Narrowing The Gap in Black Breast Health with Touch Co-Founders Ricki Fairley And Valarie Worthy
The United States has a troubling history of black bodies being used as experimental subjects for new drugs or medical treatments. Though the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 was created to require the inclusion of women and minorities in clinical trials funded by the NIH, Black participation in clinical trials still trails far below the overall demographic makeup of the US. While mistrust of medical research and clinical trials among many black people still exists, exacerbated by medical racism, which affects the extent to which black patients are exposed to and able to access clinical trials.
In this episode of the Health EquiTEA Podcast, Dr. Jallicia Jolly and Dr. Ijeoma Kola highlight the overlap between Black underrepresentation in clinical trials and the disproportionate impact of Breast cancer in Black women. Black women have been advocating and organizing for better breast cancer treatment and utilizing a multidisciplinary and multipronged approach to breast health, such as 3D mammograms and breast ultrasounds. However, systemic racism and structural factors still limit access to quality care and increase the allostatic reload, which is the biological impact of chronic environmental challenges that trigger stress signals over a lifetime.
Breast cancer survivors Ricki Fairley and Valarie Worthy, the co-founders of Touch, the Black Breast Cancer Alliance, join the Health EquiTEA podcast to discuss their mission to increase Black women's participation in breast cancer clinical trials. Through their organization, Farley and Worthy are working to reduce racial inequities in breast cancer outcomes by increasing access to advanced treatment and life-saving quality care for Black women, while also promoting Black breast health awareness in younger generations.
Key Episode Moments
0:00:09 — Exploring Black Breast Health and Clinical Trial Participation
0:03:20 — Racial Inequities in Breast Cancer Outcomes and Access to Treatment for Black Women
0:09:17 — How Valarie and Ricky’s Survivor Stories and Career Paths Shaped Touch’s Work
0:20:29 — Challenging the Medical Ecosystem to Achieve Health Equity
0:25:42 — Leveraging Civic Organizations and Faith-Based Communities to Increase Breast Cancer Awareness
0:27:11 — Promoting Breast Cancer Awareness Through Community Engagement and HBCU Internships
0:33:57 — Empowering Black Communities to Participate in Clinical Trials
0:42:22 — Differentiating Between Black Breast Health and Black Breast Cancer
0:49:23 — Strategies for Engaging with Different Communities to Increase Clinical Trial Participation
0:56:45 — For the Love of My Gurls Campaign: Intergenerational Work to Increase Breast Health Awareness Among Black Women Under 35
1:03:37 — The Future of Black Breast Health
Additional Reading, Resources, and References
TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance
For the Love of My Gurls — breast health resources for women under 35
