Race and ancestry in biomedical research: exploring the challenges.
The use of race in biomedical research has, for decades, been a source of social controversy. However, recent events, such as the adoption of racially targeted pharmaceuticals, have raised the profile of the race issue. In addition, we are entering an era in which genomic research is increasingly focused on the nature and extent of human genetic variation, often examined by population, which leads to heightened potential for misunderstandings or misuse of terms concerning genetic variation and race. Here, we draw together the perspectives of participants in a recent interdisciplinary workshop on ancestry and health in medicine in order to explore the use of race in research issue from the vantage point of a variety of disciplines. We review the nature of the race controversy in the context of biomedical research and highlight several challenges to policy action, including restrictions resulting from commercial or regulatory considerations, the difficulty in presenting precise terminology in the media, and drifting or ambiguous definitions of key terms.
Caulfield
Timothy
T
Faculty of Law and School of Public Health Research, Health Law Institute, University of Alberta, 89 Ave and 111 St., T6G 2H5, Canada.
Fullerton
Stephanie M
SM
Ali-Khan
Sarah E
SE
Arbour
Laura
L
Burchard
Esteban G
EG
Cooper
Richard S
RS
Hardy
Billie-Jo
BJ
Harry
Simrat
S
Hyde-Lay
Robyn
R
Kahn
Jonathan
J
Kittles
Rick
R
Koenig
Barbara A
BA
Lee
Sandra Sj
SS
Malinowski
Michael
M
Ravitsky
Vardit
V
Sankar
Pamela
P
Scherer
Stephen W
SW
Séguin
Béatrice
B
Shickle
Darren
D
Suarez-Kurtz
Guilherme
G
Daar
Abdallah S
AS