Is the long shadow of the infamous Tuskegee experiments still haunting minority research today?
I think it’s there, but it is not as much of a deterrent. I don’t know if the average patient knows about Tuskegee, but it always comes up as an issue in clinical trial recruitment of minority populations. It’s clear that educated, historically astute physicians and ministers who serve minorities are very much aware of Tuskegee and know about President Clinton’s apology, etc. That is not missed on the better informed minority individual. I think the important issue is that the potential study participant has to be assured first of privacy. In the same way that they are protective of their elders’ cognitive problems, they don’t want it known in their social setting that they have a family member who is having problems. In contrast, I think in the white community, although there also may be some reluctance, there are clear examples of people who have been brave enough to talk about their dementia openly, to not try to hide it. You have the role models of Ronald Reagan, for instance, or R
