New era of genetic research must include more indigenous people, says Keolu Fox
Keolu Fox is on a mission to increase ethnic diversity in human genome sequencing.
Fox, an indigenous Hawaiian geneticist, was studying at the University of Washington when he discovered that less than four per cent of human genome sequencing is non-European, with less than one per cent being from indigenous people.
Human genome sequencing could play a key part in determining how genetics play a role in chronic diseases that disproportionately impact indigenous people, such as diabetes, Fox said.
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Racism in research models
Kim Tallbear, a professor of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, studies how science and technology impacts indigenous people. She believes cases like the Havasupai highlight how scientists often take a lot of leeway when deciding what to study.
“The broader act of racism was [Therese Markow’s] feeling that as a scientist she had the right to work on whatever she wanted to work on despite the sensitivities of the tribe and their own desires,” said Tallbear.
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