Mistreating Health Inequities in the Genomic Age

Medicine has long defined disease and treated patients according to race. Although genomics has confirmed that race is not written in our genes, we are witnessing the re-creation of race in biological terms. Biotechnologies such as race-specific medicines and ancestry tests incorporate false assumptions of racial difference. The genetic understanding of race calls for technological responses to racial inequities, but it masks the impact of racism on our bodies and society. Instead, health justice requires affirming our common humanity by working to end social inequities supported by the political system of race.