Abstract Title Analyzing Recruitment Methods to Increase Diversity in Biobank Collections

Background Biospecimen collection has played an integral role in research by storing valuable data and tissue samples from both patients with diseases, such as cancer and HIV, as well as healthy control specimens for comparison. The results of these studies shed light on the pathogenic processes of diseases, provide risk stratification, validate new diagnostic tools, and develop targeted pharmacotherapies. Including diverse samples from various races, ethnicities, and backgrounds is essential to increase the generalizability of the results of these studies. Traditional university research participants are typically recruited from the student body and surrounding area, which may not accurately represent the demographics of the local population. Our objective was to create a tissue bank from healthy individual blood samples that is representative of the San Antonio, Texas population for use in future research and analyze traditional university research recruitment methods.

Methods Traditional methods of university recruitment at UT Health San Antonio using campus fliers, posters, emails, and class announcements were implemented. 311 individuals were screened and a total of 101 participants were enrolled. Participants self-reported a medical history without significant health conditions and provided basic demographic information. Tissue samples were acquired from blood draws and then allocated for storage in the repository. Participant demographic data was compared to the 2020 U.S. Census San Antonio population using the chi-squared test.

Results There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) from the expected San Antonio demographics and the recruited participants of racial groups (“White/Caucasian”, “Black or African American”, “Asian”, “Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander”, and “Other”) and ethnic groups (“Hispanic/Latino” and “Not Hispanic or Latino”) except for “American Indian/Alaskan Native” (Expected: 2, Actual 2). There was an overrepresentation of participants who identified as “White/Caucasian” (Expected: 61, Enrolled: 78), “Asian” (Expected: 5, Enrolled: 14), and “Not Hispanic or Latino” (Expected: 37, Enrolled: 58). There was an underrepresentation of those who identified as “Black or African American” (Expected: 10, Enrolled: 3) and “Hispanic/Latino” (Expected: 64, Actual 42). Most participants reported “White/Caucasian” (83%).

Conclusion Advertising research opportunities in universities is an effective way of increasing enrollment at the cost of diversity. The consequences of utilizing tissue samples from a limited demographic could have significant impacts for minorities. To increase the recruitment of the underrepresented, researchers suggest the use of social media, radio advertisements, health fairs, flea markets, churches, community centers, and translated fliers.