Q&A with Jameka Hill: Moderna's Commitment to Representative Diversity in Clinical Trials
In honor of Black History Month, we sat down with Jameka Hill, Head of Clinical Trial Health Equity at Moderna, to discuss the importance of representation in clinical trials and Moderna's commitment to helping ensure that people of all backgrounds have access to the promising medicines of tomorrow.
Q: Can you tell us about your role at Moderna and what inspired you to take this career path?
A: I lead the Clinical Trial Health Equity team at Moderna, where we work to ensure that our trials reflect the populations most impacted by the diseases we study—across age, sex and racial-ethnic backgrounds. This is critical to developing vaccines and medicines that are both safe and effective for all.
Historically, People of Color, women and older adults have been underrepresented in clinical trials, despite biological factors influencing how individuals respond to treatment.¹ At Moderna, we believe that increasing representation in clinical trials is essential to developing treatments that work for everyone, and we remain deeply committed to making inclusive healthcare a reality.
As a Black woman, I’ve seen firsthand how health disparities affect my community. I’m passionate about this work because I believe everyone deserves access to lifesaving medicines—regardless of their background.
Q: Why is inclusivity in clinical trials so important?
A: Inclusivity in clinical trials is a scientific imperative. Diseases can affect anyone, yet their impact varies based on each person’s unique genetic makeup, environmental context and lifestyle. Ensuring a representative group of participants in clinical trials means that we can better understand how a treatment works for everyone, leading to treatments that are safe and effective for a wide spectrum of individuals.²
Q: What are some of the barriers to ensuring representative diversity in clinical trials?
A: Several significant barriers hinder representation in clinical trials. Meaningful improvement requires understanding and directly addressing these obstacles.
Before the pandemic, most people had never heard of, much less participated in, a clinical trial. Recruiting clinical trial participants is notoriously difficult across all populations, and many challenges are universal. These include logistical barriers like scheduling, travel and finances, as well as low health literacy and concerns about potential risks and benefits.
However, reluctance remains highest in diverse populations, often due to a general distrust of healthcare institutions stemming from disinformation, mistreatment and past conduct in clinical trials worldwide.
This mistrust can make people hesitant to participate in clinical trials. This is a major challenge, as trust is hard to build and easy to destroy. Providing individuals with information that not only resonates, but also fosters a sense of engagement and trust, is essential.
Q: What are some of the strategies that Moderna is using to recruit and retain Black participants in clinical trials?
A: The Black community is not a monolith. To recruit and retain Black participants in clinical trials, we need to combat systemic exclusion, medical mistreatment and misinformation and a range of socioeconomic barriers. Understanding this, Moderna is committed to managing initiatives to build trust and ensure traditionally underrepresented groups can be better engaged in our trials through a variety of strategies.
Partnering with trusted community organizations and building relationships with community leaders: Awareness and trust are essential for increasing clinical trial participation. Community leaders and organizations play a crucial role in sharing information from trusted sources, helping to dispel misconceptions and foster understanding. We’ve also seen the impact of establishing pop-up clinics in accessible community spaces, making trial education more approachable and ensuring information reaches those who need it most.
Making it easier for people to participate in trials: We form strategic partnerships with retail pharmacies, deploy mobile units and pop-up clinics, and collaborate with numerous service providers. Our trials offer flexibility, including options like Saturday clinic hours or telehealth appointments, and we select trial sites with inclusion in mind. We also offer services like babysitting support to help participants reduce the burden of logistical barriers.
Support health literacy and languages: Offering patient facing materials, consent forms and trial support in native languages helps to improve one’s understanding about trial expectations.
Being transparent about our research and providing culturally competent care to our participants: We regularly report on our progress through our annual ESG Report which allows us to build confidence in our commitment to representative research.
Q: Moderna slowed enrollment in its COVID-19 vaccine trials to prioritize representation. Can you talk about that decision?
A: During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw firsthand the disproportionate impact the virus had on Communities of Color. We made a conscious decision to slow enrollment in our COVID-19 vaccine trials to prioritize representation. As a result, we achieved 37 percent participation of People of Color in our COVE study, significantly higher than the historical industry average.³
Making the decision to slow enrollment was not easy. It meant potentially delaying the availability of the vaccine. But we firmly believed that prioritizing representation was the right thing to do. We knew that if we didn't have participants from diverse backgrounds in our trials, we couldn't be confident that the vaccine was safe and would work the same for all populations.
I distinctly remember the organization-wide pride in our technology and work throughout the pandemic. For me, what’s even more meaningful is knowing that our commitment to increasing representative diversity in our clinical trial played a role in ensuring that historically marginalized and medically underserved communities were represented in our research during that uncertain time. That realization brought an immense sense of relief, joy and gratitude.
We at Moderna are incredibly proud of this and remain committed to building on this progress.
Q: What message would you like to share as we recognize Black History Month?
A: Moderna is developing medicines for everyone, and we realize we cannot maximize the potential of mRNA without ensuring that access to these medicines is inclusive of all populations. Our commitment to clinical trial health equity extends far beyond the borders of the United States. Black history is a rich and complex tapestry woven across continents and cultures—a global story of resilience, achievement and impact. As an organization operating clinical trials in more than 38 countries, we recognize the importance of addressing the unique needs of diverse communities around the world.
During Black History Month and every day, we honor the contributions of Black scientists, healthcare leaders and community advocates who pave the way for medical progress. Moderna is grateful for our community partners, research sites and clinical trial participants worldwide who are helping ensure that everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, age or location, has the opportunity to benefit from innovative medicines.
¹https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/resources/understanding-health-disparities/diversity-and-inclusion-in-clinical-trials.html “(last visited 1/29/25)
²Ibid.
³https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04470427