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The distinct impacts of race and genetic ancestry on health

Nature Medicine volume 28, pages 890–893 (2022)Cite this article

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Genetic ancestry affects human health, but this is distinct from the impact of race, a social construct that has its foundations in systemic racism. These terms need to be better defined and understood in medical research to achieve health equity.

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Fig. 1: Influences of race and genetic ancestry on human health.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by Department of Defense award CDMRP-PC181013 and Prostate Cancer Foundation (K.Y.); National Cancer Institute grant P20-CA233255 (K.Y. and T.R.R.); Jean Perkins Foundation, STOP Cancer Foundation, National Cancer Institute and Specialized Programs of Research Excellence grant P50 CA092131 and Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award 17CHAL04 (I.P.G.); and National Institutes of Health (K08CA215312), Burroughs Wellcome Foundation (1017184), Basser Center for BRCA at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (K.M.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Timothy R. Rebbeck

  2. University of Miami Sylvester Cancer Center, Miami, FL, USA

    Brandon Mahal

  3. Department of Medicine and Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Michael Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Kara N. Maxwell

  4. Department of Urology and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Isla P. Garraway

  5. VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Isla P. Garraway

  6. H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA

    Kosj Yamoah

Authors
  1. Timothy R. Rebbeck
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  2. Brandon Mahal
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  3. Kara N. Maxwell
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  4. Isla P. Garraway
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  5. Kosj Yamoah
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Contributions

All authors were involved in the development of the concepts presented in this Comment and contributed to writing and editing of the content.

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Correspondence to Timothy R. Rebbeck.

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Competing interests

T.R.R.’s wife is a consultant to AstraZeneca. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Rebbeck, T.R., Mahal, B., Maxwell, K.N. et al. The distinct impacts of race and genetic ancestry on health. Nat Med 28, 890–893 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01796-1

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