FAMU CoPPS, IPH Receives $700K Grant to Increase Awareness and Participation of Minorities in COVID-19 Variant Clinical Research Trials

CoPPS, IPH Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs Jocelyn D. Spates, PharmD, is the principal investigator

Florida A&M University (FAMU) College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health (CoPPS, IPH) has received a $707,000 research grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The one-year grant, “COVID-19 and Health Equity Clinical Trials,” will focus on identifying the significant gaps in local communities that contribute to the low enrollment of racial and ethnic minority populations in COVID-19 clinical trials by developing and evaluating a community-based targeted strategy to improve enrollment. It will also provide clinical research training for 30 minority health care providers and workers in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Tallahassee.

“In this historic moment, I am extremely proud to lead this team of researchers on this important initiative,” said CoPPS, IPH Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs Jocelyn D. Spates, PharmD, the principal investigator. “Our major goal is to develop a workable model to increase awareness and participation of minorities in COVID-19 variant clinical research trials.”

This grant award marks the first time a pharmacy practice faculty has been the principal investigator (PI) on a U01 grant in the College. A U01 grant supports discrete, specified, circumscribed projects performed by investigators in an area representing their specific interests and competencies.

There are also 10 co-investigators from the other three divisions of the College (Pharmaceutical Sciences, Economic, Social and Administrative Pharmacy (ESAP), and the Institute of Public Health) are represented including Selina Darling-Reed, Ph.D., Sandra Suther, Ph.D., and CoPPS, IPH Associate Dean and IPH Director Cynthia Harris, Ph.D.

As part of the project, which began on April 1, CoPPS, IPH will retain five consulting organizations to aid in conducting focus groups, implementing training and clinical trial strategies that focus on and address the needs of each unique racial and ethnic minority community to improve clinical trial participation. The consultants on this project include Kim Barbel-Johnson, MD, Rebecca Golfaden, PharmD of East Coast Research Institute, Northeast Florida Medical Society, William Gunns Medical Society, Turner Alliance Consulting, and other community health educators.