Let’s Shape the Future of our Healthcare
By Deborah Peaks Coleman, Contributing Writer
It has often weighed heavily on my mind why African Americans, particularly my relatives and friends, experienced certain health challenges and agonized with so many chronic and terminal diseases. In every circle of my girlfriends—colleagues, childhood friends, college friends, sorority sisters, and church sisters—one or more of them has been diagnosed with fibroid tumors or a cyst of some kind. Seems like every family that I know has a relative who is suffering from some form of memory loss, whether it is Alzheimer’s or dementia. We all know too well that more diseases disproportionately affect African Americans than any other race. A promising opportunity to help African Americans create a paradigm shift in our healthcare lies within the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program.
The All of Us Research Program is part of the Precision Medicine Initiative that was announced by President Barack Obama during his 2015 State of the Union address. Precision medicine is healthcare that is based on people as individuals and takes into account factors like where you live, what you do, and one’s family history. Research is the key to precision medicine. Biomedical research will assist healthcare professionals in finding effective prevention and treatment for diseases.
A major goal of the All of Us Research Program is to enroll one million people of diverse backgrounds willing to share information over many years to help build one of the largest health data sets of its kind for biomedical research. Researchers will be able to request access to this data set for thousands of studies on different health topics. As a program director at the Delta Research and Educational Foundation (DREF), I am working with my colleagues and volunteers to conduct outreach activities to educate African Americans about the importance of biomedical research. Presently, only five percent of African Americans participate in clinical trials. Looking to the future, we can make a huge difference to benefit the health and wellness of our families by getting involved in research.
A collaborative effort between DREF, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the National Council of Negro Women is focusing on making African Americans aware of the All of UsResearch Program. Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the presiding prelate of the 10thEpiscopal District of the AME Church, serves as a member of the National Advisory Council of DREF Research Matters for the All of Us Initiative.
DREF Research Matters, funded by NIH, is conducting a national outreach campaign to inform African Americans about the possibilities, facts, and myths related to our participating in clinical trials. Several persons have expressed concern about injustices that have occurred in years past, such as the Tuskegee Experiment or the Henrietta Lacks misfortune. It is very unfortunate that those travesties occurred. We have learned from it and protocols are now in place to prevent any similar debacle from repeating itself. Our participation in research can be for good and surely helps us understand and treat the chronic and terminal diseases that are overwhelmingly experienced by African Americans.
Let’s commit to learning more about how we can help shape a better future of healthcare for African Americans. Visit www.joinallofus.org/DREFfor more information.
Deborah Peaks Coleman is the director of programs at the Delta Research and Educational Foundation (DREF), where she is responsible for program planning for the Foundation’s Center for Research on African American Women, managing grant-making, and serving as the liaison to the chapters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She also serves as the managing editor of PHILLIS: The Journal for Research on African American Women. She is a member of Payne Memorial AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland.
