Acclaimed comedian, actor and writer Damon Wayans recently added patient advocate and spokesperson to his resume through a humor-forward Genentech campaign, “All Eyes on DME,” that raises awareness of diabetes-related vision concerns.
“It’s a good feeling,” the Emmy-nominated “In Living Color” star told Fierce in an interview following his keynote panel at Fierce Pharma Week.
“Being a comedian is great when you’re on stage,” Wayans said. But being an advocate for change, he said, is something that can be done “all day, every day.”
The comedian’s health advocacy journey traces its roots to his type 2 diabetes diagnosis in his late 40s. By then, Wayans was all too familiar with the disease after watching his mother suffer from it. Growing up, “we didn’t really know what it was,” he said.
Instead of dealing with diabetes like his mother, who he said “never really got control over what she had,” Wayans took a different path to disease management, gaining a better understand of his body’s reactions through a glucose monitor which was, to him, “the greatest thing ever.”
Now, he stands as an example to his community and close circle, proving that “there’s a different way” to enjoy a quality, although “very disciplined” life while managing diabetes.
In “All Eyes on DME,” Genentech partnered with advocacy group diaTribe to shine a light on and destigmatize diabetes-related eye complication, diabetic macular edema (DME), through a multi-channel US campaign starring Wayans, a paid Genentech spokesperson. A series of videos from an event that ran with the campaign features the “Saturday Night Live” alum talking DME in a familiar setting for him: on stage, mic in hand during a stand-up comedy routine. In his monologue, Wayans weaves comedy and relatable aging experiences with the real health issue of “funny vision.”
Wayans continues to share his journey with diabetes throughout the set and further touches on DME through a story about a man he met in the eye doctor’s waiting room. Ultimately, Wayans emphasizes that “early action matters” and those with diabetes should ask their own doctors about DME.
The relatable approach to DME awareness is one he intentionally crafted as a “great way to reach people’s hearts,” he explained.
It’s a thread that’s carried throughout his career in stand-up and film. When his two sons were young, Wayans took them to see the “Ninja Turtles” movie, unintentionally witnessing firsthand how relatability can reach audiences in a different way.
“As soon as the movie started, my son goes, ‘That's me,’” the actor recounted. “He picked who he was, and then my other son goes. ‘I'm Donatello.’ And what that taught me right there in that moment is that people do that when they go to the movies. They go to the movie and they see themselves in these characters, and that's how they go on this journey.”
The anecdote applies to disease education as well, as audiences can walk away “seeing you in me without being judged,” he explained. “I think people like the sincerity of it.”
The humor Wayans brought to the campaign was meant to break down barriers of stigmas and fear, a prevailing issue in DME treatment that Genentech didn’t entirely expect.
“We thought it was an awareness problem,” Genentech chief marketing officer Zoë Harris Lazarre, Ph.D., explained in a separate interview.
As it turns out, the low levels of eye screenings seen in diabetes patients wasn’t as simple as awareness on its own. Around 60% of Americans living with diabetes miss their recommended eye exams, Genentech found. With the U.S. diabetes patient population projected to reach 55 million by 2030 and people of color being two to three times more likely to experience sight-threatening diabetes-related conditions such as DME, vision loss within at-risk communities marks a significant “escalating public health issue,” according to the company.
Upon working with diaTribe and talking with patients, especially in groups disproportionately affected by DME, the real “emotional barrier” unfolded, Lazarre said.
“What’s the antidote to fear? It’s humor,” Lazarre explained. “Humor creates connection. It opens a difficult conversation, and it really allows you to talk about those things that are scary.”
Wayan’s work with Genentech on “All Eyes on DME” included a panel event, in which one panelist shared her experience with DME. Her sight visions inspired Wayans’ to get his eyes checked promptly upon returning from the event, he shared. Although his sight issues were glasses prescription-based, seeing advanced ocular technology first-hand was an “empowering” experience, he said.
“Fear is in the unknown, and feeling like you’re just hopeless,” he explained. To mitigate the fear of the unknown, Wayans emphasizes the importance of staying on top of potential health problems by seeking out research and treatments.
“I’d rather go out knowing that I fought as hard as I could, even if I do lose my eyes or lose the battle with diabetes, at least I know I did everything I can,” Wayans said. “And my children, my grandchildren, my brothers and sisters know that I put up a fight, and that's really what it's about. But knowledge is power. You can't fight what you can't see or don't know.”