Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Personalized Medicine: A Panel Discussion on How Personalized Medicine Can Improve Care for Diverse Patient Populations

On April 22, 2021, the Personalized Medicine Coalition convened a diverse panel of leaders from across the health care spectrum for a virtual discussion on topics related to health equity and personalized medicine. To further the cause of personalized medicine, the panelists explained, health care decision-makers must build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive biomedical research enterprise. Doing so, they emphasized, is the only way to ensure that physicians and patients have reliable evidence about the ways in which various health care interventions may affect subsets of heterogenous patient populations.

The panelists also noted that personalized medicine calls for clinical interactions tailored more closely to patients’ circumstances, preferences, and cultural backgrounds.

“How we frame things has to be from the viewpoint of the person that is being served,” said one panelist. “That is why personalized medicine is the answer.”

How would health care for historically underserved patient populations look if key decision-makers stood four-square behind personalized medicine?

A diverse group of health care leaders will discuss.