Precision Medicine and the “Methodological Genomification” of Racial Health Disparities

Abstract

Precision medicine has a racial health disparities problem. Proponents of precision medicine claim it can combat health inequities, but precision medicine’s therapeutic products are exorbitantly expensive, creating a natural financial barrier to any systemic intervention. Defenders have suggested resolving this problem by shifting the focus of precision medicine research towards studying the social and environmental determinants of health. Where this proposed solution has been tried, however, it has led to the “methodological genomification” of health disparities. I’ll explain how this methodological genomification works and why it presents a real threat to research on the social and environmental determinants of health.