The Colors of COVID-19: Addressing Health Disparities During a Global Pandemic
September 18, 2020September 16, 2020
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- 00:00Thank you very much for joining us
- 00:02this evening for what I am quite
- 00:04sure is going to be a terrific talk
- 00:06and then conversation afterwards.
- 00:08This is the kickoff session for
- 00:10the program for Biomedical Ethics
- 00:12Evening Ethics Seminar series here
- 00:13at the Yale School of Medicine,
- 00:15and we have sessions once or twice a
- 00:18month throughout the academic year,
- 00:19and you can actually see at
- 00:21the bottom of this slide.
- 00:23You can see the next few
- 00:25talks that are coming up.
- 00:26We have saving Hildebrandt from Harvard.
- 00:28We have Trish apprentice from Melbourne.
- 00:30And then amorous Kaiser from Johns
- 00:32Hopkins as our first three talks.
- 00:34And I think the one after that
- 00:36is going to be Peter singer,
- 00:38who was going to be a broadcasting
- 00:40to us from Australia.
- 00:42Also,
- 00:42we've got a tremendous lineup for the year.
- 00:44Were delighted that you're here.
- 00:46Please join us for as many
- 00:48as your time and interests.
- 00:49Allow the way these sessions work
- 00:51is we have about a 45 minute talk
- 00:54by a visiting faculty member,
- 00:56followed by a 45 minute conversation.
- 00:57I'm going to invite you to
- 00:59send questions via chat.
- 01:01And then I will share the questions
- 01:03with Professor Thomas after his talk is
- 01:05over and how moderate the conversations.
- 01:07That way we do have a hard stop at 6:30.
- 01:10So if you're wondering,
- 01:11when do you get out?
- 01:12It will stop at 6:30, so let me
- 01:15apologize now to whoever had father.
- 01:16Great question at 629 'cause
- 01:18I probably won't get to it.
- 01:20I'm sure I won't get to all of
- 01:22your questions,
- 01:23but it should be a great night.
- 01:25Thanks for being here and I'm a night
- 01:27now to introduce our honored guests.
- 01:29Stephen Thomas, PhD,
- 01:30is professor of health policy and management.
- 01:32And the director of the Maryland Center
- 01:35for HealthEquity at the school of
- 01:37public health at the University of Maryland,
- 01:39College Park.
- 01:40Doctor Thomas is one of the nation's
- 01:42leading scholars on community
- 01:44engaged research designed to reduce
- 01:46and ultimately eliminate racial
- 01:47and ethnic health disparities.
- 01:49He completed his undergraduate
- 01:51degree at Ohio State University.
- 01:53Excuse me.
- 01:53V Ohio State University and his PhD from
- 01:56southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
- 01:59Doctor Thomas has also earn certificates
- 02:01in bioethics from Georgetown University and
- 02:03the University of Washington in Seattle.
- 02:05He's a principal investigator of the NIH
- 02:08and I am HD center of excellence on race,
- 02:11ethnicity,
- 02:12and health disparities research.
- 02:13His research and collaborator doctor
- 02:15doctor Sandra Quinn is recognized as
- 02:17one of the scholarly contributions.
- 02:19Excuse me,
- 02:19his research with doctor Quinn
- 02:21is recognized as one of the solid
- 02:24contributions that led to the
- 02:251997 presidential apology for the
- 02:27syphilis study done at Tuskegee.
- 02:29I think many, perhaps most,
- 02:31people on this call on remember that time,
- 02:34and I didn't realize until.
- 02:36Until this that doctor Thomas
- 02:38was instrumental in that.
- 02:39Doctor Thomas believes that building
- 02:41bridges of trust are essential
- 02:43to creating healthy communities.
- 02:45In this talk he will discuss
- 02:46how the principle of
- 02:48Justice can help illuminate the
- 02:50implications for recruitment and
- 02:52retention of black human subjects in
- 02:54COVID-19 clinical trials research.
- 02:56The talk is the colors of COVID-19
- 02:59addressing health disparities
- 03:00during a global pandemic.
- 03:01Our guest is Professor Stephen Thomas
- 03:04and thank you so much for doing this.
- 03:07Forest doctor Thomas an welcome to Yale.
- 03:09It's an
- 03:10honor and a pleasure to be here.
- 03:12I actually was going through my emails
- 03:15searching for something and I put in
- 03:18the word Yale and believe it or not,
- 03:20I've been to your campus a couple times.
- 03:22I want to commend the work that's
- 03:25being done there around training
- 03:27the next generation of scholars.
- 03:29And I think that this form itself
- 03:32and the prestige of your institution
- 03:35hopefully can help move the needle.
- 03:38I'm in a moment here.
- 03:40I'm going to share my slides,
- 03:42but as you can see with
- 03:44this virtual background,
- 03:45I have a rainbow over my head every
- 03:47single day seems to bring bad news,
- 03:50but at the end of the day I do
- 03:53believe we will do the right thing.
- 03:56And so I do have hope even in the
- 03:59midst of what we're going through,
- 04:03I'm reminded reminded that
- 04:05sunshine does follow the rain.
- 04:08I hope we have a robust conversation
- 04:11and honest conversation.
- 04:13A Frank Conversation.
- 04:14This is no time to be anything
- 04:18but authentic people are dying
- 04:21an it is about saving lives.
- 04:24I had Could never have imagined that
- 04:27the United States would be in such bad
- 04:30shape as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 04:34An early in the process when
- 04:36discussions were being made about
- 04:38the underlying conditions,
- 04:40you know the diabetes heart
- 04:42disease of the asthma,
- 04:43the list goes on,
- 04:45and they are all part of the
- 04:47health disparities that we have
- 04:50known so well and document it.
- 04:53Anne,
- 04:53yet in the early days of the pandemic,
- 04:57this data was not presented with
- 05:00racial demographics or zip codes.
- 05:03New York Times did a major story on
- 05:06the racial breakdown of covid cases,
- 05:08and to get the data they had to actually
- 05:11file a lawsuit against Central Disease
- 05:14Control to have access to the data.
- 05:17So even as we speak right now,
- 05:20it is not universal that we're getting the
- 05:22data by all the demographic characteristics,
- 05:25so I'm going to take a chance
- 05:27here and hit a few buttons.
- 05:30Everybody out there in cyberspace.
- 05:32Please cross your fingers.
- 05:34I'm gonna share my screen an
- 05:38hope that all of this works.
- 05:42And. If you see an image.
- 05:47Full screen there we go.
- 05:50An I'm reminded every semester and we're
- 05:53in our second week of school here.
- 05:55Actually,
- 05:55the beginning of our third week,
- 05:57but our first week in a blended
- 06:00with in person.
- 06:01But every year I'm reminded that the
- 06:04freshman class is always the same age,
- 06:06and I'm the one that's older and
- 06:09I've realized overtime that some
- 06:11don't know who this is in this image.
- 06:14And this was actually.
- 06:16Produced by a young undergraduate
- 06:18student when we were celebrating the
- 06:21anniversary of the March on Washington.
- 06:25And I've kept it in my slide deck ever since.
- 06:28And it's this that realization that
- 06:29if you grew up in another country,
- 06:32you may not be familiar with the history
- 06:34of civil rights in the United States.
- 06:36And even if you grew up in this country.
- 06:40You may not be familiar with it,
- 06:42and I think it's very important that
- 06:44we keep in front of us how we have
- 06:47made social change in this country
- 06:49and it is movements like the civil
- 06:51rights movement that is vital for
- 06:53the lessons we need right now.
- 06:55You may not agree with everything
- 06:58you're about to hear today,
- 07:00so it is about a conversation.
- 07:02There's my email address and I'm hoping
- 07:05that this is the beginning and not an end.
- 07:09So, um. My commercial here.
- 07:13As I mentioned,
- 07:14I'm the director of the Mail in Center for
- 07:19HealthEquity joined the faculty in 2010,
- 07:22so it's This is actually our
- 07:2510 year anniversary.
- 07:27And in fact,
- 07:28there were five members of my
- 07:30research team where we were at the
- 07:33University of Pittsburgh and all
- 07:35five of us were recruited for one of
- 07:38the largest cluster hires in history
- 07:40of the University of Maryland.
- 07:42As part of the school public health.
- 07:44The images you see around this slide
- 07:46are the examples of the community
- 07:48engaged research infrastructure
- 07:50we have built,
- 07:51and I'll talk about in this
- 07:53theme of building bridges,
- 07:55building trust,
- 07:55building healthy communities is when
- 07:57I'll come back to time and time again.
- 08:00It is unfortunate,
- 08:01but true that if you were to draw
- 08:04a 2 mile radius around many of our
- 08:06academic Health Science Center,
- 08:08some of the most prestigious
- 08:10academic Health Science centers,
- 08:12you'd find some of the worst
- 08:14health statistics in the region.
- 08:16How how can that be?
- 08:18How can it be that you can
- 08:20live in the shadow?
- 08:21Of a medical wonder world.
- 08:24And still die before your time.
- 08:27That's why we do health disparity research.
- 08:30And in our center we do that
- 08:34from a philosophical foundation
- 08:36rooted in social justice.
- 08:39And I think for my students I
- 08:41have to point this out that
- 08:44social justice is not a slur is
- 08:46not something to be ashamed of.
- 08:49Social justice is the moral
- 08:51foundation of public health.
- 08:52The moral impulses that
- 08:54animate public health.
- 08:56Are to improve human well being by
- 08:58improving health and to focus on the needs
- 09:01of those who are most disadvantage to
- 09:03stay right there to focus on the needs.
- 09:06Of the most disadvantage,
- 09:10that's our moral commitment.
- 09:13Um,
- 09:13this is a matter of disclosure and
- 09:16and some other things will talk about,
- 09:18but I am on the IR be of the
- 09:22all of us program which is.
- 09:24The NIH initiative to enroll 1 million
- 09:27people in a database for ongoing research.
- 09:30I'm sure all of you know about
- 09:32all of essence.
- 09:33Maybe we have some all of us
- 09:36researchers there in the audience.
- 09:38So don't be mad at me at.
- 09:41You sent something in your protocols
- 09:43in in the IR be sent it back.
- 09:46It is our job to protect the human subjects.
- 09:50Also want to point out that
- 09:52there's a theme issue.
- 09:54The International Journal of
- 09:56Environmental Research and public
- 09:58health would be serving as the guest
- 10:01editor and we're really interested
- 10:03in commentaries, theoretical pieces,
- 10:05a thought pieces re framing,
- 10:07pieces of scholarship, and I would really,
- 10:10really encourage anyone out there who
- 10:13has work that they want to to share
- 10:17to consider submitting to Journal.
- 10:19And let me bring you greetings from
- 10:22our new president of all the photos.
- 10:24I could have showed you I picked this
- 10:27one as the school opened this is how
- 10:30they're portraying our new president and.
- 10:33I should say is the first African American
- 10:35President, University of Maryland.
- 10:37And this is an image that I think is quite.
- 10:43Illustrative of what he's facing
- 10:45at not much of a honeymoon.
- 10:47When you, when you become president
- 10:49at a time of a global pandemic.
- 10:52And so that doctor Darryl Pines,
- 10:55who was formerly the Dean of
- 10:58our school of Engineering,
- 11:00is now our new president.
- 11:03And I want to thank doctor
- 11:04markosian preparing for this.
- 11:06We talked about what would it be
- 11:08success in doing this kind of a session
- 11:10then here's what he said to me.
- 11:13That you know less entertainment
- 11:15and more enlightenment.
