Diversity in Research: A New Look at an Old Problem

Date of Award

2023

Degree Name

Ed.D. in Leadership for Organizations

Department

Department of Educational Administration

Advisor/Chair

James Olive

Abstract

Historically minorities have been underrepresented in research studies and new research has emerged describing how important it is to diversify the research pool in genomics especially and to provide equitable treatment to all people. My goal was to examine current programs at a local hospital that is an advocate for children’s well-being and strives to be the voice for public policies surrounding health, safety, and security for all children. This hospital is dedicated to research that develops treatments and cures for children and they are customer focused and determined to make families their top priority. Within this hospital, I examined research studies from a progressive translational department that has flourished over the past five years. This department has paved the way in patient disease management, has refined diagnoses, has provided information on prognosis, and has assessed genomic profiles for possible enrollment on clinical trials or use of targeted therapies. This department unfortunately has the same issues of under-enrolling diverse populations, therefore semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare workers intimately involved in these studies to provide insights into how this historic problem can be changed.

Keywords

Diversity, genomics, research, healthcare, communication

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2023, Author

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