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

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.

PMID: 35668301
PMCID: PMC7613571
DOI: 10.1038/s41588-022-01095-y

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

Alicia R Martin et al. Nat Genet. 2022 Jun.

. 2022 Jun;54(6):740-745.

doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01095-y.

Authors

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.

PMID: 35668301
PMCID: PMC7613571
DOI: 10.1038/s41588-022-01095-y

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1. Timeline of NeuroGAP-Psychosis and GINGER Program to date.**
a, Overview of NeuroGAP Project milestones relating to research in NeuroGAP-Psychosis and capacity building in GINGER. CJ, curriculum jamboree; Grad, virtual graduation ceremony for GINGER Cohort 1.0; IRB, Institutional Review Board; UCT, university of Cape Town; UKZN, university of KwaZulu-Natal; WCPG, World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics. *For ongoing studies, some dates for last sample collection are in the future. Research protocols were initiated in 2015 (indicated by IRB). Collaboration agreements were signed by each institution following approval by respective local ethics review committees and IRB approval. b, Enrollment of participants in NeuroGAP-Psychosis over time.

**Fig. 2. Project manager Stella Gichuru discusses NeuroGAP-Psychosis with research assistants.**
From left to right: Fredrick Ochieng, Eunice Menjo, Stella Gichuru and Wilberforce Ndenga. Photo credit: Russell Murachver.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Hyman SE. Sci Transl Med. 2012;4:155cm11 - PubMed
1. Buniello A, et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 2019;47:D1005–D1012. - PMC - PubMed
1. Martin AR, et al. Nat Genet. 2019;51:584–591. - PMC - PubMed
1. Sirugo G, Williams SM, Tishkoff SA. Cell. 2019;177:26–31. - PMC - PubMed
1. Peterson RE, et al. Cell. 2019;179:589–603. - PMC - PubMed

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

Affiliations

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

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources