Mallory Chavannes, M.D., M.H.Sc., FRCPC, FAAP, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), has received the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials: Career Development Award, which aims to increase the diversity of patients enrolled in clinical trials and enhance development of therapeutics for all populations. Chavannes specializes in the digestive system and diseases that affect the gastrointestinal tract, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in patients between six and 17 years old.
“In the IBD literature, clinical trials tend to focus on children of European descent or other Caucasian populations,” said Dr. Chavannes, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine of USC. “Although about 60% of the children we see in our clinics are from Hispanic or other non-white backgrounds, those populations are not well represented.”
Because of a lack of racial and ethnic participation in trials, researchers may not learn whether treatments could be less effective for some groups.
“This grant will help us develop a framework on how to approach patients and propose the best projects that would ensure that a diverse population enrolls at the start so that we can see more representation within clinical trials and more generalizable results,” Chavannes added…
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