Latest Cultural Ambassador News

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) has announced the new members of its Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program steering committee, including Yale School of Medicine Director of Clinical Research and Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) Chief Operating Officer Tesheia Johnson, MBA, MHS. The steering committee provides direction to NCATS and the more than 60 CTSA-funded institutions around the country, including Yale.

Yale made great strides in this area at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the work now being funded will build on that work by further refining approaches to building trust and participation in clinical trials in diverse communities across the country.

Much like the rest of the world, I have been very aware of just how serious the COVID-19 pandemic is--a health crisis in need of immediate action with African Americans dying at twice the rate and hospitalized at almost three times that of our white counterparts. So, when I was given the opportunity to participate in the vaccine trial to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus, I knew right away that it was my inherent duty as a community leader to sign up. As a Yale Cultural Ambassador and pastor for Walter’s Memorial AME Zion Church, it felt like such a significant way to further encourage members of my community to participate right alongside me, to drive health equity in our own community and advance science at the same time.

As a Yale Cultural Ambassador, I have been an advocate for health equity and clinical research participation for over 10 years. It has really been a cardinal mission for me to encourage engagement among those who have been underrepresented in the health system for so long. We are serving both ourselves and the wider community by doing so, not to mention, advancing science, sometimes dramatically. When the COVID-19 vaccine trial arrived at Yale, I was compelled to participate. It was a consummate opportunity to sign up and walk the walk, particularly during a time of so much fear and apprehension. We all have to be willing to be part of research in order to drive change. Most of the clinical trials I advocate for in my community are related to very specific health conditions that have affected many of those around me, but which I did not have myself. COVID-19, has touched everyone. Every one of us in some way.

Vanessa Clayton’s story about clinical trials participation differs from most, as she was first approached to participate by her husband, Reverend Elvin Clayton, the pastor of the Walters Memorial AME Zion Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Cultural Ambassador to clinical research at Yale. Like many people of color, Mrs. Clayton was worried about the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 virus on black and brown individuals. When her husband told her about the Phase 3 randomized and placebo-controlled trial looking to test the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the SARS CoV 2 RNA vaccine against COVID-19, she did not immediately say yes. She decided to do her own homework to understand the research and also wanted to discuss it with family members in the health profession. Ultimately, after speaking to the study PI, Dr. Onyema Ogbuagu, and reviewing the informed consent, she decided to join her husband and hundreds of other Connecticut residents enrolling in the trial.

Yale is building on its Cultural Ambassadors program, which works to improve perceptions of clinical research among African Americans, by expanding it to Duke.