While the Latino community has historically been poorly represented in biomedical research, recent projects designed to increase Latino participation in research on autism spectrum disorders have built community partnerships through trusted community-based organizations [B-3]. Ethical and social issues must be carefully addressed in using community members and organizations as gatekeepers who assist researchers in accessing potential research participants, but this exploratory research suggested that this model could be implemented at other sites to help achieve more balanced representation of Latinos in genetic research. Similarly, another ELSI Congress panel discussed the development of community partnerships with marginalized and indigenous communities in the U.S. and Peru, addressing community perceptions of genomics research and researchers and seeking a better understanding of community needs that can lead to collaborative research relationships [E-1].
