Esther Krofah is the executive vice president of Milken Institute Health, leading FasterCures, Public Health, the Future of Aging, and Feeding Change. She has extensive experience managing efforts to unite diverse stakeholders to solve critical issues and achieve shared goals that improve patients’ lives.
Participation in clinical research among racial and ethnic minorities remains low, even though such groups now represent nearly 40 percent of the US population. Health disparities were laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic, with ethnic and racial minorities significantly underrepresented in early vaccine trials despite being disproportionally impacted by the disease. As a 2022 National Academies report stated, “The lack of equitable representation in clinical trials compounds disparities in health and will cost the United States hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Despite decades of work and recent progress—including passage of the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2023, which established legislative mandates for increasing clinical trial diversity—there remains a need for collective action across sectors and organizations to align on goals for system-wide, sustainable change. To that end, members of the four organizations with established leadership in advancing diversity in clinical trials—the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), FasterCures, the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard (MRCT Center), and the National Academies Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation—coordinated a series of convenings in 2023 to establish a path toward increased diversity in clinical trials.
This report details the actions organizations and sectors from across the enterprise can take to create a clinical trials enterprise that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible to all.
FasterCures’ work, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, identified numerous challenges in both the publicly and privately funded research ecosystems that make it difficult for established players to sustain and scale efforts to move research...
June 24, 2024 (Washington, DC)— Clinical trials can provide the possibility to obtain novel treatments for conditions and diseases that are not yet commercially available. Yet, these lifesaving treatments are often difficult or impossible...
Paul Guequierre is the director of strategic communications. In this role, he works to increase the profile of Milken Institute in the media, raise the visibility of issues important to the organization and its stakeholders, and expand the Institute's digital presence.
Lauren K. Roth Associate Commissioner for Policy Food and Drug Administration 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061 Rockville, MD 20852 Dear Ms. Roth, FasterCures is pleased to respond to the Request for Comments on the FDA Draft Guidance for the...
Clinical trials have been used for decades as the primary way by which researchers determine if a new treatment is safe and effective for human use. Within the biomedical research ecosystem, participants in clinical trials often do not...
As part of the debut of the Milken Institute’s Project Prevent initiative in 2024, the Institute conducted a series of interviews with 35 key stakeholders and experts in health, finance, philanthropy, pensions, and public policy to explore...
Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research US Food and Drug Administration Silver Spring, MD 20993 Dr. Peter Marks Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research US Food and Drug Administration Silver...
Esther Krofah is the executive vice president of Milken Institute Health, leading FasterCures, Public Health, the Future of Aging, and Feeding Change. She has extensive experience managing efforts to unite diverse stakeholders to solve critical issues and achieve shared goals that improve patients’ lives.
FasterCures has long been at the forefront of shaping the national focus on biomedical innovation, with a singular goal of saving lives by accelerating scientific advances for all patients. FasterCures has been instrumental in advocating...
Dr. Richard Pazdur Director Oncology Center of Excellence US Food and Drug Administration Beltsville, MD 20705 Dr. Michelle Tarver Acting Director Center for Devices and Radiological Health US Food and Drug Administration Silver Spring, MD...
Comment Letter: Action Plans to Improve Diversity in Clinical Studies
Esther Krofah is the executive vice president of Milken Institute Health, leading FasterCures, Public Health, the Future of Aging, and Feeding Change. She has extensive experience managing efforts to unite diverse stakeholders to solve critical issues and achieve shared goals that improve patients’ lives.
The FasterCures team at the Milken Institute is honored to provide its response to the Request for Comments on Optimizing the Food and Drug Administration’s Use of and Processes for Advisory Committees; Public Meeting; Request for Comments...
Esther Krofah is the executive vice president of Milken Institute Health, leading FasterCures, Public Health, the Future of Aging, and Feeding Change. She has extensive experience managing efforts to unite diverse stakeholders to solve critical issues and achieve shared goals that improve patients’ lives.