Sylvia Baedorf Kassis, MPH, CYT, Program Manager, Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard

Moderator: Laurie Myers, MBA, Global Health Literacy Director, Merck & Co

In April 2018, the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard (MRCT Center) convened a workgroup of diverse stakeholders—including patients and representatives from industry, academia, foundations, patient advocacy groups, nonprofit organizations, and government entities—to examine the issue of health literacy in clinical research. Over 18 months, the workgroup identified the challenges that low health literacy presents within the clinical research environment. In response, the workgroup developed and curated content to harness the opportunities that two-way communication can have when integrated throughout the entire clinical research life cycle. The workgroup designed targeted resources to help primary writers and reviewers of participant-facing materials, including funders, sponsors, investigators and their study teams, institutional review board members, and ethics committees. Join us for this session where practical guidance and the resulting toolkit will be shared.

Learning objectives:

• Explain the importance of health literacy to the clinical trial process
• Understand the tools available to make participant-facing materials more literate
• Employ the tools in practice