- 11:17To open up important discussions
- 11:19about complex, difficult,
- 11:20ethical questions of problems of racism
- 11:23in healthcare that is guidance he
- 11:25gave me and I'm taking that guidance.
- 11:28So I'm going to ask all of you to buckle
- 11:32your seatbelts because this is what I faced.
- 11:36In the you know.
- 11:38Mass media.
- 11:40In the upper left you'll see a flyer
- 11:42that talks about Kovid as a hoax
- 11:45that says do not take the test and
- 11:47do not take the vaccine that was
- 11:49sent to me by one of our one of our.
- 11:53Barbers in our barbershop Health Network.
- 11:56And I'll talk a little bit more
- 11:59about that later,
- 12:00but this was back in late February and March.
- 12:04This kind of information was being
- 12:06circulated in the black communities
- 12:08and and there were really no
- 12:10countermeasures this this has been
- 12:13seeding these neighborhoods for months,
- 12:15and now we're trying to get ready
- 12:17to go in with recruitment for
- 12:20COVID-19 vaccine trials.
- 12:22Now we're trying to ensure that
- 12:25people have their flu vaccine,
- 12:28and health professionals may not
- 12:30be aware of the extent to which
- 12:34that environment has been polluted
- 12:38with misinformation.
- 12:39And some of this misinformation and dis
- 12:43information coming from state actors
- 12:46specifically focused on causing confusion.
- 12:50But we're causing our own confusion.
- 12:52As you can see with that
- 12:54Roger stone piece up top,
- 12:56see Deanna interfering with
- 12:57important CDC reports and then
- 12:59HHS official has to apologize,
- 13:01calling scientists.
- 13:02Sedition I mean,
- 13:04have you ever seen anything like this
- 13:06in your careers and that doctor Anthony
- 13:09Fouchy would have to have security?
- 13:12I just pulled this one.
- 13:14He's had to have now security
- 13:17for his children and his family.
- 13:20I have never seen in our country.
- 13:23Our public health officials
- 13:26are scientists being a.
- 13:28Undermined And undermine from some of
- 13:31the hyest political offices in the land,
- 13:34and as a result,
- 13:35This is why we look this way.
- 13:38This is why the curve looks
- 13:40as we were in
- 13:41such a mess. Such disarray with this slide
- 13:44shows you is that guess what we actually do?
- 13:47Know how to flatten the
- 13:49curve and keep it down.
- 13:51But The reason that we have not as complex.
- 13:57And whether you agree or disagree with
- 14:00single payer healthcare as the countries,
- 14:02the United Kingdom and Canada and
- 14:04France and Australia and Italy?
- 14:06OK, you see where they are and you
- 14:09can see where we are unacceptable.
- 14:12There may be many, many reasons for that gap,
- 14:15but one of those reasons definitely has
- 14:18to do with who has access to healthcare
- 14:22without regardless of ability to pay.
- 14:24Covid has exposed.
- 14:26The deferred maintenance of our
- 14:29public health infrastructure.
- 14:32And it has exposed the any qualities
- 14:34and our health care delivery system.
- 14:37And so along the way,
- 14:39I want to make sure that we we,
- 14:42we, we balanced our our critiques.
- 14:44There's tons of literature on minority
- 14:46communities and why they don't trust
- 14:49and how they're hard to reach.
- 14:51We need to do more looking in
- 14:53the mirror at ourselves.
- 14:55What is it about our institutions?
- 14:57What is it about the way we're organized?
- 15:00What is it about the way we actually
- 15:02train our health professionals in
- 15:04our researchers that results in the.
- 15:07Very, very bad outcomes,
- 15:09but the data presents,
- 15:11and that's the backdrop.
- 15:13That's the context that we want black
- 15:17people to get in a vaccine trial.
- 15:20Now look here.
- 15:21This look at the headline,
- 15:23but look at the pull out the
- 15:26impact of medication can differ.
- 15:28Depending on a group's genetic makeup
- 15:30now I hope I have some geneticists
- 15:32out there in this audience,
- 15:35'cause we've been telling people that.
- 15:37We're all the same and at the level of,
- 15:41you know,
- 15:42even at that race is a social construction
- 15:46that is not biological and that we
- 15:48are the same and yet look at this.
- 15:52We differ by genetic makeup and
- 15:54that can determine what medication
- 15:56you get that's huge.
- 15:58It's a huge breakthrough in
- 16:01terms of precision medicine,
- 16:03but it's also huge mountain
- 16:06conceptual Mount and for laypeople
- 16:08to climb to overcome what they had
- 16:11been told that we are one people,
- 16:15one race, the human race.
- 16:18And even with that, yes,
- 16:20there is evidence of success.
- 16:23And while this one person marks
- 16:25Bradley 66 join the trial,
- 16:27it was so monumental he ends up ends up
- 16:30on the front page of the Washington Post.
- 16:33So while yes, there are some success,
- 16:36it's so rare that when it happens,
- 16:39you end up on the front page of
- 16:42the newspaper.
- 16:43He's also willing to talk about it.
- 16:45He's also highly educated.
- 16:47He's middle class out with a
- 16:49with an advanced degree,
- 16:51and so my point is.
- 16:53That's good, he sought out.
- 16:54How do I get into trial?
- 16:57The challenge we have are those who are
- 17:00not actively seeking to be in the trial.
- 17:03The challenge we have are those
- 17:06who may resist and be hesitant.
- 17:08That's our challenge and
- 17:09that is our opportunity,
- 17:11so it's in that context that
- 17:13I think that history matters.
- 17:15We've we've talked a lot about.
- 17:18In fact, we've been seeing this
- 17:20reckoning racial reckoning in
- 17:21the country with the Confederate
- 17:23statues and things being taken down.
- 17:26But I don't know how. How much?
- 17:29Awareness your audience
- 17:31has doctor more cozy about.
- 17:35The reckoning in medicine and public health.
- 17:39On the left I'm showing you a story
- 17:41because it was my former institution of
- 17:43the University of Pittsburgh where I
- 17:45was on the faculty from 2000, two 1010.
- 17:47That building there was called Parent Hall.
- 17:51A Thomas parent was a surgeon
- 17:53general of the United States,
- 17:54and he was a founding Dean of the
- 17:56Graduate School of Public Health,
- 17:58University, Pittsburgh.
- 17:59Maybe we have some pit alarm
- 18:01out there in your audience.
- 18:03Well, what's interesting here is that
- 18:05Thomas Perrin was surgeon general during
- 18:08the time of the Tuskegee syphilis study.
- 18:11An over the years.
- 18:13As graduate students and others became
- 18:16aware of this legacy and this history.
- 18:20A Long story short,
- 18:21you see the results.
- 18:22The Board of Trustees voted to remove the
- 18:25name of Thomas parent from the building.
- 18:28That didn't come from enlightened
- 18:31administrative leadership.
- 18:33That came from struggle that came from
- 18:36demonstration that came from a people,
- 18:38particularly students rising up
- 18:39saying they did not want a degree
- 18:42from a school that was named after
- 18:45someone who played a role in
- 18:47leading the Tuskegee syphilis study
- 18:49block there on the right.
- 18:51The father of gynecology
- 18:53who experimented on slaves.
- 18:54There was a statue to him.
- 18:58And it came down that statue came now.
- 19:02There is a reckoning in
- 19:04medicine and public health.
- 19:06What reckoning is occurring on your campus?
- 19:12And if you think all those things are in
- 19:16the past, those things are all behind us.
- 19:20Just look at the news and here we
- 19:22have a whistleblower complaint about
- 19:24unwanted hysterectomies among migrant
- 19:27women in ice detention centers.
- 19:30I can't believe or even talking this way.
- 19:34In the United States of America.
- 19:35So if you think these things are
- 19:37in the past, you're wrong.
- 19:39And I guess one of my questions
- 19:42when we get to the discussion is.
- 19:45What role do we have to play?
- 19:48What responsibility do we have?
- 19:50When our peers are peer medical
- 19:54professionals working an ice
- 19:56detention facilities are caught up.
- 19:59And participating.
- 20:00In this kind of behavior,
- 20:03what role do we have?
- 20:05To check ourselves. No.
- 20:09The Tuskegee suffer study comes
- 20:11up again and again because.
- 20:14In many ways.
- 20:15It's one of you can get your arms around it.
- 20:20This little town and make in Alabama.
- 20:23Macon County, Alabama.
- 20:25How is it that a story out of Macon County,
- 20:30Alabama?
- 20:30Tuskegee ends up being.
- 20:33A bellwether for bioethics.
- 20:36Let's remind ourselves that this
- 20:39was a study directed by the public
- 20:42health service from 1932 to 1972.
- 20:45And it is described as arguably the
- 20:47most infamous bio medical research
- 20:49that in the history of Medicine.
- 20:51But what I want you to notice
- 20:53here in this photo as the position
- 20:55white position there is drawing
- 20:57blood from one of the participants.
- 21:00That position is not in a clinic.
- 21:03That position is not in a hospital.
- 21:06He's in a planned.
- 21:08He's out on a plantation in the fields.
- 21:11He's got his lab equipment,
- 21:13his blood draw equipment in
- 21:15the back of his car.
- 21:18They went to where the people were.
- 21:20They met them in the fields.
- 21:23They. Built.
- 21:26Trust.
- 21:27Not this position necessarily,
- 21:30but the nurse who ran daily
- 21:32day and kept them in together.
- 21:35Her name was Eunice Rivers.
- 21:36Do you know how hard it is to keep a cohort?
- 21:41204 hundred plus men together for 40 years.
- 21:47We got a tip our hat to her will talk about
- 21:50the complexity of the role she played,
- 21:53but Eunice Rivers and the role she
- 21:56played in the outreach recruitment.
- 21:58The maintenance of crust,
- 22:00the relationship,
- 22:00the love she showed towards
- 22:03these men is instrumental.
- 22:04It cannot be thrown out.
- 22:07As part of the atrocity,
- 22:09let's talk about that.
- 22:10When the study broke in the
- 22:12newspapers in 1972,
- 22:14it was actually still going on.
- 22:16You have to understand no,
- 22:18that on the health professional side,
- 22:20few thought anything was wrong.
- 22:21This was not a secret.
- 22:23You see that sign of dirt secret
- 22:26Tuskegee study was never a secret.
- 22:28It were articles published in medical
- 22:30journals like 20 year retrospective of
- 22:32untreated syphilis in the male mean.
- 22:34These things were happening and
- 22:36being published during the time
- 22:38of of the civil rights movement.
- 22:40It is an amazing story and This
- 22:43is why it has so much traction.
- 22:45Why is this important here again?
- 22:49They use qualitative research.
- 22:51They reached out that used anthropologists
- 22:54to do interviews of world that
- 22:55people in the rural South to
- 22:58understand their their their beliefs,
- 23:00their cultural cues,
- 23:01and one of the things they learned in
- 23:04doing those qualitative interviews
- 23:06with that that for many black people
- 23:09in the rural South who were poor.
- 23:12There was a great fear over
- 23:14how they would be buried.
- 23:15And people wanted to be buried decently,
- 23:18and if you were poor in a rural farmer,
- 23:21it is highly likely that you
- 23:23would be buried in a seed sack.
- 23:26But if you join the Tuskegee Study,
- 23:29guess what?
- 23:29All the burial out cost of your
- 23:32burial would be taken care of by the
- 23:36government with burial insurance.
- 23:38They used the information
- 23:40about the cultural cues.
- 23:42Not necessarily to empower the people.
- 23:46But to get them to do with the
- 23:49scientists wanted them to do.
