The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it has awarded over $1.9 million in grants to four organizations as part of its National Lupus Outreach and Clinical Trial Education Initiative. The funding will support efforts at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), Lupus Foundation of America, National Minority Quality Forum, and the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York to identify new interventions aimed at improving clinical trial diversity and health disparities for racial and ethnic minority patients with lupus. HHS emphasized that about 90% of those diagnosed with lupus are female; further, Black female patients may be three times more likely to develop lupus at a younger age and with a greater risk of serious complications compared with non-Hispanic White female patients. “[C]linical trials for lupus have had limited success in recruiting [patients] from racial and ethnic minorities. This community-driven initiative will help decrease barriers to clinical trial recruitment and enrollment by addressing patient mistrust of the medical and research community and increasing awareness of the benefits of clinical trials,” concluded Rear Admiral Felicia Collins, MD, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and Director of the Office of Minority Health at HHS.