Equitable Breakthroughs in Medicine Development Broadens Reach Across the United States

EQBMED is a collaborative, community-based partnership to address diversity in clinical trials funded by a grant from PhRMA 

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Equitable Breakthroughs in Medicine Development (EQBMED), a collaborative partnership dedicated to expanding clinical trial participation among communities of color and rural populations, today announced the selection of the final four clinical trial sites of the learning phase:

• Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• Health 360x bringing in 35 additional sites across 14 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia)
• Southside Medical Center, in collaboration with Ocean Management Services, in Atlanta, Georgia
• University of Alabama at Birmingham Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center in Birmingham, Alabama

With this expansion, EQBMED builds on its mission to address barriers to clinical trial participation, including limited access to trial sites, historical mistrust, misinformation, and lack of information. Led by Yale School of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, the Research Centers in Minority Institutions Coordinating Center (RCMI-CC) at Morehouse School of Medicine, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, this initiative reflects a focused, community-centered commitment to making clinical trials accessible and sustainable.

Spotlight on Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center

As part of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, through their Office of Cancer Health Equity, have spent over a decade improving access to clinical trials through education, outreach and partnerships.

In partnering with EQBMED, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center aims to boost community engagement and implement a co-leadership and co-learning model across all community-based sites. This collaboration leverages enterprise-wide health records to ease staff burden, integrates clinical workflows, and improves patient outreach for cancer clinical trials. It will also expand staff capacity, strengthen community ties, expand therapeutic focus, allowing more clinical trials to reach rural communities across North Carolina.

"Including sites at different stages of clinical trial readiness is an essential part of EQBMED's approach to learning and growth," said Tesheia Harris, MBA, MHS, EQBMED Senior Advisor and former Chief Strategy Officer at Yale Center for Clinical Investigation (YCCI) at Yale School of Medicine. "We are excited to welcome Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center to EQBMED. Their experience is evident in the hundreds of clinical trials they conduct across areas like cancer, genomics, and blood disorders. As a NCI-designated center with numerous community-based sites, our partnership expands the ability to reach communities with exceptional clinical care, while exploring innovative strategies to support long-term site sustainability."

"Joining the Equitable Breakthroughs in Medicine Development (EQBMED) initiative is an important  partnership that will amplify our commitment to community engagement, making our clinical trials more accessible and promoting greater access to advanced treatments, accelerating discovery and ultimately saving lives, locally, regionally and nationally." said Nadine Barrett, PhD, Senior Associate Dean, Community Engagement and Research Equity, Director, Community Outreach and Engagement, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

Spotlight on Health 360x

Health 360x brings more than two decades of experience in clinical research, with an expertise in working with more than 30 small and medium-sized independent practices across 14 states to conduct both conventional and decentralized clinical trials serving diverse patient populations. Dedicated to scaling its operations, Health 360x will collaborate with EQBMED to increase access to its network's decentralized trial capacities. They will also enhance the data integration capabilities of the Health 360x.ai Clinical Research Platform to reduce provider and staff burden and further promote a community-centric approach to recruitment and retention.

"The Health 360x sites are committed to enhancing diverse participation in clinical trials across therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, blood disorders, diabetes, hypertension, and women's health," said Chamberlain Obialo, MD, FACP, FASH, FASN, Chief Executive Officer, Health 360x. "Through our collaboration with EQBMED, we look forward to leveraging our Health 360x platform, expanding our network of trial capabilities and capacity, addressing critical barriers to participation, and ensuring that clinical research is more representative."

"Health 360x's integration of technology, deep community ties, and focus on workforce capacity building aligns seamlessly with EQBMED's mission," said Peter Embí, MD, MS, FACP, FACMI, FIAHSI, EQBMED Network Partner Leader and Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Medicine, Chair of Biomedical Informatics, and Senior Vice-President for Research and Innovation at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "By expanding our clinical trial network and engaging the communities they serve, we can foster greater diversity in clinical research."

