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Abstract

Precision medicine is a movement that seeks to serve a patient’s individual medical needs with a tailored level of treatment. Such a practice requires an essential framework of genetic information to allow doctors to make accurate treatment decisions. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) provide massive amounts of information for databases, such as the GWAS Catalog; however, there is an apparent lack of diversity in the genomics data available to researchers and drug-developers. The majority of participants in GWAS are of European descent. As of January 2019, 78 percent of genetics contributed by GWAS have been of European descent; while, only 22 percent are minorities (Yeager 2019). Stemming from a history of discrimination and unfair logistics, the lack of diversity in genomic databases undercuts the accessibility and function of Precision Medicine, and this issue needs to be resolved.

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