The Lack of Representation in Medical Research: How DEI is the Solution

Authors

  • Nishel Narajos Glendora High School, alum of Stanford Pre-Collegiate Institutes
  • Benjamin Adubofour University of California Los Angeles, alum of Stanford Pre-Collegiate Institutes
  • Karime Montaño University of California Los Angeles, alum of Stanford Pre-Collegiate Institutes
  • Ava Schreier The Design and Technology Academy (DATA) at Theodore Roosevelt High School, alum of Stanford Pre-Collegiate Institutes

Abstract

Incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a founded necessity in modern scientific studies and is imperative to improving the health outcomes for people of all genders, ethnicities/races, sexual orientations, identities, etc. Some may see DEI as unnecessary to clinical trials and would rather allocate the time to pursuing the research rather than implement diversity into the patient sample. However, the results of the trial(s) are significantly skewed when neglecting to represent the whole population in the study. After researching three specific clinical trials, it is very likely that DEI is necessary for the further advancement of medicine.

Downloads

Published

2025-01-13

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 1 (2024)

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Intersect: The Stanford Journal of Science, Technology, and Society

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

    1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).