- 23:51We now need qualitative research
- 23:54and understanding the cultural and
- 23:56linguistic in the history of the minority
- 24:00communities that we want to be involved in.
- 24:03The COVID-19 vaccine trial.
- 24:06What are we going to do
- 24:08with that information?
- 24:09Will we use it to create more
- 24:12informed decision makers?
- 24:14Or will it be used again to
- 24:16get the people to do?
- 24:18What we scientists want them to do?
- 24:20Let's talk about that during the discussion.
- 24:24Today that legacy is part of
- 24:26what we call cultural memory.
- 24:28I don't know if you knew that the
- 24:31Tuskegee study now lives as a
- 24:34movie in this average boys that it
- 24:36lives in a jazz CD by Don Byron,
- 24:39called Tuskegee experiments or the
- 24:41one I really like that actually
- 24:43lives in a Marvel Comic Book
- 24:46Magazine called the truth.
- 24:47So now these things were out in
- 24:50the general public are out in the
- 24:53culture and we as researchers,
- 24:54investigators and health care professionals.
- 24:56Need to understand this is the cultural
- 24:59context in which were coming in.
- 25:02Engaging people in conversations
- 25:06about research.
- 25:08So one of the things that I want to
- 25:10make sure people don't lose whenever
- 25:12I read the newspaper reports to
- 25:14talk about the Tuskegee atrocity.
- 25:16They don't talk about any of the
- 25:18positives that came on the aftermath.
- 25:20And one of those positives was
- 25:22the Belmont report.
- 25:24And it came out with three principles.
- 25:26Respect for persons.
- 25:28But in essence,
- 25:30and justice and we spend a lot
- 25:32of time on respect for persons.
- 25:35Your autonomous agent.
- 25:36It's USD human subject or
- 25:38potential human subject to sign
- 25:40an informed consent beneficence.
- 25:41We agree as researchers not to
- 25:43harm you to do all that we can
- 25:46to make sure that you're,
- 25:48well,
- 25:48that's what we're going to do good by you.
- 25:51But we don't really talk as much
- 25:54about the principle of justice.
- 25:56Which I think is where we should
- 25:58be getting much greater attention.
- 26:01That means that those who bear
- 26:03the burden of research should
- 26:05not be denied the benefit,
- 26:06and I would submit to you that over
- 26:09the history from slavery to today.
- 26:12People are colored black.
- 26:14People,
- 26:14in particular have borne
- 26:16the burden of research.
- 26:18And we are not have not yet
- 26:21benefited from that research,
- 26:23and I would submit to you again that
- 26:26the national campaign to eliminate
- 26:28racial ethnic health disparities
- 26:30is part of that. Atonement.
- 26:33Part of that making things better.
- 26:37Part of that issue of justice,
- 26:39and so we should be aggressive.
- 26:42And reaching out,
- 26:43building bridges, building trust,
- 26:45building healthy communities an.
- 26:47I say that it is our institutions,
- 26:50Yale as an institution to maintain
- 26:53those relationships so that each
- 26:55researcher doesn't have to start from
- 26:57scratch to build those relationships.
- 27:00Let's have a talk about that
- 27:03as well during the discussion.
- 27:06So there's a lot of talk going on
- 27:08right now about single I Arby's.
- 27:10As I mentioned, I'm on the all of us.
- 27:13I RV. It's a single IR be.
- 27:16We have multi sites all over the United
- 27:18States and we are the Irbe of record.
- 27:21There is an effort to move towards
- 27:23single I Arby's from multi site clinical
- 27:26trials in a much more aggressive way.
- 27:28And when you start reading that material,
- 27:30you begin to realize that the
- 27:32motivation is really about accessing
- 27:34those biospecimens and not having to.
- 27:36Had barriers,
- 27:37and as you can see in making the
- 27:40case from bringing the common
- 27:42rule into the 21st century,
- 27:44when you read this,
- 27:45it's very clearly from the
- 27:47investigators vantage point and I
- 27:49was actually a bit surprised that in
- 27:52that justification they use the HeLa
- 27:54cell line as the example of why a
- 27:57common IR be would be so important.
- 28:00And we all know about HeLa cells.
- 28:03And now you know about Henrietta Lacks,
- 28:07because again, another movie.
- 28:09Another story that broke into
- 28:12the mainstream by an author.
- 28:14Rebecca Stewart.
- 28:16What a wonderful job she did to bring
- 28:20the story to our attention and.
- 28:24Um?
- 28:24Henrietta Lacks at the resident of.
- 28:28Baltimore,
- 28:28I share this with you because we
- 28:31passed legislation to actually
- 28:33create a Rd a highway in her honor
- 28:35and these are members of the of the
- 28:38Lacks family and I want you to see
- 28:40this amazing from what happened in
- 28:42Tuskegee and how its aftermath with
- 28:45handled to what's going on here.
- 28:47Now we name a Rd after him we have
- 28:49relax now in the National Portrait Gallery.
- 28:52She hangs in the National Portrait
- 28:55Gallery's like the mother of bio medicine.
- 28:57I mean,
- 28:58it's uh.
- 28:59Fascinating demonstration of what we can do.
- 29:05With enlightened leadership.
- 29:07Let's talk about that.
- 29:09But I actually think that the case
- 29:11typically we talk about single I Arby's,
- 29:14and the need to make sure that
- 29:16we respect local local issue,
- 29:18local culture, the better example
- 29:20or another example won't say better.
- 29:22This is another example,
- 29:24is the Havasupai case.
- 29:26And I'm I'm hoping sure that many of
- 29:30the audience know about this case,
- 29:33but here is a situation where again informed
- 29:36consent was collected was obtained.
- 29:39And you're sitting there with the
- 29:42stored samples and you got Young
- 29:44Scholars who need to graduate
- 29:45and get their degrees and gum.
- 29:47Some young scholar wanted to do his
- 29:50dissertation on genetics and schizophrenia.
- 29:52Long story short,
- 29:53you kind of get the point right.
- 29:56And and and the professor was
- 29:58so pleased to say,
- 30:00let's invite a member of the
- 30:03community to your defense,
- 30:04to your defense,
- 30:06to your dissertation defense.
- 30:07What a great idea.
- 30:09And so the person from the community
- 30:12as this thing began as the as the
- 30:15young scholar began to describe his,
- 30:18his research on schizophrenia,
- 30:20migration, inbreeding.
- 30:21She raised her hand and said,
- 30:23who gave permission for this?
- 30:28Yeah, you hear that silence.
- 30:29That's what happened in the room.
- 30:32And what happened next?
- 30:33Front page news all across the
- 30:36United States lawsuits, you see,
- 30:39it was settled there for 700,000.
- 30:41But more and more importantly,
- 30:43the native tribes.
- 30:45A shut down all research.
- 30:47This too, is a population suffering
- 30:50a disproportionate burden.
- 30:51Of Covid deaths and infection.
- 30:55How do we rebuild relationships and trust
- 30:59with the Native American community?
- 31:03So I think that relevant local
- 31:05information includes culture,
- 31:07linguistic characteristics
- 31:07of potential participants,
- 31:09geographic and social economic issues,
- 31:11knowledge about researchers,
- 31:12and information about study, site variation.
- 31:16You gotta do all that.
- 31:18Can this be done with one single IRB as
- 31:21the question is rhetorical question,
- 31:24let's talk about it.
- 31:27So.
- 31:27Since one of the key elements of ethical
- 31:32research is the informed consent process.
- 31:37I thought that's what I would use simply
- 31:40as the example for our discussion today.
- 31:43Ann One of the things that we've
- 31:46done in our qualitative research,
- 31:50we've interviewed African Americans.
- 31:52And we've interviewed researchers.
- 31:54And we took the results of those
- 31:57interviews and produced a scenario an
- 32:00I want you all once again to hold on.
- 32:03I'm going to stop sharing and
- 32:06I'm going to show you.
- 32:09I'm going to introduce you to Mr Gray.
- 32:11Here we go. Keep your fingers crossed.
- 32:16OK, now I go back into share.
- 32:20And.
- 32:36And hold on. Bear with me,
- 32:39ladies and gentlemen, bear with me.
- 32:42Here we go, Mr Green.
- 32:45Come on, get out of my way.
- 32:48There you go. Alright.
- 32:59just want someone to verify. Could you
- 33:06hear the sound? 65 year old?
- 33:13Yeah, OK here we go. Bold
- 33:15African American man with three
- 33:16grown children for 15 years.
- 33:18He worked on the loading dock at the
- 33:20local Walmart but was laid off after
- 33:23suffering a non work related back injury.
- 33:25Eventually he found work as a
- 33:27security guard at a bank but he
- 33:29currently has no health insurance.
- 33:31One year ago, Mr Green notice blood
- 33:33in his urine, but initially he
- 33:35was too embarrassed to mention
- 33:36the problem. Do anyone? After
- 33:38a few weeks, he began to feel
- 33:41pain on urination and
- 33:42went to the emergency
- 33:43room at the emergency room.
- 33:45Mr Green received a hurried
- 33:46examination and was given a
- 33:48prescription for antibiotics.
- 33:49After a week on the antibiotics, he returned
- 33:52to the ER since there had been no
- 33:55change in his symptoms at the emergency room,
- 33:57he received a prescription for
- 33:59a second type of antibiotic.
- 34:02Once again, Mr Green saw no improvement
- 34:04in his condition and returned to the ER.
- 34:07A third doctor suggested
- 34:08that he undergo a cystoscopy.
- 34:12It took Mr Green
- 34:13two months to save up the $750
- 34:16for the procedure which revealed
- 34:18cancerous cells and subsequent
- 34:19work has revealed bladder cancer.
- 34:23Today, Mr Green will meet with an
- 34:25oncologist who would like to enroll
- 34:26him in a clinical trial to study
- 34:29the effects of a new cancer drug
- 34:31used in combination with the current
- 34:33standard 2 drug treatment combination.
- 34:47Mr Green, unfortunately with the with
- 34:49the late diagnosis that you have,
- 34:51it has limited our options
- 34:53for how we can treat this,
- 34:56but what I can offer you is we do
- 34:59have a clinical trial that we've just
- 35:02begun the time researching at this
- 35:04point where we have a 3 drug therapy.
- 35:07I really believe this would be
- 35:10your best option at this point.
- 35:12Wait a minute, don't you have
- 35:14anything positive to tell me, I mean.
- 35:17Sorry, unfortunately at this point.
- 35:21We're not looking that this is
- 35:23something that could be curable,
- 35:25but what we can do is hopefully
- 35:27arrest development dot.
- 35:28I've been through hell.
- 35:30I know this thing started a year ago.
- 35:34I scared to death on me with
- 35:36blood coming out of my urine.
- 35:38I really embarrassed that I
- 35:39realized that unfortunately,
- 35:40with the delay that you that you
- 35:42had in seeking treatment delay,
- 35:44I went to the emergency room
- 35:453 separate occasions.
- 35:46The first time I stayed there 2
- 35:48hours and waited for Doctor Who
- 35:50spent less than 10 minutes with me.
- 35:52Took a urine sample and sent me on my way.
- 35:55It was like I wasn't even there.
- 35:57A week later I'm still bleeding.
- 35:59I go back to the emergency room.
- 36:01I waited another two hours of darkness day.
- 36:03As long as the first understand.
- 36:05I have read tell me this document Mr Green.
- 36:08I have read your chart.
- 36:09I'll go back a third time.
- 36:11Then it might have some cystoscopy
- 36:12or whatever. The thing is, just ask.
- 36:15Why can't I have the surgery?
