Intro: The following SHSMD Podcast is a production of DoctorPodcasting.com.

Bill Klaproth (Host): On this edition of the SHSMD podcast, we talk about addressing the absence of diverse participation in clinical trials. Joining us is Benjamin Hill of the Mayo Clinic. Ben did a great case study for SHSMD, so let's learn more about Ben's case study. It's really interesting. You're going to learn a lot. Let's get to it, right now.

This is the SHSMD Podcast. Rapid insights for healthcare strategy professionals in planning, business development, marketing, communications, and public relations. I'm your host, Bill Klaproth. In this episode, we talk with Benjamin Hill, Chair Integrated Marketing and Demand Generation at the Mayo Clinic as we discuss his case study addressing the absence of diverse participation in clinical trials.

Ben, welcome to the SHSMD Podcast.

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: Hey, Bill. Thanks for having me.

Host: Hey, let's start this out with, I would love a, uh, first off, a summary overview of the case study you presented during SHSMD's PR Com course in 2023, so we're all on the same page as we start out.

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: Yeah, great. No, glad to have a chance to talk about it. Before I jump into the case study, just a quick background for the listeners. We've made remarkable progress here in this country in the fight against cancer, 70 percent of the people who were diagnosed with cancer will now live five or more years, 47 percent will live 10 or more years. However, by 2040, 60 percent of the cancer deaths in this country will be in diverse, underrepresented populations with difficult to treat cancers. So to address that challenge, we need diverse participation in clinical trials. For a variety of reasons, diverse populations are underrepresented in clinical trials.

The case study discusses strategies for increasing underrepresented populations' participation in clinical trials, primarily focusing on the communication barriers that exist that keep them from participating in trials. Secondarily, the case looked at the benefit of using generative AI to provide basic marketing and communication frameworks.

Host: So you mentioned there's a strategy then that you put together after learning what you learned in the case study for improving underrepresented populations. Since presenting the case study then, were you able to implement any changes in your organization or day to day work? And if you could, let us in on some of those strategies.

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: Some of the work that we were able to implement as a result of the work that was done, one, was the establishment of community partnerships, facilitated the development of multi year partnerships with community leaders and organizations that actually serve and are in the communities that those underrepresented populations live in.

We also identified the value of using ongoing market research. We conducted about 18 different studies to understand the needs of these populations. And those studies are not just for the marketing communications, but they're being used by the clinical practice and the research practices to further their effort.

We've also implemented changes around enhancing our community engagement and outreach. As an academic medical center, we're not always necessarily as engaged with the communities that we serve, especially with Mayo Clinic serving a national audience. And so that was a key lesson that came out of and a change in how we actually engage with those partnerships in those communities.

Host: Yeah, so community partnerships, that makes sense. And you talked about ongoing research as well. I'm curious, what did you learn along the way? Were there key takeaways or something that surprised you in a wow moment? Something you learned that, wow, I didn't expect this, but look at this. Can you share any info like that that you gained by going through this process?

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: Yeah, so we talked about the community partnerships and really recognizing that that's crucial. We can't just show up, announce who we are, and expect to have, engage with those populations. So that was one. Second thing that really came out from the research and working closely with the community partners was the importance of culturally competent communication.

Tailoring our communications messages and strategies to be more culturally sensitive and accessible for the various diverse audiences. Literally things like making sure that they can see themselves in the imagery that were used when we're working with them in the communities. The other things that we've learned, more emphasizing what we already knew, but integrated marketing approaches really work best.

We utilized a combination as a result of the research and strategies of digital, social media, traditional media, and events to create a very robust marketing mix that effectively reached that target demographic. This multiple touchpoint approach, allowed us to reach the potential participants reinforcing messages and encouraging them to join our clinical trials.

It further emphasized the importance of data driven strategies. Before we went off and did anything, we really spent the time to understand who was coming to Mayo Clinic, what were they looking to achieve, what barriers were they seeing, as well as with the research studies to really drive our marketing strategies and recommendations from a data driven perspective.

I would say that I mentioned secondarily about the use of generative AI. Kind of as a side note on this, case study, we use generative AI to generate marketing frameworks and communication strategies. And what we were doing sideways was looking at what the AI tools were generating versus what our expert practitioners were generating, and they were surprisingly pretty, pretty close. So that actually gave us a lot of confidence that in the future we could leverage generative AI to help generate what I would call the scaffolding for future marketing strategies and plans.

