Sanofi, a global healthcare company, has awarded a combined $18 million grant to three historically Black medical schools to increase diversity in clinical trials. By gaining insight into how diseases affect populations of different backgrounds, the grant project aims to reduce the persisting racial health disparities in the United States.
Over the next 10 years, the funding will be used to hire clinical research staff, enhance online services and pharmacy infrastructure, and create training programs at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, the College of Medicine at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.
“At Sanofi, our mission is to chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives, and this means all people’s lives, regardless of their race or ethnicity,” said Lionel Bascles, senior vice president and global head of clinical trials and operations at Sanofi. “By partnering with these three esteemed historically Black college and university medical schools, we hope to facilitate new inroads to communities that have been underrepresented in healthcare for far too long. Increasing diversity and inclusion is essential to the research and development of medicines and vaccines for people of all backgrounds.”