- 36:18At this point the surgery would not be
- 36:21something that would be beneficial to you.
- 36:24This clinical trial that I am doing now,
- 36:27we're hoping to look at A3 drug
- 36:30therapy that will address the
- 36:32problem from another angle.
- 36:34Normally we do only A2 drug therapy.
- 36:37That's what standard now,
- 36:38but we're hoping that this third
- 36:41drug therapy will come at it
- 36:43from a different angle,
- 36:45and that although we can't cure the
- 36:47cancer at this point, we could.
- 36:50Prolong prolong your life.
- 36:52Arrested Development a bit?
- 36:55Prolong my life yes.
- 36:58What are you telling me?
- 36:59I can't have the surgery,
- 37:00So what are my chances without the surgery?
- 37:03On average, with the standard
- 37:06to drug therapy at this point,
- 37:09we're looking at nine months.
- 37:13But What I would like you to take a
- 37:16look at is this information I have on
- 37:20the clinical trial that we are starting now.
- 37:25The one thing that we do need to be aware
- 37:28of is whether or not you are diabetic.
- 37:30Do you have any history of diabetes
- 37:32in your family or do you know
- 37:34that you are diabetic yourself?
- 37:36OK,
- 37:36that would be our first step that we
- 37:38would have you tested for diabetes.
- 37:40If you are diabetic,
- 37:42that would eliminate you from the
- 37:44possibility of joining this trial.
- 37:46But that's where we would like to start.
- 37:48So what I would like to do is
- 37:50set up an appointment with my
- 37:52nurse out in the waiting area
- 37:54so that we can start this right away.
- 37:57Get you get you in the
- 37:59loop and get you started.
- 38:00Here, I gotta talk to my kids about this.
- 38:04I mean. Mr Green. Obviously you're
- 38:07aware that time is of the essence.
- 38:09I know and I know you don't
- 38:11have alot of time.
- 38:12I know you're a big man.
- 38:13I see all the people following you
- 38:15around your very important but.
- 38:19If we were there together,
- 38:20we would have you write down the
- 38:23first thing that comes to mind.
- 38:25I'm going to ask you to do that right now.
- 38:29Right down the first thing that comes
- 38:31to mind and drop it in the chat.
- 38:34Drop it in the chat.
- 38:36First thing that comes to mind.
- 38:38Drop it in the chat.
- 38:41Again, the whole point here is a
- 38:45discussion we could deconstruct
- 38:47that and point out so many things,
- 38:51and one of the things I want you to ask
- 38:57yourself is, do you know doctor Archer?
- 39:02Was doctor Archer your mentor?
- 39:04Is Doctor Archer sitting next
- 39:07to you right now?
- 39:09Let's talk about. How we train.
- 39:12And what the patients go through
- 39:14before they finally sit in front of us.
- 39:17And we give them an opportunity
- 39:19to participate in a research.
- 39:21If your health care delivery system
- 39:24is failing these communities.
- 39:26You, as an investigator,
- 39:28will also be tainted by that.
- 39:32Does it matter if you weren't?
- 39:33There doesn't matter if you didn't do it.
- 39:35And this is all the more reason why we
- 39:38need to make sure that these COVID-19
- 39:41vaccine trials don't mess things up.
- 39:43Because they will mess things up for
- 39:46everything that comes after it flu vaccine.
- 39:49Childhood vacinations all
- 39:50kinds of things we really need
- 39:52to do this with great care.
- 39:58Cultural tailoring matters. And.
- 40:00One of the things I want to do is talk
- 40:05about some of the solutions that we have.
- 40:08And one of our solutions is to have that
- 40:12conversation about bio medical research
- 40:14way before somebody ends up in the hospital
- 40:18trying to get a diagnosis for cancer,
- 40:20we want to have that conversation in
- 40:23settings that the Community Trust
- 40:25that the community owns and operates
- 40:28in our work for the past decade.
- 40:31Actually, past 15 years we've been
- 40:34building that infrastructure through
- 40:35black Barber shops and beauty salons.
- 40:38This image here where it says
- 40:40the doctors in it is not Fred the
- 40:44Barber playing second class doctor.
- 40:46It is Fred The Barber, who has trust.
- 40:50With his clients.
- 40:52That is telling them the doctors
- 40:55gonna be here tomorrow.
- 40:57The Gastroenterologist is gonna be here
- 40:59tomorrow to talk about colonoscopies.
- 41:02We make the barbershop a safe place for
- 41:06health professionals to come and do
- 41:09education and to do life saving screenings.
- 41:12And we call it health advocates interest in
- 41:15research that should be in reach an research.
- 41:18Sorry bout that typo health advocates
- 41:20in reach.
- 41:21Reaching within an research her.
- 41:23And we've established the National
- 41:25Association of black Barber shops and salons
- 41:27or health do to really gather together.
- 41:30Many of these programs around the country.
- 41:32You may have heard about some.
- 41:35You may have some right there in New
- 41:37Haven and to bring them under an
- 41:39umbrella to ensure that their receiving
- 41:42evidence based information too.
- 41:44To increase the likelihood that they
- 41:46are reaching their clients with
- 41:48valuable information that their
- 41:49venues can be opportunities to train
- 41:52or health professionals.
- 41:53What you see here is a young pharmacist
- 41:56interacting with this young man and
- 41:58that's her Dean's standing behind her.
- 42:00These are my two partners.
- 42:02We have 10 shops here in the Metro DC area.
- 42:06Mr Fred surprise of President of
- 42:08our National Association of black
- 42:10Barber shops and salons for Health,
- 42:12and Mr Brown is the vice president.
- 42:15And we're really giving these men
- 42:17agency to talk about research,
- 42:20to talk about health promotion,
- 42:22disease prevention, and the Macon.
- 42:24OK,
- 42:24to have those conversations in
- 42:27the barbershop.
- 42:28And we believe that this is an
- 42:31underutilized resource we all know about
- 42:34the church and faith based programs.
- 42:36This is simply another asset,
- 42:38especially during covid,
- 42:40that we need to bring to the table
- 42:43and what you see us doing here is
- 42:46looking at what's the likelihood was
- 42:49the feasibility and acceptability
- 42:51of bringing a COVID-19 saliva test.
- 42:54Into the barbershop, how might that work?
- 42:57And as you can see here,
- 42:59the barbers are really excited
- 43:02to have spit in a tube,
- 43:04got their laboratory pack ready,
- 43:06sent it off to the lab of once
- 43:09the pack arrived at the lab.
- 43:12They had results on their cell
- 43:15phone in 24 hours, 24 hours.
- 43:17In December we brought the barbers together
- 43:20with scientists under a workshop title,
- 43:23what black barbers and stylists,
- 43:25data scientist,
- 43:26no research on us.
- 43:28Without us, the community wants to
- 43:29be part of research they believe
- 43:32research is important, but they want
- 43:34to be part of the whole process.
- 43:37Don't show up when everything's all decided.
- 43:39Tell me to roll my sleeve up we
- 43:42want to be part of the process
- 43:44from the beginning to the end,
- 43:47and we also want to make sure that you come
- 43:50back to our community and share the results.
- 43:53The infrastructure that we've created
- 43:55allows for makes it makes it easier for
- 43:58researchers to be able to come back
- 44:00and deliver results to the community,
- 44:02so her builds upon this rich and powerful
- 44:04history in barbers and beauticians
- 44:06after telling my white colleagues.
- 44:08No self respecting Black Barber.
- 44:11Whatever say I'll get you in and
- 44:14out 15 minutes.
- 44:15It is an experience of family experience.
- 44:18People are there for hours and these
- 44:21barbers have relationships with
- 44:23their clients that doctors would.
- 44:25Would wish for.
- 44:27And so we are training the barbers.
- 44:32We put him through formal training.
- 44:35We had our first Barber become a
- 44:38certified community health worker
- 44:40that makes them eligible for
- 44:43reimbursement through insurance.
- 44:45There's just many innovative ways to
- 44:48think about how we build back better.
- 44:53In many ways, these barbers are like artists.
- 44:55Organizing them is not easy and
- 44:57it's taken time,
- 44:58but we have spent the time that we
- 45:01think we understand the factors
- 45:03that would allow us to spread this
- 45:06model across the country.
- 45:08And so it now about looking in
- 45:10the mirror ourselves.
- 45:11But before I do that, I gotta take you back.
- 45:14Because if I don't take you
- 45:16into the barbershop,
- 45:17Karen is going to be on my case.
- 45:20So let me let it cross your
- 45:22fingers one more time,
- 45:23cross your fingers,
- 45:24run more time I've gotta take you into the
- 45:27barbershop so that you can meet the barbers.
- 45:29An I think that you're going to be very,
- 45:32very,
- 45:32if you've never been in a black Barber shop.
- 45:35You might find this quite interesting,
- 45:37so I think I'm sharing my screen here.
- 45:40Here we go.
- 45:42Um?
- 45:42Keep your fingers crossed oh,
- 45:46keep your fingers crossed and I'm
- 45:49gonna take you into the Barber shop,
- 45:52here in Hyattsville, MD.
- 45:54Here we go.
- 45:58Early in the pandemic,
- 46:00you heard the refrain.
- 46:03We're all in this together.
- 46:07And I love that. But overtime,
- 46:09as we've begun to see how the virus has
- 46:13exposed inequalities in our society.
- 46:15We realized that we may be all in the
- 46:19same storm, but we're in different boats.
- 46:22And if you're not testing in vulnerable
- 46:26communities, minority communities,
- 46:28you're flying color blind.
- 46:31That's what we're trying to fix well.
- 46:35In many African American communities,
- 46:38trust between the black community,
- 46:41an medical health systems hospitals,
- 46:44researchers. It has been broken.
- 46:46It has been crushed.
- 46:48It has been tarnished.
- 46:50And therefore it must be rebuilt.
- 46:53There were Flyers being distributed
- 46:55saying Covid is a hoax.
- 46:57Don't take the test.
- 46:59Don't take the vaccine being spread
- 47:03in the black community.
- 47:05Everybody is afraid of.
- 47:07Some people don't know why they're afraid.
- 47:12Some people just afraid because
- 47:14other people are afraid.
- 47:15We got work to do.
- 47:20And I'm convinced that you
- 47:23need to engage people in the
- 47:26community who already have trust.
- 47:29Black barbers and stylists have tremendous
- 47:32credibility and tremendous trust.
- 47:35We become like pillar citizens
- 47:38in the community.
- 47:39We become fashion consultants,
- 47:42marriage counselors, health advocates.
- 47:44And the credibility they have the trust
- 47:48they have is something that we now need.
- 47:51In an effort to eliminate.
- 47:54Racial and ethnic health disparities.
- 47:57And at the time of a global pandemic,
- 48:00what better place?
- 48:01To role model how to protect yourself?
- 48:04That's why the saliva test is so important.
- 48:07It's a breakthrough.
- 48:09We've launched the campaign to mobilize black
- 48:12Barber shops and beauty salons as Cobett.
- 48:1419 mitigation sites where you can learn
- 48:17how to protect yourself and your family,
- 48:20where you can get a COVID-19 saliva
- 48:22test where you can get a flu shot and
- 48:26where you can get a really good haircut.
- 48:29And if we can bring a test.
- 48:32Into a humble black barbershop.
- 48:35And if it is acceptable,
- 48:37and if it is feasible. Why not?
- 48:41Why can't we do it all over the country?
- 48:45Last night we have something for you.
- 48:50Now for the past two decades.
- 48:54Efforts of mobilizing black
- 48:57Barber shops around colon cancer.
