global Genes Medical and Scientific Advisory Board and involved with the National Organization for Rare Diseases (NORD). Jeff in addition co-chairs the Science Advisory Board of Cures Within Reach and is on the Board of the Erie Family Health Foundation and the Center for Healthcare Innovation (CHI).
Clark, L. T., Watkins, L., Piña, I. L., Elmer, M., Akinboboye, O., Gorham, M., Jamerson, B., McCullough, C., Pierre, C., Polis, A. B., Puckrein, G., & Regnante, J. M. (2019). Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials: Overcoming Critical Barriers. Current problems in cardiology, 44(5), 148–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2018.11.002
U.S. Renal Data System, USRDS 2016 Annual Data Report: Atlas of Chronic Kidney Disease and End-Stage Renal Disease in the United States, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD, 2016.
Kidney Disease Health Disparities. www.asn-online.org/policy/webdocs/HealthDisparities.pdf.
Harding, K., Mersha, T. B., Vassalotti, J. A., Webb, F. A., & Nicholas, S. B. (2017). Current State and Future Trends to Optimize the Care of Chronic Kidney Disease in African Americans. American journal of nephrology, 46(2), 176–186. https://doi.org/10.1159/000479481
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