Advances in scientific knowledge must begin to address the significant health disparities that persist among ethnic and racial minority groups in the United States (Pinn, 2000; Ruffin, 2000). Exceedingly low participation rates of older ethnic minorities and women in health research have been well documented (Gavaghan, 1995). Policies encouraging involvement of underrepresented groups in health research have been in place at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since the mid 1980s (Roth, Pinn, Hartmuller, Bates, & Fanning, 2000), and, in 1994, NIH issued Guidelines on Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research mandating such inclusion.