- 49:01Prostate cancer hypertension
- 49:03have been growing.
- 49:05My bottle was mine is my counselor.
- 49:07We've covered numerous alot
- 49:09of things over the years.
- 49:12It says we've been dealing
- 49:13with the matter school.
- 49:14Probably help.
- 49:15And I think it's definitely better
- 49:18beneficial to our community fired.
- 49:21Silver doctors I really appreciate
- 49:25you being available man.
- 49:27You don't have to have space suit on
- 49:31another in order to administer it.
- 49:34It's self administered.
- 49:36And you literally go through a step by
- 49:40step guide about how to do the procedure.
- 49:44And you literally spit into a tube.
- 49:48For like a walking through the desert.
- 49:52Testing matters I mean.
- 49:54The brothers in the shop not
- 49:58only were willing and able.
- 50:01Some of the people watching say,
- 50:03Hey,
- 50:03who are these folks?
- 50:05What are they doing when they found out
- 50:07that Mike was doing akova test saliva test,
- 50:11they said can I have one?
- 50:13Can I do one? That's how trust works.
- 50:16Drop that in the UPS envelope.
- 50:18The rest all comes on the phone.
- 50:21It's an amazing process and I can tell you
- 50:24right now he's telling his family about it.
- 50:27He's telling his friends,
- 50:29and in these communities that's how it works.
- 50:32It's really the word of mouth.
- 50:34It's not just the message
- 50:36is also the Messenger.
- 50:38I think the world is going
- 50:40to change behind this.
- 50:42I think if we do this right
- 50:44we will rebuild better,
- 50:46but the Barber shop of the future.
- 50:49In the post pandemic period will
- 50:51actually be a place where you
- 50:53can receive quality healthcare.
- 50:55Imagine that I just got my seat belt on.
- 50:59I got my seat belt on,
- 51:01that's it and go for the ride.
- 51:36thank those barbers. They were awesome.
- 51:45Now I'm gonna head to the finish
- 51:48line here and hang in there.
- 51:50I'm doing this share again.
- 51:53OK, where was I?
- 51:56OK, here we go. And so, again,
- 52:02are the themes that we've addressed.
- 52:05Have been varied.
- 52:06We have collected Michael bio DNA.
- 52:09We've done air quality measures and
- 52:12collected urine to look for endocrine
- 52:16disrupting chemicals in the expire urine.
- 52:19Once we had the trust.
- 52:22It's amazing even our basic scientist
- 52:24or able to work with us in the
- 52:27Barber shops and beauty salons.
- 52:29And so we believe this is a way forward
- 52:31of thinking differently of rebuilding
- 52:33back better and really putting an
- 52:36infrastructure in place that allows
- 52:38us to address the underlying health
- 52:40disparities that are plaguing this community.
- 52:42And so this notion of we call
- 52:45it urban immersion, FFF.
- 52:46We were not in the pandemic.
- 52:49I would convince your leaders there that we
- 52:51should bring a delegation here to Maryland.
- 52:54We would spend time in the Barber shops.
- 52:57We would immerse you in the community.
- 53:00But one of the things that
- 53:02the pandemic has done.
- 53:04It has made us again,
- 53:05think very creatively,
- 53:07and so another part of our training
- 53:10has to do with how to become
- 53:12a self reflective researcher.
- 53:13And this is the use of
- 53:16artificial intelligence.
- 53:17And virtual reality,
- 53:18and so in the previous video you
- 53:22had a chance to meet Mr Green.
- 53:24That was our creation of a video
- 53:27with an actor to reenact what we had
- 53:31found in our qualitative research.
- 53:33This is a Fast forward to what
- 53:35I think may well be.
- 53:37The game changer in the future
- 53:39for training health professionals
- 53:40and researchers in particular.
- 53:41And it's called the.
- 53:43This is our 3D virtual reality human subject.
- 53:46This is Darius sitting in the chair there,
- 53:49but up in the upper right hand
- 53:51corner is Doctor Wilbur chin.
- 53:54Our position scientists,
- 53:55who is one of the investigators on the
- 53:59COVID-19 vaccine trial and Doctor Chan,
- 54:02is challenged with the recruiting Latin X,
- 54:05an African American participants to
- 54:07the trial, and so this scenario.
- 54:10We actually programmed Darius to
- 54:13respond in the ways that we know from
- 54:16the literature that African Americans
- 54:18and other minorities feel with those
- 54:21factors are in there literally.
- 54:23In active and Doctor Chen
- 54:25literally has a conversation.
- 54:27If we had more time I would
- 54:29show you the scenario.
- 54:31Maybe will follow up and
- 54:33you'll be able to see it.
- 54:35One of the things that in the debrief
- 54:37with doctor chin he described that he
- 54:40could feel his heart rate increase.
- 54:42He actually had any emotional
- 54:44response interacting with Darius,
- 54:45and that's exactly what you want to
- 54:48have when they've done research in
- 54:50real time with real people in what
- 54:52they call the standardized patient model.
- 54:55I'm cortisol levels in real time with
- 54:58real people with the same cortisol
- 55:00results they saw in the simulation.
- 55:03So let's talk about this.
- 55:05How computer simulation can
- 55:07help accelerate improving,
- 55:08giving our researchers new tools
- 55:10so you can practice right
- 55:13here in the simulator before
- 55:15you go out into the community.
- 55:18Are we also have an online interactive
- 55:20website called building trust?
- 55:21This is one of the products
- 55:23scientific products of our NIH grant,
- 55:25and it's available we can talk about
- 55:27this as well with tremendous resources,
- 55:30and this is the training
- 55:31program that we have.
- 55:33I told the organizers I was not interested
- 55:36in coming in doing a one and done.
- 55:39I'm interested in convincing your
- 55:41leaders that we need to actually
- 55:43implement this kind of training of for
- 55:46researchers to become self reflective,
- 55:49not only in the context of Kovid,
- 55:52but in the context of the underlying health
- 55:56disparities that we're all witnessing.
- 55:59And so I'm gonna head to
- 56:01the finish line here,
- 56:02'cause it's that conversation.
- 56:03I think that is so important.
- 56:05But this process and you all know it.
- 56:07The informed consent.
- 56:08You blame us sometimes in the IR be,
- 56:11but it is one of the aftermath.
- 56:13Positive legacies from pesky that
- 56:15we have better informed consent.
- 56:16But here's one of the things that
- 56:18we've learned in our own research when
- 56:21we ask questions to researchers and
- 56:23we ask questions to the community.
- 56:25Let me just take a moment here for Karen Or.
- 56:29Doctor material how are we doing on time?
- 56:39We're doing good.
- 56:40We will have a hard stop at 6:30, OK?
- 56:44So these are the questions.
- 56:45What methods do you use?
- 56:47And you you should work with me here.
- 56:50I'm asking you what method do you use
- 56:52during the informed consent process?
- 56:54What strategies do you use
- 56:56to increase understanding?
- 56:57How do you assess participant understanding?
- 56:59That was a question to the researchers.
- 57:01Here is a question to the community.
- 57:04How do you like to learn about research?
- 57:07What methods are helpful for understanding
- 57:09the informed consent process?
- 57:10General knowledge of research terms
- 57:12and the purpose of informed consent.
- 57:16And I'll take a look at what we found
- 57:19again in terms of the comparison,
- 57:21knowledge of research terms,
- 57:23the percent of African Americans
- 57:24who got it correctly, Sir,
- 57:26African American Latinos.
- 57:27And you can see no ones getting 100%.
- 57:31And I don't know if you think
- 57:33that when it comes to placebo at
- 57:3659.4% got it correct and 54% of
- 57:39the next people got it correct.
- 57:41I don't know if you think that's acceptable,
- 57:44but I can say right now in reading
- 57:46some of the stories of the of the
- 57:50COVID-19 clinical trial participants,
- 57:51there was over African American
- 57:54woman who was like surprised.
- 57:56That she was possibly in the placebo arm.
- 57:59She had no idea that somehow
- 58:01she would not get active.
- 58:03Active vaccine isn't that interesting.
- 58:07There's a reason why we have
- 58:09placebo controlled trials,
- 58:10and if the community doesn't
- 58:12understand that you don't want
- 58:14them thinking they've been duped.
- 58:16Randomization just a little more
- 58:18than half nobody, randomization is.
- 58:19And far fewer know what a double
- 58:22blind study and that's the case
- 58:24with the Kovid Vaccine.
- 58:26These are double blind.
- 58:28Double blind randomized trials.
- 58:31So we can compare the researchers methods
- 58:33to methods to preferences of the community.
- 58:36Take a look at here the researchers
- 58:39in blue and the community members
- 58:41are in red terms of the bars,
- 58:44so when it comes to take information home,
- 58:47more researchers.
- 58:48Do that one on one discussion.
- 58:51The key is to see where you
- 58:53see the big difference.
- 58:55Look at talk to participant.
- 58:58The community wants more talk.
- 59:00They want more time to talk about it.
- 59:03The community wants group discussion.
- 59:05The community wants video.
- 59:09The community wants interactive games even.
- 59:13So we want to look at where we see this
- 59:16mismatch and trying to get better alignment.
- 59:19What about the format for
- 59:20informed consent document?
- 59:21The researchers are the black bars and
- 59:24the community members are in the red bar.
- 59:26Here again, look at plain language.
- 59:28We all get that health literacy.
- 59:30The researchers are all very,
- 59:32very keen on that.
- 59:33But how about taking time
- 59:34to summarize the results?
- 59:36To summarize what we just talked about,
- 59:38how about using pictures about large print?
- 59:41They both agree that question
- 59:43and answer is important,
- 59:44but look where the differences are.
- 59:47So these differences between researchers
- 59:49and community members strategies used
- 59:52by researchers to teach potential
- 59:54participants about the study or not
- 59:56viewed as helpful by community members.
- 59:58Methods considered by the community
- 60:00members to be very helpful that are
- 01:00:03that are less frequently used by the
- 01:00:05researchers and formats for the informed
- 01:00:07consent document preferred by the community.
- 01:00:10Members are not often
- 01:00:11used by the researchers.
- 01:00:13We can do better.
- 01:00:15What does the literature say about?
- 01:00:18Most effective.
- 01:00:20It's face to face interactions,
- 01:00:23extended conversations teach
- 01:00:24back in plain language.
- 01:00:27Less effective pictures,
- 01:00:28large print and video.
- 01:00:29Isn't it interesting?
- 01:00:31The very things of community
- 01:00:33said they want more of the
- 01:00:35literature says is less effective.
- 01:00:37So we compare comparison of the community
- 01:00:40member response and an effective strategies.
- 01:00:42Again,
- 01:00:43let's go to the literature.
- 01:00:45Community members take information home.
- 01:00:50One on one discussion.
- 01:00:51This committee says this is what we want.
- 01:00:54Multiple meetings.
- 01:00:55Talk to study, but I want to talk
- 01:00:58to somebody else is in that study.
- 01:01:00Plain language, we have a lot of Acronyms,
- 01:01:04a lot of a lot of. Say Mumbo Jumbo,
- 01:01:07but we just speak in our own language,
- 01:01:09and it's a problematic when someone ask
- 01:01:11you what's a vaccine and all the sudden we
- 01:01:13started giving them a microbiology class.
- 01:01:16They want summaries.
- 01:01:18They want pictures.
- 01:01:20Here's the literature.
- 01:01:21One on one discussion,
- 01:01:22multiple meetings, group discussion,
- 01:01:24talk with participants,
- 01:01:25plain language,
- 01:01:26and as you can see here in the bold
- 01:01:30is where the two kind of align.
