Massive NIH study challenges use of race as a proxy for genetic ancestry in research
A large government study shows that Americans’ self-reported race is a poor proxy for their genetic ancestry.
A large government study published Thursday shows more definitively than ever before that Americans’ self-reported race is a poor proxy for their genetic ancestry. Researchers said the findings have major implications for the way health disparities are studied, and how they are discussed in the public sphere.
The new paper offered more nuance and consideration to the complicated relationship between race and genetics than past studies, outside commentators said. Its massive dataset and National Institutes of Health authors give authority to its conclusions, which arrive amid a heated debate over the role racial categories play in research as the Trump administration has targeted grants it deems related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” as being “unscientific.”
