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NIH Participates in Hispanic/Latino Community Consultation Meeting This past June, representatives from NIH and other Federal agencies joined 75 opinion leaders and experts from Hispanic/Latino communities across the United States to explore a range of issues related to human genetic research and their significance to Hispanic/Latino populations. Considered a groundbreaking conference, the "Hispanic/Latino Genetics Community Consultation Network (HLGCCN) Summit," was a direct outgrowth of a meeting organized by NIGMS in September 2000 at which NIH solicited input on genetic research from diverse communities. At that meeting, members of the Hispanic/Latino community expressed interest in hosting their own community consultation meeting. In addition to the participants who gathered at the 2-day summit in Washington, DC, a larger group of Hispanics and Latinos across the country played a role by completing pre-meeting surveys to help identify key topics for discussion. During the meeting, participants drafted action plans to address matters ranging from engaging Hispanics and Latinos in genetic research to overcoming cultural barriers to the effective use of existing health care services. The meeting was coordinated by Redes En Acción (Networks in Action), a special populations network of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. In addition to NCI, NIGMS and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) sponsored the meeting. Several top NIH officials participated in the summit, including NIH Deputy Director Dr. Raynard S. Kington, NCI Director Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, NHGRI Director Dr. Francis S. Collins, and Acting NIGMS Director Dr. Judith H. Greenberg. Kington acknowledged that, despite tremendous improvements in health in the United States during the past century, large health disparities remain across subpopulations. "Communities of color must not simply watch and complain, but [must] be active partners with scientific communities through such activities as this summit," he said. von Eschenbach echoed the need for Hispanics and Latinos to be active collaborators in ongoing research. "I need youyour advice, your guidance, your leadership, your contributionsas well as heavy lifting to raise the opportunities for research," he said. "We will do everything possible to maintain the summit's momentum," said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, associate professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and principal investigator of Redes En Acción and the HLGCCN. "We expect to achieve this through dissemination of reports on the proceedings, personal contact with decision makers, and … future regional community consultation meetings," Ramirez said. "Latinos want to be part of the solutions and also to benefit from these scientific discoveries, today and for our future generations," she added. NIGMS' Greenberg pledged NIGMS' support to this effort. "The one thing I can promise you is that this will not be the last meeting like this. We are committed to follow-up," she said. |
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