D.R.I.V.E Initiative

A DRIVE for Inclusion and Diversity

First introduced in 2022 and more relevant since the current clinical research trials frequently do not enroll minorities of color, including African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Therefore, we continue evaluating ongoing clinical research, and emerging data in hematologic malignancies and non-malignant conditions, and it is still very clear that we as providers have failed to ensure that data generated for efficacy and of adverse reactions are applicable to certain populations that we treat, even in diseases that disproportionately affect minorities. For example, Multiple myeloma occurs in 20% of African Americans yet current major studies have less than 5% enrollment of African American, African, or black participants. We still see glaring examples in the evaluation of the safety of agents for cardiovascular risks, hypertension, and diabetes, disorders that disproportionally affect persons of color who frequently are not included in these studies. The net effect of these examples is a mistrust of the “medical establishment”, therefore, when a lifesaving treatment is developed it is viewed with suspicion and rejected or not embraced by persons of color who certainly have been significantly affected and we all wonder: WHY? We are working to change this and answer this question.