Abstract
Recent advances in genetic research provide anthropologists with an opportunity to reconsider the meaning and importance of interdisciplinary research. This piece suggests that interdisciplinary thinking can help to redevelop health policies aimed at improving access to new genetic technology and addressing many health care inequities. Drawing from research on access to genetic testing among women with a breast cancer diagnosis in the United States, I explore how patient perspectives can be used to redefine how policy makers interpret the utility of genetic medicine. Individuals undergoing genetic testing describe how genetic knowledge is translated into salient change in their lives, a view rarely recognized in conventional evaluations of genetic medicine. This work also recognizes how the ‘potentialities’ of genetic medicine both fuel the engine of ongoing genetic research and motivate individuals to imagine possible future actions to improve health. This reflection is meant to provoke debate and contribute to discussion about how health policies can be designed to improve inequities in access to genetic medicine.
Highlights
In a moment of unprecedented advancement in genetic medicine, genetic technology is increasingly used to treat disease with the aim of improving individual outcomes and transforming global health
Several anthropologists have emphasized the paradox of global expansion and ethical positioning of genetic medicine, which is framed in terms of social inclusion and justice, and the reality of inequitable and stratified access to this health technology (Gibbon, Kilshaw, and Sleeboom-Faulkner 2018; Taussig and Gibbon 2013)
My own research on inequitable access to genetic testing among women diagnosed with breast cancer validates these assessments and is useful in predicting how these inequities might translate to other cases of biotechnology and genetic medicine
Summary
In a moment of unprecedented advancement in genetic medicine, genetic technology is increasingly used to treat disease with the aim of improving individual outcomes and transforming global health. Health policy, breast cancer, uncertainty, interdisciplinary research Conventional clinical and health policy perspectives on the utility of genetic medicine assume that the technology will be ‘cost-effective’ and used to make actionable decisions around disease prevention or intervention.
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