No One Ever Asked

LaToya Hinton-Howery, MPH, CEO and Research Director of Next Innovative Clinical Research

When we hear about a medical breakthrough, we usually think about the new drug, the scientists who developed it, or the pharmaceutical company behind it.

We rarely think about the people who helped make that breakthrough possible.

And we almost never stop to ask an even bigger question:

Who wasn't included?

That question has quietly shaped the career of LaToya Hinton-Howery.

As the owner and Research Director of Next Innovative Clinical Research, LaToya works with pharmaceutical companies to evaluate new medications before they ever reach patients.

Every prescription and treatment we trust has traveled through years of clinical research. The process is rigorous, expensive, and incredibly important.

Yet years ago, while attending investigator meetings around the country, LaToya noticed something she couldn't ignore.

With disappointment in her voice, she told me, "I wouldn't see anyone who looked like me."

She added, "I didn't see doctors who looked like me or patient coordinators who looked like me."

The same was true of many of the study participants.

Later, while working at the University of Chicago, the disconnect became even harder to overlook. The hospital sat in the heart of a predominantly black neighborhood, yet the people participating in many clinical trials looked nothing like the community outside its doors.

"I'm asking myself, why is it that African Americans aren't participating in clinical trials?"

Most people assume it's distrust in the community.

History gives us good reasons to understand why that assumption exists. Unfortunately, assumptions can survive long after anyone bothers to test them.

So LaToya did something remarkably simple.

She asked.

She challenged one of the healthcare industry's most common narratives by asking people in her community why they weren't participating in clinical trials.

"People would tell me, 'I didn't know anything about it. No one ever asked me. I didn't know where to participate.'"

The problem wasn't simply persuading people to participate.

It was making sure people knew these opportunities existed in the first place.

Instead of waiting for someone else to solve it, LaToya built the organization she wished already existed.

Next Innovative Clinical Research partners with companies including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, AbbVie, and others to conduct clinical trials while intentionally expanding access to communities that have historically been underrepresented.

The work isn't simply about recruiting more participants.

It's about making research better.

If a medication is designed to improve the health of millions of people, shouldn't the studies behind it reflect those millions?

That question feels obvious once you hear it.

Yet for decades, it often wasn't.

And once people discover these opportunities exist, hesitation isn't always the response.

Curiosity is.

"People come up to me asking, 'Do you have anything for diabetes? High blood pressure? Depression?'" LaToya said. "People call our office asking for specific trials."

The interest was there. The invitation wasn't.

As we talked, I realized something else.

LaToya isn't just changing who participates in clinical research.

She's changing who leads it.

Through the Next ICR Foundation, she created an eight-week Clinical Research Coordinator training program to introduce people to careers they may never have known existed. Similar programs often cost between $5,000 and $10,000.

Her program costs just $100.

"A lot of people aren't going to spend $5,000 on a career they know nothing about," she explained.

Students learn every aspect of clinical research, receive resume and interview coaching, and leave with help finding employment.

Listening to her describe the program, it became clear she wasn't simply creating jobs.

She was building something much larger.

"If I educate them on becoming research coordinators and help them find jobs," she said, "they're going to go into their communities and talk to their families and friends about clinical trials. Then we have the next generation of minority researchers."

That's how lasting change happens—not through a single study, but by creating an entirely new pipeline of people who understand the work and can help others find their way into it.

Today, LaToya's impact extends well beyond Chicago. Her organization has expanded into Houston and is preparing new sites in St. Croix and St. Thomas. She's earned grants from Pfizer, the City of Chicago, and Beyoncé's BeyGOOD Foundation. Her team recently partnered with Apple to help validate blood pressure technology for future Apple Watches.

Those accomplishments are impressive.

But they aren't what stayed with me after our conversation.

What stayed with me were five simple words:

"No one ever asked me."

I've spent more than twenty years working with nonprofits, and I hear versions of that sentence all the time.

People don't volunteer because no one asks.

They don't make a gift because no one asks.

They don't step into leadership because no one asks.

LaToya heard those same words in healthcare.

Instead of accepting them, she built an organization around changing the answer.

The medications of tomorrow won't simply be shaped by scientists, physicians, or pharmaceutical companies. They'll also be shaped by the people willing to raise their hands, participate, and help move medicine forward.

Thanks to LaToya Hinton-Howery, more people are finally being invited into that story.

To learn more about LaToya's work and Next Innovative Clinical Research, visit nexticr.com.

________________________________________________________________________ 

I help nonprofits raise more money through education, coaching, and strategic planning. I also lead high-impact professional development, coaching programs, and retreats for companies of all sizes. If you're ready to strengthen your fundraising strategy, turn board members into advocates, or build a comprehensive legacy giving program, let's talk.