Disentangling Race from Skin Color in Modern Biology and Medicine

Abstract

In this review, we examine the taxonomies used to classify people, which influenced the development of the modern disciplines of biology and medicine, including dermatology, throughout the world. Early European scientists and physicians were intertwined with the social environment that created classifications and hierarchies of skin-color-based races, which were reinforced by prevailing political systems that supported colonial economic structures and, in many cases, chattel slavery. Even after genomic analysis of diverse human DNA sequences have revealed that systems of skin color-based racial and ethnic classification lacked biological meaning and were socially constructed, these classifications persist and are reinforced by census classifications and frameworks for comparisons in biomedicine in many parts of the world. The bodies of knowledge and practices that were built on these classifications did not reflect the observable biological diversity of people but the dominant cultural institutions and economic systems of their times. We provide actions for our modern institutions to reduce the underpinnings and ramifications of racial and ethnic classifications ultimately to improve biomedical research and medical care for all patients.

Keywords: History; Melanocytes; Race; Racism; Skin color.