Making the Genetic Models Match the Ancestry of Patient Populations

AJMC December 7, 2025
Mary Caffrey Fact checked by: Rose McNulty

Key Takeaways

• Precision medicine models often rely on data from Northern European populations, leading to treatment inequities.
• Genetic diversity is crucial for understanding disease risk and treatment efficacy, as shown in studies on acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
• Innovative tools like bone marrow organoids and the Cancer Dependency Map aim to incorporate diverse genetic data.
• Ancestry-aware CRISPR libraries are needed to address biases in current genomic data and improve drug discovery.

A panel at the American Society of Hematology highlights the urgent need for genetic diversity in cancer studies, addressing disparities in treatment outcomes across different ancestries.

This year at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, Shella Saint Fleur-Lominy, MD, PhD, of the University of Maryland...

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