Click here for all ELSIhub Collections
Collection Editors
Scientific and technological advances in the field of genomics have the potential to enable targeted clinical and public health measures to manage infectious disease outbreaks. The convergence of the fields of genomics and public health in the context of infectious disease raises a unique constellation of ethical, legal, and social issues that must be addressed before genomic data and technology are leveraged at the population level. Similarly, both pathogen genomics and host (or human) genomics play a role in the clinical management of infectious disease and raise their own ELSI issues.
PROJECT NARRATIVE The goal of this study is to study the effect of COVID-19 on prenatal healthcare delivery, specifically patients' ability to access prenatal genetic screening and diagnostic tests in an informed and evidence- based fashion. By doing so, we will identify whether serious short term health issues for women, children, and families are resulting from the pandemic and develop readily-deployable and scalable solutions to ensure women's informed access to high-quality prenatal care during future public health crises.
The 30th anniversary of the Human Genome Project comes at a moment of unprecedented international crisis. The coronavirus now accounts for over one million deaths worldwide and has ravaged communities of color in the US, disproportionately killing Black and Brown Americans at rates two to four times the national average. While we know that these elevated deaths are influenced by social determinants of health and systemic bias, some look to genetics to explain these inequalities.