People of Precision Health: A Series by Vibrent Health Vibrent Health

How do you approach underserved communities for collaboration in your health research? With humility and flexibility, says Dr. Katherine Tossas, a cancer epidemiologist and Director of Catchment Area Data Access and Alignment at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center. As part of our People of Precision Health Podcast, Vibrent Health recently interviewed Dr. Tossas in her work engaging communities and catchment areas in cancer research as it relates to health disparities.

As a native Puerto Rican, she has used her experience to develop some incredibly useful perspectives and approaches in approaching underserved communities. Some of these included sharing resources with communities, not having preconceptions about communities, understanding the limitations of research data in telling the full story, and more.

Getting participants to participate in your research is difficult, especially in oncology. Throw in the diverse perspectives, experiences, and the complexity of navigating cancer care, and it’s clear that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

So, how do we address the barriers to cancer research participation among patients, especially underrepresented populations? How do we create partnerships with underserved communities to foster more trust, greater recruitment, and better retention rates among these populations? Should participation in research be discussed in tandem with front line treatments as a patient begins their care journey in assessing and treating malignancy?

In this episode of People of Precision Health, we sat down with Porscha Johnson, PharmD, CPGx to address these questions.

How do health researchers design surveys that make it easy for participants to answer? How do we avoid survey fatigue, non-response, and inaccurate answers? In our latest episode of People of Precision Health, our resident Survey Methodologist Megan Ruxton, PhD, addresses these questions and more to show us the science behind asking questions and gaining responses.

How can the latest insights in pharmacogenomics be folded into clinical cancer care? According to Dr. Jai Patel on our latest episode of People of Precision Health, it’s a matter of integrating data into clinical workflows, empowering patients with access to research participation and resources, providing clear and actionable results, and breaking down barriers that have made cancer research and care traditionally difficult.

Can digital and multi-modal approaches succeed in engaging aging populations for eConsent and data collection? According to Dr. Sofiya Milman, Associate Professor of Endocrinology and Genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the answer is yes.

We sat down with Dr. Milman for this episode of People of Precision Health to talk about the SuperAgers Family Study, and how she and her collaborators have cultivated several strategies and digital tools to power their recruitment, data collection, cross-institutional collaboration, and participant engagement.

Key to understanding how genetics impacts healthcare is understanding its effect for every patient involved. In this episode of People of Precision Health, guest Dr. Daniel Judge discusses the “In Our DNA SC” study sequencing the genes of South Carolina’s incredibly diverse patient population—sharing the challenges of such an effort and the importance of genetic counseling for improving healthcare and patient wellbeing.