American Society of Hematology Recommends Embedding DEI Into Clinical Trials

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has decided the next frontier for DEI is clinical research.

In 2023, ASH launched the ASH DEI Toolkit for Clinical Trial Sponsors. The goal of the guide is “to help trial sponsors incorporate DEI principles throughout the trial life cycle.”

While some of the recommendations are fairly anodyne and have a plausible basis in an attempt to improve trial design, others are nakedly ideological. The guide recommends trial sponsors employ a “diverse workforce,” and that committees reviewing the trial do so not just for safety and scientific ethics but for “justice principles” as well. These recommendations mirror guidance from the National Institutes of Health, which also has pushed for DEI and racially discriminatory policies in grant applications.

The guide also recommends relaxing inclusion and exclusion criteria to allow for a more “diverse” pool of trial participants, despite the detrimental effects this could have on research.

“For example, in eligibility criteria, avoid unnecessarily strict organ function, or eligibility tests. For exclusion criteria, avoid nonspecific and potentially biased terms such as ‘unacceptable’ or ‘uncontrolled’ where more specific definitions can be used.”

ASH has been quite explicit in its endorsement of the DEI agenda, and has previously taken other steps to embed these discriminatory principles into the medical profession.

For instance, ASH offered a medical student award to “Indigenous American Indians or Alaska Natives, Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, African Canadians, Inuit, and First Nation Peoples.” Notably absent, of course, are whites and Asians.

The priority of those designing a clinical trial should obviously be the safety of the participants and then the integrity of the trial design itself. “Justice principles” really shouldn’t factor into it all, and ASH’s attempts to use clinical trials as a vehicle for DEI is misguided at best, and dangerous at worst.

Some of ASH’s recommendations, such as prioritizing a diverse workforce, could end up resulting in less capable researchers manning the helm.

At the end of the day, safety and integrity, not DEI, should be the key focus of clinical research.