Increasing Diverse Clinical Populations: Geography

By Noah Goodson, Ph.D., Associate Director, Consulting, THREAD

The lack of representation in medical research reveals a lack of access to trial participation for many segments of the greater human population and can endanger the conclusions drawn from study data. A drug may impact different demographics—by age, race, gender and other factors—in vastly different ways. Therefore, trials need to draw in a similarly diverse group of patients to ensure the drug’s effectiveness. This three-part series will examine the varied challenges and solutions to increasing diverse clinical populations. In our final installment, we’ll look at how geographic barriers can prevent a study from being fully inclusive and ways to mitigate issues of distance.