Commentary in BMC Medical Genomics

Center Director, Dr. Rotimi and I have published a commentary in BMC Medical Genomics, which discusses the role genetics and genomics can play in the context of health disparities.  Titled “The A’s, G’s, C’s, and T’s of Health Disparities”, Dr. Rotimi and I illustrate the utility of genetics research in providing necessary and critical information to diseases and treatments.  We also discuss the tremendous impact social factors and environmental forces can have in influencing health disparity diseases.  One of the major points of the commentary was that “individuals cannot be treated as a representative for all those who physically resemble them or who share in some of their ancestry”.

Below is the abstract of the article, which can also be found here:

“In order to eliminate health disparities in the United States, more efforts are needed to address the breadth of social issues directly contributing to the healthy divide observed across racial and ethnic groups. Socioeconomic status, education, and, very generally, the environment are intimately linked to health outcomes. However, with the tremendous advances in technology and increased investigation into human genetic variation, genomics is poised to play a valuable role in bolstering efforts to find new treatments and preventions for chronic conditions and diseases that disparately affect certain groups. Promising studies focused on understanding the genetic underpinnings of diseases such as prostate cancer or beta-blocker treatments for heart failure are illustrative of the positive contributions genomics can have on improving minority health.”