- 01:01:33Here researchers assessment of
- 01:01:36participants understanding.
- 01:01:37So what do researchers assess?
- 01:01:42At the participants actually understand.
- 01:01:45Using open ended questions.
- 01:01:4752% of them use open ended questions sign.
- 01:01:51The initial an initial every
- 01:01:53page of the consent document.
- 01:01:5551% use that. These consent documents,
- 01:01:59some of them are at least for the vaccine
- 01:02:03trials Covid Vaccine stronger 2020 pages.
- 01:02:06Sign every page. Teach backs.
- 01:02:08Only 38% use out independent
- 01:02:10monitor far fuel.
- 01:02:1211% participants completed questionnaire.
- 01:02:13Oh and 10% something other.
- 01:02:16But look at this 32% did nothing.
- 01:02:22What we know about informed
- 01:02:25consent participants have complete.
- 01:02:27Participants may have complete
- 01:02:29comprehension of information delivered
- 01:02:30during the informed consent process.
- 01:02:33Discrepancies between researchers,
- 01:02:34practices, and community members preferences
- 01:02:37in both learning about and study.
- 01:02:39Learning about a study and the informed
- 01:02:42consent document and researchers
- 01:02:43assessment of participant comprehension
- 01:02:45limited and sometimes inadequate.
- 01:02:47There are issues with the use of plain
- 01:02:50language in the informed consent document.
- 01:02:53Let's be honest with one another.
- 01:02:57The informed consent document are
- 01:03:00increasingly filling like legal
- 01:03:02documents to protect our institutions.
- 01:03:04And that that's the case,
- 01:03:05let's just be honest about that.
- 01:03:08Here's some recommendations to
- 01:03:10an improved the informed consent
- 01:03:12process increased comprehension.
- 01:03:14Increase satisfaction.
- 01:03:15To deal with comprehension one
- 01:03:18on one discussions,
- 01:03:19multiple meetings in plain language
- 01:03:22and then assess their understanding.
- 01:03:24The increase satisfaction one on
- 01:03:26one discussion, multiple meetings,
- 01:03:28pictures and summaries.
- 01:03:30And maybe we should follow what
- 01:03:33doctor Collins had to say in 2011.
- 01:03:35Perhaps we need to rethink all
- 01:03:38those 22 page consent forms.
- 01:03:40And he says that nobody reads anyway.
- 01:03:42I thought that was quite interesting.
- 01:03:46And so and so. With that,
- 01:03:49I'm going to take the chance
- 01:03:51and come out of share screen.
- 01:03:54Find out what has been put in that chat box.
- 01:03:59Open up this conversation.
- 01:04:01And see if your colleagues there at Yale, Dr.
- 01:04:04Mercurio, if he still gonna speak to me.
- 01:04:07Hello, my friend.
- 01:04:08Hello my friend,
- 01:04:09you know, I apologize,
- 01:04:10I couldn't get on.
- 01:04:11That has been in the corner
- 01:04:13silence and I couldn't break out.
- 01:04:15When you ask me about time. So that's why.
- 01:04:18Thanks Karen for responding.
- 01:04:19But I did break out of the cone of silence
- 01:04:22and I'm here now and we've got some
- 01:04:24questions for you on the talk was wonderful.
- 01:04:27I thank you so much.
- 01:04:28There's a lot there. We learned a lot.
- 01:04:31It is one of the frustrating aspects.
- 01:04:33Of these these times,
- 01:04:34the kovid times that we can't take a
- 01:04:35Field Trip and see what you're doing
- 01:04:37in the barbershop, see what's going on.
- 01:04:38You know I was just in a meeting before this,
- 01:04:41where someone was talking about how you
- 01:04:42know another place they do such and such,
- 01:04:44and I was thinking, you know,
- 01:04:45any other year I would say, Well,
- 01:04:47let's just get in the car or get on a
- 01:04:49plane and go see what they're doing.
- 01:04:51But it's not so easy now,
- 01:04:52so that's frustrating.
- 01:04:53So for you to bring this here to us in
- 01:04:55a way that really brings it to life
- 01:04:56is very helpful and much appreciated.
- 01:04:58So I have one question.
- 01:04:59Is a little bit long.
- 01:05:00It's from one of our public
- 01:05:02health professors and I want to.
- 01:05:03I want to share this with you.
- 01:05:05It's about the disparities related
- 01:05:06to COVID-19,
- 01:05:07so it's not directly related to the
- 01:05:09to the research issues are raised,
- 01:05:11but let me read this and get your
- 01:05:13take on this and then for the
- 01:05:15others were listening on the call,
- 01:05:17Please send in questions you might
- 01:05:19have via chat and I'll pick some
- 01:05:21up and read him to Professor Thomas
- 01:05:23after he is a chance to chew on
- 01:05:25this for a little bit.
- 01:05:26So the question that was sent to us
- 01:05:28was this the disparities in population level?
- 01:05:30Severe outcomes of COVID-19 such
- 01:05:32as hospitalizations and deaths.
- 01:05:33Scene between people of color.
- 01:05:35An non Hispanic whites are,
- 01:05:37in my opinion largely attributable
- 01:05:39to differences in exposure both
- 01:05:41at work and within the home.
- 01:05:42Much of an involuntary and to
- 01:05:44a lesser extent,
- 01:05:45the former having a higher prevalence
- 01:05:47of risk factors for severe outcomes,
- 01:05:50for example obesity and diabetes.
- 01:05:51So it's more about exposure and less
- 01:05:54about the risk factors, it says suggested.
- 01:05:56Here.
- 01:05:57However,
- 01:05:57some might claim that they also
- 01:05:59could have a higher prevalence of
- 01:06:01personal risk taking behaviors such
- 01:06:03as less mascus Less social distancing,
- 01:06:05more attendance at large gatherings
- 01:06:07such as religion related.
- 01:06:09Are there good studies examining
- 01:06:11the prevalence of preventable risk
- 01:06:14taking behavior by a racial or
- 01:06:16ethnic groups in United States,
- 01:06:18such as attitude or behavior studies,
- 01:06:21so is there?
- 01:06:22Are there good studies examining
- 01:06:24the prevalence of preventable
- 01:06:26risk taking behavior?
- 01:06:28By different racial and
- 01:06:29ethnic groups in the US.
- 01:06:30Are you aware of that?
- 01:06:33Well, at. I think that some of it is early.
- 01:06:39I think those are the studies that we need.
- 01:06:41We've seen billions of dollars literally
- 01:06:43thrown into the vaccine development,
- 01:06:45you know, but we're giving them
- 01:06:47billions of dollars even before
- 01:06:49they've developed a vaccine.
- 01:06:50But to get an investment
- 01:06:52in social science research,
- 01:06:53to answer the very question
- 01:06:55that's being asked here. Listen,
- 01:06:57we're living now in a natural experiment,
- 01:06:59we're putting the American people
- 01:07:01through a natural experiment.
- 01:07:02We need those kind of studies,
- 01:07:04but if anyone who's been watching has
- 01:07:07seen these RF peas come out of our.
- 01:07:10The agency we love, the NIH.
- 01:07:12They're competitive,
- 01:07:13non competitive renewal's their
- 01:07:15supplements there you already have
- 01:07:18to have have a grant to get a grant
- 01:07:21me it's just crazy and then some of
- 01:07:23the bigger awards were they have one
- 01:07:26award in the entire country. So so.
- 01:07:29I'm not saying that their studies that
- 01:07:31were being called for having been done.
- 01:07:34I haven't seen them.
- 01:07:35I live in this space. I look for them.
- 01:07:38I'm doing, let searches for them.
- 01:07:40I haven't seen it yet.
- 01:07:42But everything that was asked.
- 01:07:46Is answerable.
- 01:07:49But the kind of robust research to answer it,
- 01:07:52I don't see being done.
- 01:07:53Now we know we don't need a study
- 01:07:55to know that exposure matters.
- 01:07:57An interview can't stay home and
- 01:07:59work from home like most of us.
- 01:08:02And you have to be out there.
- 01:08:04Yes,
- 01:08:04you're going to be more exposed.
- 01:08:07And I can just watch what's
- 01:08:09happening at the grocery store.
- 01:08:12The workers overtime just relax and all
- 01:08:15of a sudden you got mask as a beard,
- 01:08:18masks hanging off one ear.
- 01:08:20Half mask the nose out.
- 01:08:22And because they're getting comfortable
- 01:08:24with their friends and their
- 01:08:26watching what's happening in Florida?
- 01:08:28We are in trouble.
- 01:08:29We have no national plan and
- 01:08:31we have active efforts that are
- 01:08:34discouraging people from actually
- 01:08:35practicing the mitigation behaviors.
- 01:08:38So, so I think that's part of the problem.
- 01:08:42The answer we got data streams coming
- 01:08:45with phone mobility mask usage.
- 01:08:47There are some companies collecting
- 01:08:49this data.
- 01:08:50I've not seen it harvested yet in a
- 01:08:53way that says. Here's an action step.
- 01:08:56But I'm going to also say that
- 01:08:58we don't need another randomized
- 01:09:00trial to help people practice
- 01:09:03the mitigation behaviors.
- 01:09:05Here's my question.
- 01:09:06If we're now to a point where I can tell
- 01:09:10you where the covid infections are,
- 01:09:12were the zip code where they're dying.
- 01:09:16Am I also making sure that there's kovit
- 01:09:18test sites in those same zip codes?
- 01:09:21That would be the logical thing, right?
- 01:09:23That's not the case.
- 01:09:25You'll find a mismatch.
- 01:09:26You would think that if I'm showing
- 01:09:28you a zip code where we have increased
- 01:09:32community spread an infection,
- 01:09:33I would think that we would be re
- 01:09:36doubling our efforts right now to
- 01:09:38make sure that there's flu vaccine clinics,
- 01:09:41mobile clinics in those neighborhoods.
- 01:09:43Do you think that's happening right now?
- 01:09:48Who would put money on the table that were
- 01:09:51pre pre positioning flu vaccine clinics in
- 01:09:54the very zip codes where we know Cove it is.
- 01:09:57It is not systematic as a patchwork.
- 01:10:00We are in trouble and it's an institution
- 01:10:03like yours that can make a difference.
- 01:10:05If our clinical researchers of our
- 01:10:08comprehensive Cancer Center director's
- 01:10:10came together with some improvement
- 01:10:12or to say this is unacceptable,
- 01:10:14we gotta do better.
- 01:10:16We have to do different.
- 01:10:18We have to let the resources follow the data.
- 01:10:23That's what we need.
- 01:10:24We're going to speak up.
- 01:10:26People were not used to being
- 01:10:28in that political space.
- 01:10:29We must be were being dragged into it and
- 01:10:32now the time to do that as an ethical.
- 01:10:36Obligation.
- 01:10:37Well,
- 01:10:38that that brings it back.
- 01:10:39Certainly the purpose of this night
- 01:10:41and this group is that that that the.
- 01:10:45There is the the ethical obligation to
- 01:10:47apply the science to apply the Public
- 01:10:50Health Science in a manner that's
- 01:10:52effective and more equitable is paramount.
- 01:10:54I mean, it's something that that we
- 01:10:56certainly have not yet not yet achieved,
- 01:10:59not yet done as well as we need to.
- 01:11:02I want to pass a couple more
- 01:11:04questions on too.
- 01:11:05So first someone asked a very
- 01:11:07straightforward question,
- 01:11:08which is I have the beauty salons
- 01:11:11worked as well with women.
