In this interview, Jennifer Jones-McMeans, Ph.D., co-leader of Abbott’s Diversity in Research Office and divisional vice president of global clinical affairs at Abbott’s vascular business, discusses the company’s initiatives to diversify clinical trials. She shares insights into overcoming systemic barriers, ensuring transparency, and fostering inclusivity in clinical research. This conversation highlights Abbott’s commitment to addressing challenges faced by underrepresented populations and creating a more equitable research environment.
Moe: How does Abbott’s initiative address systemic barriers like socioeconomic disparities?
Jennifer Jones-McMeans: At Abbott, we tackle systemic barriers through our Diversity in Research Office, which I co-lead. In 2024, we launched the Abbott Diversity in Research website, an educational platform for patients, families, physicians, and researchers. This site is a central hub for information on diversity and inclusion in clinical trials. We identified four key barriers: lack of trust, transparency, access, and common language. To address these barriers, we’ve been intentional with our clinical trial site selection, collaborating with diverse research centers and supporting diverse staff training. For example, we’ve expanded our view to include more naive trial sites with diverse populations and provided training for research coordinators to reflect the patient population better.
Education is crucial, so we ensure a foundational understanding of diseases and clinical trials, exemplified by our LIFE-BTK trial, where we communicated the disease and trial objectives. Additionally, remote monitoring and language translation are vital to overcoming these barriers, ensuring patients can participate without undue burden. We aim to create a more inclusive and equitable clinical trial environment by addressing these systemic barriers.
Moe: What metrics does Abbott use to measure success, and how is transparency ensured?
Jennifer Jones-McMeans: We employ a robust data collection system across Abbott to measure the success of our diversity initiatives. This system gathers comprehensive demographic and socioeconomic information, including gender, race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual identity. By maintaining a central database, we can track our progress year-to-year and compare it against reliable measures like the census. For instance, in 2023, female participation in our clinical trials was 54%, and the Hispanic non-white population accounted for 44%. These metrics are reported through our 2030 sustainability initiative, ensuring transparency and accountability.
This centralized approach allows us to assess our performance across different business units, such as cardiovascular, diagnostics, and nutrition, and align our efforts with broader sustainability goals. By having a clear and transparent system in place, we can ensure that our diversity initiatives are effective and that we are accountable for our progress.
Moe: How does Abbott ensure leadership reflects the diverse communities it serves?
Jennifer Jones-McMeans: Ensuring diversity in leadership and decision-making teams is integral to our strategy. We evaluate external leadership, including principal investigators (PIs), for gender and diversity balance. Our internal process, part of our quality system, assesses PI selection with a focus on gender and racial diversity. We aim for diversity in thought leadership, gender, race, and ethnicity. We’ve successfully appointed more women as leads or co-leads in clinical programs in the vascular business. For example, two women are leading one of our post-approval trials.
This intentional work extends to steering committees, where we strive to include physicians who may not have traditionally been part of these evaluations. By making our diversity goals known and weighted in our selection process, we ensure that our clinical trials are led by individuals who reflect the communities we serve.
Moe: What cultural competency training is Abbott implementing for trial teams?
Jennifer Jones-McMeans: Cultural competency training is a cornerstone of our efforts to build trust and engagement with underrepresented populations. Through the Diversity in Research Office, we provide consistent education on diversity in healthcare across Abbott. We have developed resources and tools to disseminate this knowledge to those conducting trials and those generally interested in this work. For instance, following the FDA’s guidance on diversity and research action plans, we conducted an education series to explain the requirements and their rationale.
We also offer templates and internal navigators to guide teams unfamiliar with diversity research. Additionally, we have an external Diversity in Research Medical Advisory Board, comprising of diverse physicians and researchers, to whom internal teams present their plans. This process not only educates our teams but also holds us accountable. Furthermore, we invite external experts to our internal steering committee meetings on diversity and research, providing broader education on the work being done in this field.
Moe: What role do community organizations play in Abbott’s strategy?
Jennifer Jones-McMeans: Community organizations and advocacy groups are vital partners in our strategy to diversify clinical trials. We collaborate with existing community programs to understand and address their needs. For example, we partnered with the University of California San Francisco, Fresno, and Dr. Leigh Ann O’Banion’s Champions program, focusing on limb preservation and vascular cures. This partnership supports education and screening for vascular disease in the Central Valley.
Another example is our five-year partnership with Norton Healthcare’s Institute for Health Equity in Louisville, KY. This investment supports the development of sustainable plans for diverse populations in an area that previously lacked access to care. By partnering with these community programs, we leverage their expertise and insights to inform our strategies rather than imposing solutions from a corporate perspective.
Moe: How does Abbott address technological challenges in decentralized trials?
Jennifer Jones-McMeans: Addressing technological challenges in decentralized trials is crucial to ensuring equitable participation. We ensure that the burden of technology doesn’t fall on patients. For instance, in a vascular study, we provided the necessary technology to sites and healthcare workers rather than expecting patients to have the required devices. This approach ensures that patients can participate in trials without investing in technology.
The corporation’s responsibility is to supply the tools needed for trials, not the patients. By providing the necessary technology and support, we aim to remove barriers to participation and ensure that all patients have equal access to clinical trials. This strategy helps us address the digital divide and ensures that underrepresented populations can fully engage in decentralized trials.
Moe: Is there anything else you want to add about Abbott’s diversity efforts?
Jennifer Jones-McMeans: We’re excited to continue this work into our fourth year. Our website offers educational resources, and we invest in scholarships for young researchers and partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). For example, we have a $5 million five-year scholarship program for medical students at HBCUs and partnerships with the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA), and the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN).
This multi-layered approach addresses patient, physician, and healthcare system needs, ensuring comprehensive support for diversity in clinical trials. By focusing on the needs of patients and families, current physicians, and the pipeline of young researchers, we aim to create a sustainable and inclusive research environment. Our efforts are designed to foster a diverse and equitable future in clinical research.
Moe Alsumidaie is Chief Editor of The Clinical Trial Vanguard. Moe holds decades of experience in the clinical trials industry. Moe also serves as Head of Research at CliniBiz and Chief Data Scientist at Annex Clinical Corporation.