Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! At NIH, Hispanics and Latinos have been at the forefront of some of the most important moments in recent history, including COVID-19. Our Behind the Mask project, which collected COVID-19 stories from the NIH community, has received personal reflections from Hispanic and Latino employees during the pandemic. Included was this submission from Omar Echegoyen, a recruitment specialist at the Clinical Center who connects patients with clinical studies. Studies with more diverse participants tend to have more accurate results because they better reflect the actual makeup of the US population, so Echegoyen made flyers and posters like this one, in both English and Spanish, to recruit Hispanic and Latino participants. The pandemic was a difficult time, but Echegoyen said “Esto va abrir nuevas puertas de oportunidades a ser mas creatives y como trabajas en unidad en momentos de crisis.” ("This will open new doors of opportunity to be more creative and show how you work in unity in moments of crisis.”)

To learn more about the Behind the Mask project, look for the banner right above this post.