- 01:11:13You know the women have been so
- 01:11:16far ahead of us than the women
- 01:11:18have been doing breast cancer
- 01:11:19screening through beauty salons.
- 01:11:21There's a whole range of issues where
- 01:11:24the women have done a really great job.
- 01:11:27We have a book chapter that's
- 01:11:29coming out a second edition of a
- 01:11:32book chapter that describes the
- 01:11:34whole beauty salon and Barber
- 01:11:36shop initiative in great detail.
- 01:11:38And the current chapter.
- 01:11:39I'll make sure doctor Mercurio
- 01:11:41mixture that you had that share.
- 01:11:43Thanks. Will be sure to will
- 01:11:45be sure to post it then on our
- 01:11:48website. But what happens is
- 01:11:49we go through these waves.
- 01:11:50We go threw away Vevo breast cancer
- 01:11:53outreach and their litter is long
- 01:11:54and then the money drives up the
- 01:11:56grants cool white and we leave.
- 01:11:58And then we go it again and
- 01:12:01we can't keep doing that.
- 01:12:03My point again, on an ethical obligation.
- 01:12:06It is our institutions that have a
- 01:12:08responsibility to maintain trusting
- 01:12:10relationships in these communities so
- 01:12:12that our investigators don't have to
- 01:12:15start all over again every single time.
- 01:12:17The beauty salons have been an outstanding
- 01:12:20place and that's where we did our
- 01:12:22work on the environmental hazards
- 01:12:24of exposure to endocrine disrupting
- 01:12:26chemicals in hair care products.
- 01:12:28We did that in the beauty salon
- 01:12:30and we found that those salons
- 01:12:33serving African American women,
- 01:12:35but this stylist.
- 01:12:36Had endocrine disrupting chemicals
- 01:12:38in their expired urine 7 times
- 01:12:40greater than the general population,
- 01:12:42so it has implications for air handling
- 01:12:44implications for a whole range of things.
- 01:12:47And guess what that was pre
- 01:12:49kovid now in the kovit space.
- 01:12:51We also have implications for
- 01:12:53what air handling you know.
- 01:12:55Should we have UV lights in the
- 01:12:57Barber shops and beauty thoughts?
- 01:12:59It is a practice or profession
- 01:13:02that you cannot do 6 feet away.
- 01:13:06Next
- 01:13:06question. This is actually very
- 01:13:08interesting so that they ask
- 01:13:09what process weather rolling in.
- 01:13:11So I gotta move this for scrolls down.
- 01:13:13What process interesting what the
- 01:13:14process that led to the determination
- 01:13:16that Barber shops would be a pipeline
- 01:13:18to the African American community.
- 01:13:19Since they have so much trust in it
- 01:13:21'cause it's so if this were to be
- 01:13:24replicated in other communities such
- 01:13:25as the Native American or the Latin X,
- 01:13:27how would researchers and
- 01:13:28physicians find the appropriate fit?
- 01:13:30So how did you know it was the Barber shops?
- 01:13:32And so if we can use that in
- 01:13:34the other communities as well?
- 01:13:36So again established that Bridget
- 01:13:37trust that you've.
- 01:13:38Pointed out is is the important
- 01:13:40missing ingredient here.
- 01:13:41I'm
- 01:13:42sure there are people in the
- 01:13:44audience have driven by urban
- 01:13:46neighborhoods and seen a Barber shop,
- 01:13:48so there was a Barber shop.
- 01:13:50So let me just say this,
- 01:13:52don't go out and do this without training.
- 01:13:55It looks simple, it's complicated,
- 01:13:57is complex. It takes time,
- 01:13:59but for me as a member of that community,
- 01:14:02I was sitting in the Barber shop
- 01:14:04and somebody came in that people
- 01:14:06hadn't seen for awhile and.
- 01:14:08And Mark, but I have to tell you.
- 01:14:11How can I explain this to you?
- 01:14:14It is not like Supercuts or hair Cutler,
- 01:14:16you might might.
- 01:14:16My white friends say I I had my
- 01:14:19appointment at 2:00 o'clock.
- 01:14:20I show up at 2:00 o'clock.
- 01:14:21I'm out in 15 ten 1015 minutes.
- 01:14:23I don't even talk in the last
- 01:14:26thing I've ever say is to ask
- 01:14:28my stylus anything about health.
- 01:14:30So what I'm trying to explain to
- 01:14:32them is that the Black Partnership is
- 01:14:35like is like a community gathering.
- 01:14:38There are multiple TV's in these shops.
- 01:14:40Guess what?
- 01:14:41They're all on to different
- 01:14:43stations and the music playing.
- 01:14:45You follow me so far,
- 01:14:47so you're walking into a cacophony of sound.
- 01:14:50Everybody's talking and I remember a
- 01:14:52guy came in, uh, to protect them all.
- 01:14:55Just calling Joe people,
- 01:14:56said Joe,
- 01:14:57where you been and Joe says he
- 01:15:00was in the hospital.
- 01:15:02That they took him to the emergency
- 01:15:04room and they kept him for five days.
- 01:15:07They said he had had a heart attack,
- 01:15:09and so while Joe's talking in the music's
- 01:15:12on in the TV's on that people are listening,
- 01:15:15then Joe gets in the chair.
- 01:15:18And then there's an intimacy in that chair.
- 01:15:21I think that what I've come to realize
- 01:15:23that that that sound is a shielder intimacy,
- 01:15:26assure protection of privacy,
- 01:15:28'cause you're out in the open,
- 01:15:30but you're, you're literally.
- 01:15:32In the person's ear, as the Barber,
- 01:15:35and so there talking.
- 01:15:36And Joe pulls out.
- 01:15:38Bile appeals, and he said.
- 01:15:40My doctor told me I have to take
- 01:15:43these the rest of my life.
- 01:15:45Now everybody in the barbershop listed now.
- 01:15:48And the Barber says Joe,
- 01:15:50if you take those pills,
- 01:15:52you won't be able to keep up
- 01:15:55your obligations.
- 01:15:56Now Karen, the camera don't explain
- 01:15:59what obligations mean. No you don't.
- 01:16:03Mark I realized at that moment.
- 01:16:09If you erect how this function is
- 01:16:11one of the side effects of some of
- 01:16:14these hypertension drugs, drugs.
- 01:16:15But I realized when that Barber said Joe,
- 01:16:18if you take those pills,
- 01:16:19you won't be able to keep up your obligation.
- 01:16:21Joe is not taking those pills.
- 01:16:22I saw that on his face.
- 01:16:25And his Doctor has no idea that
- 01:16:27there somebody in the community,
- 01:16:29but that kind of influence.
- 01:16:32I said,
- 01:16:33what if that Barbara was was working with us?
- 01:16:37What is that Barber said, Hey Joe,
- 01:16:40if you're experiencing side effects,
- 01:16:41tell your doctor they can adjust the
- 01:16:44medication, knows they can do things,
- 01:16:46don't hide it.
- 01:16:47And that's where the idea about her.
- 01:16:50I came to life.
- 01:16:51And what we realized is that
- 01:16:53these barbers feel like they
- 01:16:55are stewards of their community.
- 01:16:57They feel like they are shepherds.
- 01:17:00I went children come in to get
- 01:17:02their first haircut is some big deal.
- 01:17:04People are there with cameras.
- 01:17:06And I'm watching this father places
- 01:17:08child in the chair for his first haircut,
- 01:17:10and I'm listening to them talk and I'm
- 01:17:13picking up on the fact that that Barber
- 01:17:15Cut the father's hair at the same age.
- 01:17:19That's the relationship they have.
- 01:17:21They have that Marcus Welby.
- 01:17:24Neighborhood relationship that
- 01:17:25doctors want and have lossed,
- 01:17:27and that's what her is all
- 01:17:29about and what we have learned.
- 01:17:31Mark is that when we bring the medical
- 01:17:34professionals into the barbershop,
- 01:17:36they love it.
- 01:17:37They say This is why I became a doctor.
- 01:17:40This is why I became a nurse.
- 01:17:43It reinvigorates their passion for
- 01:17:45why they came into the profession,
- 01:17:47what we have to do is create
- 01:17:49that space to make it easy for
- 01:17:52them to come into those venues.
- 01:17:55And that's how her was launched.
- 01:17:57And there are fledging little
- 01:17:59projects around the country.
- 01:18:00New England Journal did a major randomized
- 01:18:03clinical trial proving that it works,
- 01:18:05but you know how it works.
- 01:18:07Mark.
- 01:18:07We do the trial, we prove it works.
- 01:18:10We write the paper.
- 01:18:12The grants done, we leave.
- 01:18:15What works,
- 01:18:16what can save lives is living
- 01:18:19in our journals.
- 01:18:20So at the University of Maryland,
- 01:18:23Center for HealthEquity are
- 01:18:24focuses on what we call 4th
- 01:18:27generation disparities research.
- 01:18:29It is translating the science of Medicine
- 01:18:31and public health into culturally tailored,
- 01:18:34community based interventions.
- 01:18:35And her is just one example of
- 01:18:38our community based intervention.
- 01:18:40We have built a clinic out in the
- 01:18:43inner city here in in Maryland,
- 01:18:45near the District of Columbia
- 01:18:47Line and we turned an overflow
- 01:18:49parking lot into an urban farm.
- 01:18:52So when the doctor tells you
- 01:18:54you need to exercise eat better,
- 01:18:56we gotta farm outside growing
- 01:18:58food and the teaching kitchen.
- 01:19:00We've need to re imagine how we build
- 01:19:03back in ways that we get out of our silos.
- 01:19:08And be present in the
- 01:19:10neighborhoods where people live.
- 01:19:12It's It's it was such a brilliant
- 01:19:14insight 'cause one could have
- 01:19:15easily done what I suspect many do,
- 01:19:17which is to say that to tell people,
- 01:19:19don't listen to your Barber.
- 01:19:21Listen to your doctor but instead
- 01:19:22the brilliant insight that you
- 01:19:24had in the folks who started.
- 01:19:25This whole project was, well,
- 01:19:26why don't we make sure the Barber
- 01:19:28really knows what he's talking about
- 01:19:30is if they're going to listen to him,
- 01:19:32let's help him understand
- 01:19:33what he's talking about.
- 01:19:34You know,
- 01:19:34so that he so they give some good
- 01:19:36advice about the pills because it's
- 01:19:38going to be a trusted source of advice
- 01:19:40and Mark. Like I said,
- 01:19:41there are some programs.
- 01:19:43That have taken this effort and it's OK.
- 01:19:45We're going to teach the barbers
- 01:19:47to do the blood pressures.
- 01:19:49In fact, the randomized clinical
- 01:19:50trial talking about had the
- 01:19:52barbers doing the blood pressures.
- 01:19:54We do not do that.
- 01:19:56We do not believe that the Barber should be
- 01:19:59involved in doing clinical assessments. Why?
- 01:20:02Because the burden of disease is so great.
- 01:20:07We have literally, when we've had
- 01:20:09the physicians and doing screen.
- 01:20:10We have literally sent people
- 01:20:12immediately to the emergency room.
- 01:20:13Well where the doctor says, I cannot
- 01:20:15ethically allow you to leave my presence.
- 01:20:18You have to bring a family member
- 01:20:19here on World College squad.
- 01:20:21Your blood pressure is stroke level.
- 01:20:24And the person just walking
- 01:20:26around not knowing it.
- 01:20:27So the last thing you want is a Barber
- 01:20:30taking that malignant hypertension pressure.
