By Clinical Research News Staff 

May 6, 2026 | Among the shifting tides around DEI, people are finding creative ways to keep the momentum going for equitable clinical trials. Ramona Burress, co-founder of Onyx Health Collective, and Cassandra O’Neal, founder of Illuminated Arc Consulting, discuss a practical look at health equity in clinical trials in the latest episode of The Scope of Things.    

Their conversation gives a blunt insight: most sponsors understand the “what” of trial diversity, but struggle with the “how” of operationalizing health equity at scale.  

“I think most clinical trial sponsors know which communities they need to reach. They understand the regulatory expectations. They understand that patient experience data is becoming increasingly required across different health authorities,” says Burress. The issue isn’t that leaders don’t care, but they lack decision-grade intelligence that allows them to activate the right sites, invest at the right levels, and integrate community settings into development strategies, she states. 

The argument is that health equity must be embedded into an operating model with decision-grade intelligence, fit-for-purpose site selection, and community infrastructure that is treated as core, not external. Burress and O’Neal recommend borrowing proven tools from healthcare marketing like customer segmentation, moving beyond broad demographics into local context, social determinants of health, and how communities prefer to receive care and information. That leads to better protocol feasibility, better enrollment strategies, and stronger trial validity across populations. 

Execution, however, depends on where the work sits and who sponsors it. The guests describe the need for a neutral “Switzerland” inside companies, a place with influence across R&D, medical affairs, commercial, and corporate affairs.  

Medical affairs emerge as a powerful connector because it touches both clinical practice and drug development across the lifecycle, and can bring discipline to patient engagement using epidemiology, claims data, and measurable ROI.  

They also point to procurement as an overlooked lever for identifying authentic community partners and removing vendor barriers that keep smaller nonprofits, advocacy groups, and local leaders from participating. The takeaway for health equity strategy is clear: technology helps, but trust is built by showing up early, listening, and investing in leadership sponsorship that can remove obstacles and fund what works. 

To learn more about how AI in clinical trials reshape recruitment and evidence generation are, 23andMe’s GLP-1 report, and more, listen to The Scope of Things podcast.