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Collection of data on sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status will help to reduce health disparities that affect people from sexual and gender minority communities.
Funders’ goals for diversity, equity and inclusion are laudable, but they will only be successful if the funders prioritize health disparities research and address biases in the funding application process.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is committed to increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in science and medicine, through changes in our funding and recruitment processes. These actions provide a blueprint for the global research community.
Protein structures predicted using artificial intelligence will aid medical research, but the greatest benefit will come if clinical data can be similarly used to better understand human disease.
Psychedelics have shown great promise in treating mental-health conditions, but their use is severely limited by legal obstacles, which could be overcome.
Vaccines alone will not be sufficient for the eradication of malaria, which will also require investment in health professionals, better use of data, and universal access to quality health services.
COVID-19 has shown that international collaborations and global data sharing are essential for health research, but legal obstacles are preventing data sharing for non–pandemic-related research among public researchers across the world, with potentially damaging effects for citizens and patients.
The Tuberculosis Drug Accelerator, an experiment designed to facilitate collaboration in tuberculosis drug discovery by breaking down barriers among competing labs and institutions, has reached a 10-year landmark. We review the consortium’s achievements, advantages and limitations and advocate for the application of similar models to other diseases.
Cancer screening with germline genetic sequencing and liquid biopsy could facilitate early cancer detection. But testing if these technologies reduce the burden of cancer mortality will require rethinking how clinical trials are run.
Black people living in Africa must be involved in setting the priorities for global health research, policies and programs that affect their daily lives, in order to move away from a funding culture that fosters colonialism, racism and white supremacy.
Pay-it-forward programs, whereby someone receives a gift or free service and then gives a gift to another person in return, have expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide an opportunity for healthcare providers to reduce costs, increase uptake of interventions such as testing and vaccines, and promote sustainability.
One Health approaches recognize the links between the environment, animals, and human disease, but these approaches are successful only with bottom-up community engagement, education, and international collaborations.
Urbanization, armed conflict, and deforestation in African countries have increased the risk of zoonotic infections, which requires a One Health approach focused on the environment, animal health and human health.
Increasingly, data are collected by companies that provide direct-to-consumer personal genomic tests, yet the existing health legislation covering the use of these data is lagging far behind in the USA.
Investment in research and programs to discover and apply the principles that underpin sustained behavior change is needed to address the continuing threat from COVID-19 and future pandemics and will require collaboration among behavioral, social, biomedical, public-health and clinical scientists.
First-generation students, whose parents do not have baccalaureate degrees, are less likely to apply to MD-PhD programs than to MD programs, which has led to a worrying lack of diversity among physician-scientists.