Host: So you mentioned competent communications, integrated marketing, digital, social events, and really understanding who you're talking to, very important. And then really interesting, generative AI. Do you think this is kind of a roadmap for anyone who wants to address the absence of diverse participation in clinical trials?

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: We can scale and move a lot faster but it does start with understanding the audiences that we're trying to reach deeply. It has to start there and using that information to feed into something like an AI tool to quickly accelerate. Now, once you get the outcome of that, you're going to need people who understand that, to actually make it work better.

But I think there's a lot of opportunity here, data driven, informed, marketing strategies, communication strategies that we can use the AI tools to help, help us be more effective in a faster and more cost efficient way.

Host: So, knowing what you know now, Ben, and looking at this process, would you make any changes moving forward?

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: You know, Bill, I think there's a couple things I would do. Given the um, results that we have with kind of some of the generative AI tools, I might leverage the use of AI a little bit sooner, you know there. Ah clearly other things that we've learned out of there about the need for better measurement capabilities. We need better understanding about what's working and not working there. Definitely would get into expanding the community partnerships a lot sooner. Those take long, a longer time to actually build. And clearly, I think, given the nature of who we're trying to reach in this space, we need more frequent and deeper cultural competency training on the part of all of us who are attempting to engage and reach these audiences to enroll them in clinical trials.

Host: So Ben, overall, do you think that's where we're lacking in this area, is mainly the competent communications, like you said earlier, you mentioned that first. Is that what we're really missing? Is that marketing communications aspect?

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: I think that's one aspect, Bill. Again, there's a wide range of factors as to why those populations do not participate in the in clinical trials. A lot of history there. Communications can aid that, but really the most important aspect is really engaging with people, meeting them where they are in their communities, which is why we emphasize the community engagement aspect of it.

But communications is critical. And both in terms of how we represent the value of clinical trials, why clinical trials are important. We also have to overcome the fear of clinical trials in certain populations. So, it's a very important aspect, but it's one component of many things that are keeping people from participating in clinical trials with these populations.

Host: So, Ben, for someone that wants to follow in your footsteps and emulate what you did, where would they start? What's the first thing to do?

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: I think it starts with, on this particular project, I think it starts with really advocating for a deeper understanding of the audiences that we're trying to reach. Whether that's a diverse audience or just your normal audience that you're trying to accomplish. A lot of times we tend to think we understand what people are thinking about and feeling about and the research really showed that there were areas we did not know.

Kind of, I know this is the SHSMD podcast, but I would put up a little bit of a plug in for the SHSMD training. I thought that the Communications course was really helpful in terms of, uh, helping us understand our, deepen our strategic thinking and planning skills. So anybody who's interested in that, I'd advocate that they also take advantage of what SHSMD has to offer.

Host: Well, Ben, this has really been fascinating. I want to thank you so much for your time. Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to add?

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: I didn't mention as much about the results of the activity. I will tell the audience there, we've made significant progress as a result of implementing this strategy, as well as other aspects working with the rest of our partners at Mayo Clinic. It's clearly not just a marketing communication success story, but we've achieved the highest level of cancer accrual of patients to clinical trials from these populations; 20 percent above our plan for what we originally intended to do.

So by working in partnership with the rest of the clinical and research and education practices and really taking that data informed, culturally competent communications perspective, we've actually seen pretty significant results and are very pleased with that.

Host: Absolutely. Great thoughts. Well, Ben, thank you so much for your time. This has really been interesting. We appreciate it.

Benjamin Hill, MBA, MS: Yeah appreciate you and thank you for having me on to talk a little bit about this exciting and important issue in this case study.

Host: Absolutely, and Ben, thank you once again, and join SHSMD's Foundation for Public Relations and Communications in Healthcare Settings online course to learn more and develop your own case study. Just go to shsmd.org, that's S-H-S-M-D.org/education. And make sure you join us at SHSMD Connections 2024 this October in Denver. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And please hit the subscribe or follow button to get every episode. This has been a production of DoctorPodcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. See ya!