Race-Based Medicine

History of Present Illness

• What would happen if doctors stopped treating patients by race?

• “The idea … is to push beyond the clunky race labels we have inherited … and to see with greater clarity and nuance than those categories and their attendant biases generally allow.”

Clinical Pearl:

Africa is the most genetically diverse place in the world. Black race, as commonly used, is meant to convey African ancestry, with all of its incredible genetic diversity. There is more genetic diversity within people perceived as ‘Black’ than between people of perceived different races. Race does not provide clear-cut information about genetic ancestry or Mendelian genetic risk for disease.