Spotlight on Southside Medical Center

Founded in 1967, Southside Medical Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Atlanta, has been nationally recognized by the National Association of Community Health Centers for having one of the best primary health care delivery systems for the medically underserved in the country. Collaborating with EQBMED, Southside with further focus on developing a replicable model which aligns with the clinical imperative of FQHCs with the sites research aspirations.  EQBMED's support will also enable Southside to explore staffing models to sustain research infrastructure over time, providing patients with opportunities to participate in innovative clinical trials as part of outstanding care.

"In partnership with EQBMED, we seek to activate a multi-location integrated accountable care research network to support research scientists and enhance team cohesion, to accelerate reach and impact for the Atlanta community," said David Williams, MD, CEO, Southside Medical Center. "Our team consists of experts in the communities they serve, leveraging valued trust, deep community ties, and collective knowledge to create an accessible landscape in medical research."

"The addition of Southside Medical Center strengthens EQBMED's presence in Atlanta, building on Morehouse School of Medicine's history of advancing medical innovation to improve health outcomes for the individuals and communities our institutions have both served for generations," said Priscilla E. Pemu, MBBS, MSCR, FACP, FAHA, EQBMED Network Partner Leader and Associate Dean for Clinical Research, Director of the Clinical Research Center, and Professor of Clinical Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine. "Working together, this new partnership will provide EQBMED with a model the program can build on in other regions of the country."

Spotlight on University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center (MHERC)

Strategically located in the heart of the South, the UAB MHERC provides a critical connection between investigators and populations underrepresented in biomedical research. The Center generates and disseminates research knowledge from biomedical, behavioral, and social sciences to reduce health disparities and move us toward health equity. The MHERC has a strong foundation in clinical research, conducting trials across numerous therapeutic areas, including cancer, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and women's health. Known for its deep, long-term commitment to community engagement, the UAB MHERC ensures its research reflects the unique needs and priorities of the populations they serve.

"UAB MHERC's deep commitment to building trust and shaping research to the needs of the community strongly aligns with EQBMED's mission," said Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, EQBMED Network Partner Leader and Associate Dean for Health Equity Research, and C.N.H Long Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Management at Yale University. "Together, this partnership expands access to clinical trials and can set a new standard for community-centered medical research."

"To achieve health equity, there must be equity and diversity in clinical trials," said Mona Fouad, MD, MPH, Professor, General Internal Medicine and Population Science, Edward E. Partridge, M.D., Endowed Chair for Cancer Disparity Research and Director, Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"The MHERC has been building trusted community relationships for over 20 years. We are committed to addressing barriers to clinical trial participation by leveraging these trusted community partnerships, optimizing patient navigation, and amplifying community engagement through strategic initiatives," said Fouad. "With EQBMED's support, we aim to optimize clinical trial patient navigation, hire staff that reflect the community, further strengthen community partnerships in research awareness and engagement."

"EQBMED's expansion, including establishing partnerships with 10 Learning Phase sites, underscores its dedication to building an accessible and sustainable clinical trial ecosystem by meeting sites at various stages of clinical trial maturity, building on their strengths, and addressing community needs. We are witnessing the start of a transformation in clinical research—one that places communities at the heart of discovery and innovation." said Dr. Elizabeth Ofili, MD, MPH, FACC, EQBMED Network Partner Leader and Professor of Medicine and Principal Investigator of the RCMI Coordinating Center at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Learn more about EQBMED's efforts: https://eqbmed.org/

About EQBMED

Equitable Breakthroughs in Medicine Development (EQBMED) is a pioneering partnership committed to transforming the landscape of clinical trials by advancing diversity, transparency, and knowledge. This collaborative partnership is led by Yale School of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, the Research Centers in Minority Institutions Coordinating Center at Morehouse School of Medicine, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, funded by a grant from PhRMA. By empowering community-based sites and addressing historical disparities, the program is dedicated to creating a more inclusive future in medicine development. Learn more at EQBMED.org. 

About Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist (www.wakehealth.edu) is a preeminent academic health system based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and part of Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, which was created through the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist's two main components are an integrated clinical system – anchored by Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, an 885-bed tertiary-care hospital in Winston-Salem – that includes Atrium Health Levine Children's Brenner Children's Hospital, five community hospitals, more than 300 primary and specialty care locations and more than 2,700 physicians; and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the academic core of Advocate Health and a recognized leader in experiential medical education and groundbreaking research that includes Wake Forest Innovations, a commercialization enterprise focused on advancing health care through new medical technologies and biomedical discovery. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist employs more than 22,000 teammates, part of Advocate Health's 155,000 teammates. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist provided a record-setting $1.2 billion in community benefit in 2023, which includes unreimbursed care, financial assistance, education and research, and community health improvement. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X. 

About Health 360x:

Health 360x is a site management organization and digital platform, founded by globally renowned cardiologist Dr. Elizabeth Ofili, that addresses health inequities by tackling the fundamental barriers to African American, Latinx, and rural patients' participation in clinical research and regimen compliance. We prioritize the importance of trusted healthcare providers and communications that confront the historical mistrust of clinical research and the lack of access to the information that improves health and research literacy. Our solution infuses participant engagement with the appropriate intelligence and language gleaned from years of reaching and treating chronic illnesses within our community. Health 360x works with research site managers with industry experience and data quality expertise, who support protocol based training and ongoing mentorship of staff at all Health 360x research network sites. In addition, the Health 360x digital platform supports e-source capabilities as well as remote learning and engagement for clinical research coordinators at sites. Our model has been tested and proven in the context of the African American Heart Study, an industry-sponsored 5,000-participant research study looking at the association between lipoprotein(a) and heart disease in African Americans. The Health 360x research network of sites currently includes 35 sites, across 14 states. Learn more at: https://www.health360x.com/about.

About Southside Medical Center

Southside Medical Center was founded in 1967 as the Atlanta Southside Comprehensive Health Center. SMC has been nationally recognized by the National Association of Community Health Centers for having one of the best primary health care delivery systems for the medically underserved in the country. SMC has centers throughout Metro Atlanta in Norcross, East Point, Riverdale, Hampton and Forest Park. Southside Medical Center's vision is to set the standard in the provision of quality, affordable health care. Southside Medical Center is committed to providing exceptional primary health care and related services to the medically underserved of Metropolitan Atlanta. Learn more at https://southsidemedical.net

About Ocean Management Services

Ocean Management Services Organization LLC is a healthcare project management firm leveraging innovation, system optimization, and communication in the evolving healthcare space with a unique expertise and experience with federally qualified health centers (FQHC). We are dedicated to providing comprehensive project management services to healthcare organizations, ensuring the successful implementation of initiatives that enhance patient care and operational efficiency through value-based care. By doing this, our clients experience increased revenue, decreased risk, and increased impact and growth opportunities.  Our mission is to optimize systems, integrate innovative solutions, and facilitate seamless communication to support the unique needs of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and other healthcare entities. Learn more at https://oceanmso.com.

About University of Alabama at Birmingham Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center:

The UAB Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center (MHERC), established in 2002, generates and disseminates research knowledge from biomedical, behavioral, and social sciences to reduce the health disparities experienced by populations that are underrepresented in biomedical research. By aligning research, training, and community engagement, the MHERC advances scientific knowledge about the root causes of health inequalities and delivers real-world solutions to disadvantaged communities, locally, nationally and internationally. The MHERC is a University-Wide Interdisciplinary Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and has received sustained funding from National Institutes on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Cancer, Aging, Lung, Heart, and Blood, as well as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and U.S. Departments of Health & Human Services and Justice.

Contact: [email protected]     

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SOURCE Equitable Breakthroughs in Medicine Development (EQBMED)