Social Health Research Bridges the Healthcare Divide
A one size fits all approach doesn’t work when bridging healthcare gaps because community and individual patient needs differ.
At Social Health Research, we work side-by-side with community stakeholders, not just physicians, everyone from clergy to childcare providers. We listen, ask the right questions, analyze responses, and define barriers. SHR also employs social media, best-in-class software, and artificial intelligence platforms. We tailor community–led strategies for companies to tackle obstacles preventing healthcare access.
Our action plans help healthcare providers, researchers, venture capital firms, start-ups, and corporate clients efficiently bridge delivery gaps. Our designs include telemedicine visits with HCPs, partnerships for preventive screening and diagnostic testing, patient literacy, public health and continuing medical education, medical device integration, and remote monitoring of patients with chronic diseases.
Social Health Research founder and CEO, Joe Luzi, says breaking health equity barriers isn't easy, but the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us the devastation and loss of life that can happen when people are left out. "Social Health Research celebrates diversity and inclusion within our culture. The success of healthcare depends upon it. Everyone deserves quality healthcare regardless of age, sex, gender identification, skin color, or where you live."
“We will use technology and innovation to uncover underlying problems, define community needs, and create unique solutions. We’ll continually monitor and measure our successes in expanding access to healthcare. This is our commitment to promoting health equity and reducing barriers to healthcare access.”
-Joe Luzi - Founder,CEO
Social Health Research 2023
Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials
Increasing diversity in clinical trials is essential to improving health outcomes among people of color and other underrepresented US groups. It’s also critical to getting new treatments to these populations and building public trust. Distrust of the healthcare industry by marginalized communities is directly related to decades of being underserved, structural racism, and bias.
While in recent years, more women have chosen to participate in clinical trials, enrollment of racial and ethnic minorities remains unacceptably low.
Most clinical trial participants are also middle-to-upper-income wage earners, even though diseases tend to occur more and be more severe among lower-income patients. As senators, Susan Collins and Robert Menendez put it when they introduced the bi-partisan NIH Clinical Trial Diversity Act, “Racial and ethnic minorities—particularly African Americans—bear the greatest cancer burden in the United States, so they should be adequately represented in cancer research.”
-US Senators Collins and Menendez
The US Food and Drug Administration has issued draft guidelines for enrolling more participants from underrepresented populations. The guidelines state that “Medical product development programs should consider both the clinical and demographic factors that impact the generalizability of study results with respect to the patient population that will use the product once it is approved.”
A new mandate included in the 2023 omnibus spending legislation requires all pharmaceutical companies to submit a diversity action plan as part of the new drug development process.
By helping the healthcare industry connect with underrepresented communities, Social Health Research promotes inclusion and health equity, improves the quality of biopharmaceutical research, and increases our clients’ profits.