- 01:20:32Here's the other thing we've learned, mark.
- 01:20:36The health professionals When we
- 01:20:41first took him into the shops,
- 01:20:43they would walk around with their.
- 01:20:47Computers, their purses.
- 01:20:49Check in, is my car still there?
- 01:20:53And I realize that.
- 01:20:55The everybody you know all the
- 01:20:57black people are watching this.
- 01:20:59What are they afraid of?
- 01:21:00Kind of a thing.
- 01:21:01And then I'm realizing that OK,
- 01:21:03we gotta do some orientation.
- 01:21:05We can't just let him come
- 01:21:07in afraid we gotta do.
- 01:21:08Orientation help folk deal
- 01:21:10with their own fears,
- 01:21:11their own biases to understand this natural.
- 01:21:13'cause some of these neighborhoods are
- 01:21:15reading about in the paper with all these
- 01:21:18negative negative things happening.
- 01:21:19But once we put the the orientation in place,
- 01:21:23I am telling you more the health
- 01:21:26professionals were transformed an I
- 01:21:28think that's exactly what we need.
- 01:21:30This is not something you can do
- 01:21:33your city training, you know.
- 01:21:35Go online and take the quiz.
- 01:21:37This is not that. This is a long term life.
- 01:21:41Life long commitment to self reflection
- 01:21:44in that is how we avoid a future.
- 01:21:47Tuskegee. We're not going to do.
- 01:21:49Everything right,
- 01:21:50but if we commit ourselves to
- 01:21:53self reflection.
- 01:21:54If we commit ourselves to doing the
- 01:21:57right thing for the right reason,
- 01:21:58if we commit ourselves to not building
- 01:22:01our careers off the suffering of the people,
- 01:22:03I think we can make a difference.
- 01:22:06And that we recognize that it is not
- 01:22:08enough to do your research and show.
- 01:22:11Here's a problem. This is a hot spot.
- 01:22:13And then it's somebody elses job to fix it.
- 01:22:17We have left that community as
- 01:22:19a hotspot marked.
- 01:22:19You want to buy a house in a hotspot?
- 01:22:21I don't.
- 01:22:22Karen,
- 01:22:22do you wanna open up your business
- 01:22:25in a hotspot?
- 01:22:26I don't so even our language
- 01:22:28when we're trying to help.
- 01:22:30The community can stigmatize the community.
- 01:22:33This is,
- 01:22:33This
- 01:22:33is why I'm so pleased this
- 01:22:35is being recorded now.
- 01:22:36I'll remind the folks in the audience know,
- 01:22:38because the last the last two minutes
- 01:22:41or something that I want to go back
- 01:22:43and look again at a couple times
- 01:22:44and listen to a couple of times,
- 01:22:46I'm going to Scroll down
- 01:22:48and find another question.
- 01:22:49But I gotta go through about
- 01:22:50100 people who really pissed off
- 01:22:52with Mr Green's doctor. So if
- 01:22:54I can get past them, well, let me tell
- 01:22:56you about those people mad at Mr Green.
- 01:22:58'cause every time I show this doctor,
- 01:23:00yeah, the doctor.
- 01:23:01Every time I show particularly have
- 01:23:02medical professionals, they're all upset.
- 01:23:04Nobody knows Mr Green.
- 01:23:05Nobody is Mr Green.
- 01:23:06Mr Heart Doctor, Archer,
- 01:23:07but the reality is they all know a doctor.
- 01:23:10Are they all know somebody like that?
- 01:23:13And we just have to admit.
- 01:23:16That Doctor Archer is a clinical
- 01:23:19researcher his his thing is not
- 01:23:21going to get people in this trial.
- 01:23:23He's thinking that when
- 01:23:24Doctor Mr Green comes in,
- 01:23:26he's ready for the trial.
- 01:23:29Doctor Archer has no idea
- 01:23:31that emergency rooms, a mess.
- 01:23:32He has no idea people can't pay
- 01:23:34for these cystoscopy as screening.
- 01:23:36That's not his job and now I'm
- 01:23:39trying to tell him if you want
- 01:23:41to get these clinical trials and
- 01:23:43have diverse patient populations,
- 01:23:45how your hospital system treats them matters.
- 01:23:47You gotta care about that too.
- 01:23:50Yeah,
- 01:23:50you know, and of course those of
- 01:23:52us who don't do a lot of clinical
- 01:23:54research but work in the clinical
- 01:23:55clinical arena recognize the exact
- 01:23:57same thing and and and so much of it.
- 01:24:00It's so much of it comes
- 01:24:01down to taking the time.
- 01:24:03And of course one of the things
- 01:24:04is watching this at this guys.
- 01:24:06This guys gotta get 8 patient signed
- 01:24:08up its subjects, not patient states
- 01:24:09subject signed up before lunch.
- 01:24:11And then he's Gotta Rock
- 01:24:12and roll through this.
- 01:24:13He doesn't have time.
- 01:24:14Just telling this guy that he's
- 01:24:16not going to survive this disease,
- 01:24:18and maybe this requires
- 01:24:19more than 10 seconds, you
- 01:24:20know? So that was conversation one.
- 01:24:22And listen all based on real transcripts.
- 01:24:24That really did happen.
- 01:24:26Then we put doctor Archer through
- 01:24:28the building trust training,
- 01:24:30and then there's a Part 2 and
- 01:24:32the actual amount of time the
- 01:24:34interaction is the same amount of
- 01:24:36time but with active listening.
- 01:24:39Doctor Archer shakes his hand.
- 01:24:41Doctor Archer let him tell his
- 01:24:44story without interrupting him.
- 01:24:46It did not take anymore time.
- 01:24:47It's all about attitude and approach.
- 01:24:49It can be learned well.
- 01:24:50That's huge because I would
- 01:24:52have said, Well, you need to give
- 01:24:54it about 10 times as much time as
- 01:24:56you're given that you're telling
- 01:24:58me is that if you do it right,
- 01:25:00you may not need so much more time.
- 01:25:02And I also think it's important
- 01:25:04that when the community comes to us,
- 01:25:06when doctor Archer learned about what Mr.
- 01:25:08Green's experience was in the ER,
- 01:25:10he should take it as his responsibility
- 01:25:12representing the institution.
- 01:25:13I'm going to look into that for you,
- 01:25:15Mr Green. I'm gonna find out
- 01:25:17why there was such a delay.
- 01:25:18I'm going to find out why you had to come
- 01:25:21out of your own pocket to raise the money.
- 01:25:24For that, cystoscopy show that
- 01:25:26you can be an advocate for him.
- 01:25:28That's what we can do.
- 01:25:30All my friends out there who
- 01:25:32have privileged color white
- 01:25:33privilege called medical call.
- 01:25:35Whatever privilege you have,
- 01:25:37we all have privilege.
- 01:25:39We need to use that privilege.
- 01:25:41In the interest of the most disadvantaged.
- 01:25:46Thank
- 01:25:47you so much. We have just a minute
- 01:25:49left and there's one so many.
- 01:25:51So much of this are just things
- 01:25:53saying what a wonderful talk it was.
- 01:25:56An also and thanking you.
- 01:25:57But I have one comment here in particular.
- 01:26:00Then I'll read and this will be
- 01:26:02the last question that will do,
- 01:26:04and it may require a longer response,
- 01:26:06but I'll ask you to at least
- 01:26:08briefly response, but if you can,
- 01:26:10your work is profoundly inspirational to me.
- 01:26:13Thank you.
- 01:26:13I'm wondering if you can speak at all,
- 01:26:16but how the dual epidemics of
- 01:26:18COVID-19 and police brutality have
- 01:26:19impacted African American communities?
- 01:26:21Have the Barber shops provided
- 01:26:22a safe space for dialogue,
- 01:26:24social support,
- 01:26:25and advocacy for both epidemics.
- 01:26:27Why I think that it's a very very
- 01:26:31good question because it is the
- 01:26:34confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 01:26:37The disproportion burden on racial
- 01:26:39ethnic minority communities exposing
- 01:26:41that longstanding health disparities.
- 01:26:44And then the racial reckoning
- 01:26:47in our country, that is.
- 01:26:49That has created the space for
- 01:26:51fundamental change fundamental change.
- 01:26:54So let me tell you something else
- 01:26:56about the barbershop that's very,
- 01:26:58very interesting and different.
- 01:26:59Very different than the church.
- 01:27:03I've been in the barbershop where
- 01:27:05there's been a sitting judge.
- 01:27:09A man who works on the
- 01:27:12loading dock at Safeway.
- 01:27:14An unemployed person Anna homeless man.
- 01:27:18All sitting together.
- 01:27:21Where does that happen?
- 01:27:23Very few places.
- 01:27:24That's why the space I call it sacred space.
- 01:27:30So as we begin thinking about
- 01:27:31how do we work in Barber shops,
- 01:27:33how do we globalize how we do our thing?
- 01:27:35Whatever we do, let's not break it.
- 01:27:37Let's not break.
- 01:27:39This is one of the few places mark where
- 01:27:43I've heard black men simply belly laugh.
- 01:27:47Out loud not lol but really laugh out
- 01:27:50loud in real life so we have brought
- 01:27:53mental health professionals in.
- 01:27:54We've done mental health counseling in the
- 01:27:57shops in privacy with creative privacy space.
- 01:28:00And one of the shops we renovated, the shop.
- 01:28:04We did PSA blood draws and Rectal
- 01:28:07digital exams in the barbershop
- 01:28:09for prostate cancer screening.
- 01:28:11It's a tremendous way of impacting a culture.
- 01:28:16And then we asked the barbers their
- 01:28:18thoughts about how we improve things,
- 01:28:21and they have really,
- 01:28:22really good ideas.
- 01:28:24So I think that if we had
- 01:28:27white police officers.
- 01:28:28Get their hair cut in a black Barber shop.
- 01:28:33Maybe the next time they stop a
- 01:28:35black man they won't think of a
- 01:28:38thug as the very first thing.
- 01:28:40They may think, hey, that could be Jimmy.
- 01:28:43That could be my Barber that could be Fred.
- 01:28:48That could be Mike.
- 01:28:49Get over the fear and if we don't create
- 01:28:52spaces where we're mixing like that,
- 01:28:55I think that as a country we're in trouble.
- 01:28:58But COVID-19 is opened up an
- 01:29:01opportunity as we come back.
- 01:29:03Better to do so in a way that we make
- 01:29:06these spaces places where we save lives.
- 01:29:10I'm broke into the of the spectrum.
- 01:29:14Fantastic thank you so much.
- 01:29:15Our time is up.
- 01:29:16This has been a Marvel seeding
- 01:29:18as I thought it would but you
- 01:29:19have exceeded expectations.
- 01:29:20Professor Thomas.
- 01:29:21This has been marvelous.
- 01:29:22We're going to post some of the
- 01:29:23information is this talk is also
- 01:29:25going to be available in the website
- 01:29:27and this is the part where I hand
- 01:29:28you a couple of Yale souvenirs but
- 01:29:30instead were going to Mail him.
- 01:29:32And this is the part when I go out
- 01:29:34with you in a couple of the group
- 01:29:36and we get a nice meal and we're
- 01:29:38going to have to put that on hold.
- 01:29:40But remember that when we owe you
- 01:29:41'cause we sure do appreciate this.
- 01:29:43This was terrific. Thank you so much.
- 01:29:45It's
- 01:29:45been an honor and a pleasure.
- 01:29:46Thank you very very much. Bye bye OK,
- 01:29:49well we'll sign off and.
- 01:29:52Thank you all. Will see you next time.