To ensure the generalizability of research results, it is important that all groups participate in health research [1–4]. However, many commentators claim that racial and ethnic minority groups, especially in the US, are less willing to participate in health research [5–13]. While the US population includes an increasing percentage of individuals from minority groups, non-Hispanic whites still compose a majority of the population (Figure 1). It is widely believed that racial and ethnic minority groups in the US, especially African-Americans, are less willing than non-Hispanic whites to participate in health research. Many commentators believe that this relative unwillingness traces to past abuses, especially the notorious Tuskegee Syphilis Study [14–18], described as “the singular reason behind African-American distrust of the institutions of medicine and public health” [19].
