In January 2015, President Barack Obama announced the Precision Medicine Initiative during his State of the Union address, to recruit 1 million diverse Americans into a bold new research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease.

I immediately thought, I have to get 250 thousand Latinos to sign up!

Little did I know, that in 2016, I would be called to serve on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the All of Us Research Program, the President’s initiative, implemented by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Sitting at the IRB table at my very first meeting, I asked that the All of Us website also be launched in Spanish, as soon as possible. Thankfully, my colleagues on the IRB, seconded that request, as a step toward the inclusion and linguistic parity we were aiming for in outreach to underrepresented populations in research.

In the years since the 2018 launch, diversity has been a key hallmark of the All of Us Program leadership, and it shows in their recruitment efforts! Out of 522 thousand registrants (Aug 2022 Figures), almost 50% self-identify as racial/ethnic minorities.

The graph (pictured above) represents the self-reported races and ethnicities of participants who have completed the initial steps of the program. The information is based on participants’ responses to a question in the program’s The Basics survey. To learn more, please visit “The Basics” in the Survey Explorer.

So, I am excited to share that Karriem Watson, DHSc, MS, MPH, the All of Us Chief Engagement Officer, and Dr. Fatima Muñoz, a community partner from the first handful of federally qualified health care centers to engage with All of Us, will present at the 4th Annual National Latino Cancer Institute Virtual Forum on October 28th.

They’ll discuss the challenges and successes that got these results, and share why diversity goes arm in arm with quality research and health discoveries that benefit us all. Karriem Watson credits the diversity of community partners and the critical knowledge they bring about their communities.

Dr. Muñoz speaks proudly of the 66% retention rate out of the 2000 mostly Spanish speaking patients recruited. It’s hard work she admits, but credits the engagement to the trust her San Diego, CA area clinic staff has built with the community.

Join us and learn more by registering here for the Forum.

Sincerely,
Ysabel Duron