Cinema Paradiso: Clinical trials The Heart and Soul of Science

 

 

 

For all the conversation about the need to increase awareness of opportunities to participate in clinical research — and even more crucially, to diversify the cohort of trial participants — few efforts have pushed those goals in a manner that’s clever or creative. That’s why we’re very much on board with “Clinical Trials: The Heart and Soul of Science,” an animated short that plays up the importance of clinical research while acknowledging the history of racism in medicine. 

The short, produced by the Louisiana Community Engagement Alliance against COVID-19 Disparities and the health educators at NoiseFilter, shares information about the workings of the trial process and details the many scientific breakthroughs that have emerged from clinical research. The creators had the good sense to bring in Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans, to voice her animated self.

Clinical trials are the foundation of scientific research, but they can be hard to understand. 

Two doctors join Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans, to explain how clinical trials work, illustrate how these studies play a vital role in our daily lives, and confront the history of structural racism in medicine.

LA-CEAL is led by academic partners at Tulane University and Xavier University of Louisiana and funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH).