Between personalized and racialized precision medicine : a relative resources perspective

Abstract

Since the completion of the first human genome sequencing project in 2003, the potential for incorporating genomics into clinical practice in the pursuit of precision medicine has garnered a great amount of attention and interest. Existing literature presents a dichotomous view of the future of medicine: either precision medicine will replace race-based medicine or race-based medicine will persist despite developments in genetic research and genomic medicine. Drawing on interview data with 46 physicians and scientists in the USA, Canada, and Singapore who are conducting research or practicing precision medicine in the context of cancer treatment and prevention, this article attempts to contribute to the existing debate by proposing a ‘relative resources’ perspective to explain which approach will dominate in a particular healthcare setting. The author elaborates on the ‘heterogeneity of resources’ and suggests that the extent to which precision medicine will be personalized or racialized/ethnicized in the clinic will most likely be a function of the relative availability of resources – including but not limited to financial, human and computer informatics, and legal and infrastructural resources – at individual and collective levels in healthcare contexts.