Increasing diversity in genomics requires investment in equitable partnerships and capacity building

Alicia R Martin; Rocky E Stroud 2nd; Tamrat Abebe; Dickens Akena; Melkam Alemayehu; Lukoye Atwoli; Sinéad B Chapman; Katelyn Flowers; Bizu Gelaye; Stella Gichuru; Symon M Kariuki; Sam Kinyanjui; Kristina J Korte; Nastassja Koen; Karestan C Koenen; Charles R J C Newton; Ana Maria Olivares; Sam Pollock; Kristianna Post; Ilina Singh; Dan J Stein; Solomon Teferra; Zukiswa Zingela; Lori B Chibnik

doi:10.1038/s41588-022-01095-y

Increasing diversity in genomics requires investment in equitable partnerships and capacity building

Nat Genet. 2022 Jun;54(6):740-745. doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01095-y.

Authors

Alicia R Martin^{1

2

3}, Rocky E Stroud 2nd^{4

5}, Tamrat Abebe⁶, Dickens Akena⁷, Melkam Alemayehu⁸, Lukoye Atwoli^{9

10

11}, Sinéad B Chapman^{4

12}, Katelyn Flowers^{4

13}, Bizu Gelaye^{4

5}, Stella Gichuru¹⁴, Symon M Kariuki^{15

16}, Sam Kinyanjui^{17

18}, Kristina J Korte^{5

19}, Nastassja Koen^{20

21}, Karestan C Koenen^{4

5}, Charles R J C Newton^{15

16}, Ana Maria Olivares⁴, Sam Pollock¹³, Kristianna Post⁴, Ilina Singh²², Dan J Stein^{20

21}, Solomon Teferra⁸, Zukiswa Zingela²³, Lori B Chibnik^{24

25

26}

Affiliations

¹ Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. armartin@broadinstitute.org.
² Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. armartin@broadinstitute.org.
³ Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. armartin@broadinstitute.org.
⁴ Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁹ Department of Mental Health, School of Medicine, Moi University College of Health Sciences, Eldoret, Kenya.
¹⁰ Brain and Mind Institute, Medical College East Africa, The Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Medical College East Africa, The Aga Khan University, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹² Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹³ Broad Genomics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Mental Health, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya.
¹⁵ Neurosciences Unit, Clinical Department, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme-Coast, Kilifi, Kenya.
¹⁶ Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁷ Centre for Geographic Medicine Research Coast, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme-Coast, Kilifi, Kenya.
¹⁸ Nuffield Department of Medicine, Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
²⁰ Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
²¹ SA MRC Unit on Risk & Resilience in Mental Disorders, University of Cape Town and Neuroscience Institute, Cape Town, South Africa.
²² Department of Psychiatry and Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
²³ Executive Dean's Office, Faculty of Health Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Gqebera, South Africa.
²⁴ Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. lchibnik@hsph.harvard.edu.
²⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. lchibnik@hsph.harvard.edu.
²⁶ Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. lchibnik@hsph.harvard.edu.

Abstract

Calls for diversity in genomics have motivated new global research collaborations across institutions with highly imbalanced resources. We describe practical lessons we have learned so far from designing multidisciplinary international research and capacity-building programs that prioritize equity in two intertwined programs — the NeuroGAP-Psychosis research study and GINGER training program — spanning institutions in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and the united States.

Increasing diversity in genomics requires investment in equitable partnerships and capacity building

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Grants and funding