Written by Ellyn Getz and Phyllis Kaplan
egetz@ciscrp.org
pkaplan@ciscrp.org
In 2020, the AWARE for All program experienced an abrupt and drastic transfer from a live-educational event model to a completely virtual engagement program. The CISCRP team shifted quickly to create accessible and meaningful virtual programs to educate the public about clinical research participation and address concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine.
AWARE for All gathered great visibility as a fully virtual engagement program. Over 60% of our health fair visitors and webinar attendees represented public and patient communities. We also hosted over 30 exhibitors per virtual health fair. In addition, each of the five campaigns that participated shared educational content with over 700,000 people through creative marketing and communication strategies.
CISCRP was proud to work with the AWARE Industry Consortium, a team of ten leading pharmaceutical companies and clinical research service providers. The team also includes local advocacy and research groups to assist in leading this national outreach campaign. We are so excited to build on this momentum in 2021.
Year 2 of the AWARE Industry Consortium will continue to focus energy and resources on community-based education. Our main focus will be to increase clinical research literacy and engage with diverse communities around the world. Consortium members include Biogen, CSL Behring, EMD Serono, Genentech, IQVIA, Janssen, Novartis, Otsuka, Pfizer, and WCG. And this year, we plan to finetune our approach to expand our reach and leverage the benefits of virtual education.
Here are the most notable adaptions in 2021 with hopes to host in-person programs again in 2022:
- Information exhibit center…in virtual reality. The team partnered with Illumina Interactive to build a virtual health fair, mimicking as close as possible the experience of an in-person exhibit hall. This virtual experience was recognized by a Platinum eHealthcare Leadership award and the OMNI Awards in the Health and Fitness and Non-Profit categories. Our plan is to include one national health fair with add-on regions, share participant stories, and have a health and wellness pavilion.
- A city-specific approach to a regional focus. Taking advantage of the virtual environment, the events will be spread out over five regions across the United States, something we have never done before. This expanded focus should reach over 10 million people!
- 2 to 3 therapeutic areas will be featured at each event. We will feature 2 to 3 therapeutic areas or medical conditions per event. This will help increase engagement with those who have a special interest in these areas.
- Our 2-hour webinar will be shortened to 90 minutes. Virtual fatigue is something that has to now be considered, and it is no joke! We have decided to shorten the event to 90 minutes to avoid this.
We invite you to join us as we take AWARE for All virtually on the road to these regions:
- AWARE — Northeast: April 15th
- AWARE — Northwest: May 20th
- AWARE — Midwest: July 22nd
- AWARE — Southwest: October 21st
- AWARE — Southeast: November 18th
Registration details are posted on the CISCRP events website.
If you are interested in participating as a speaker, virtual exhibitor, or outreach supporter, please email Phyllis Kaplan at pkaplan@ciscrp.org.
