What We Do
People from African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) communities have less access to advanced treatments, like cell or organ transplant compared to White patients. ACB communities are also under-represented among regenerative medicine researchers and specialists. Finally, there is a lack of culturally responsive and safe information about these therapies for ACB communities, which creates additional barriers. These inequities represent social injustice and pose ethical and public health concerns. In this project we focus on starting to build trusting relationships, mutual understanding, and efficient communication between ACB communities and professionals in the field of regenerative medicine.
There are many unanswered questions about the epidemiology and impact of chronic medical conditions in ACB communities, in part due to the lack of race-based health data. Our recent quantitative and qualitative research, however, demonstrated that inequities exist in accessing various aspects of optimal health and healthcare for patients from these communities. Our research has also demonstrated that mistrust, based on historic and personal experiences with racism and discrimination, unmet need for respecting cultural norms, lack of established relationships and socioeconomic and cultural factors create barriers for accessing healthcare for patients from these communities. In response, ACB community organisations and professionals are working towards systemic change, towards more equitable access to care and to best outcomes, to offer the option of culturally safe Afro-centric healthcare.
The first step in our project to build trusting relationships and efficient communication between ACB communities and research and clinical communities about regenerative medicine and living therapies involves virtual workshops. These workshops will involve broad community participation, during which local and international leaders will review the state of the art, goals, and questions of the regenerative medicine community. Break-out rooms will allow for ACB communities to discuss their perspectives. See below for upcoming workshop dates and information about our presenters.
Our Workshops
Be sure to check out the recap of our first set of online workshops that took place in February, November and December 2023.
