He speaks at Black churches about genetics — and has some ideas about how to fix his field’s diversity problem
Over the past few weeks, 23andMe and other genetic testing companies have made headlines for releasing candid statements acknowledging that their field and their products are too white. It’s a problem with which geneticist Tshaka Cunningham is all too familiar.
As executive director of the nonprofit Faith Based Genetic Research Institute, Cunningham has traveled widely to speak at Black churches about the value of genetic research. And as co-founder and chief scientific officer of a genetics startup called TruGenomix, he’s working to recruit more diverse cohorts to build a genetic test for gauging risk of developing PTSD.
