Race in Science, Technology, & Medicine Series - What Is a Population? Investigating Race, Ethnicity, and Ancestry in Genomics and Clinical Research

Stanford Center for Continuing Medical Education, Race in Science, Technology, & Medicine Series - What Is a Population? Investigating Race, Ethnicity, and Ancestry in Genomics and Clinical Research, 7/23/2021 12:00:00 AM - 7/23/2024 12:00:00 AM, Internet Enduring Material Sponsored by Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences. Presented by the Program in Science, Technology and Society. This engaging presentation will address current topics in genomic research and will help learners understand how to define a “population”, the definitions of diversity measures, and how to incorporate race into research and medicine. Racial classification in clinical care will be discussed. An overview of research to precision medicine is provided and a discussion of race, ethnicity and ancestry in the clinical interpretation of genetic variants will provide insight into the importance of studying under represented populations to ensure that the benefits of research are distributed fairly and to maximize the potential for discovery. Alice Popejoy is a Stanford postdoctoral scholar who studies biomedical data sciences, and speaks to the role — and pitfalls — of race, ethnicity and ancestry in research. In clinical research, scientists often invoke race, ethnicity and ancestry to better understand underlying factors that contribute to disease, even when the connection is not quite clear. This approach is prevalent in clinical genetics, a field of study that harnesses genetic testing to understand aspects of a patient’s personal health. But while race- or ancestry-based information can play an important role in health research — such as ensuring a particular clinical study represents diverse populations — its use in science can be misguided. Popejoy studies the intersection of public health and genetics. Including race, ethnicity or ancestry in a scientific study can produce misleading results that present sociocultural factors, such as race, as a biological cause of certain diseases — when, in fact, environmental factors or actual biology, such as genetic mutations, may underlie the disease.