Speaker: Oliver Grundmann
Why participating in the ACCP Inclusivity, Diversity & Equity (IDE) Committee matters to me.
Hello and welcome. My name is Oliver Grundmann and I am a Clinical Professor at the University of Florida as well as the Secretary of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. As a member of the A C C P I D E Committee, what is really important to me is equity in all areas of clinical pharmacology. This is important as we look at the drug development process and involve all stakeholders during the drug development process in making a drug equally accessible to all patient populations that have the condition. This may sometimes mean that we have to consider the particular makeup of our patient population when we even design the medicine. If somebody in Africa for example, wherein South America suffers from the condition, we need to make sure that that medication is available to that population. Furthermore equity also means that we need to provide access to clinical pharmacology to those who need that knowledge, healthcare professionals. No matter if that's pharmacists in the clinical practice setting, researchers in the drug development setting or regulatory affairs professionals who are working to ensure the safety and availability of a drug when it is marketed, especially when it comes to clinical trials. It is important to realize that we need to keep the patient population with the condition in mind. That sometimes means to identify barriers for clinical trial enrollment for underrepresented populations, improving data collection and data quality for underrepresented populations in clinical trials, employing innovative strategies in the clinical trial process as well as training and education and communication methods to increase clinical trial enrollment for underrepresented populations. Underrepresented populations here can be based on sex, race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status and other factors that are important. And it's not only limited to collecting data within the U S, where we have certain underrepresented populations, but also in other countries around the world. Because we need to keep in mind that these populations will also benefit from the medication. Increasing training for diverse clinical trial investigators and researchers also starts or should involve communicating effectively with those in the community that are the target of the medication or that we want to be included and have equitable access to clinical trials. That is what equity means to me when it comes to the clinical pharmacology setting. Thank you and I look forward to working with all of you together in making I D E a central paradigm in clinical pharmacology.
