The mission of the proposed Center for Genetics Research Ethics and Law (CGREL) is to foster sustained interdisciplinary research on the ethical, legal, and social issues involved in the design and conduct of human genetics research with individuals, families, communities, and populations. CWRU already hosts a variety of research efforts relevant to the CGREL's theme. The CGREL will integrate these efforts to launch new research collaborations and provide the resource structure necessary for their application to high priority genetics research policy questions.

H3Africa provides an unprecedented opportunity to study genetic and genomic technologies into research, diagnosis, intervention, and treatment for sickle cell disease (SCD) in Africa. As such, involving a few African Centers already involved in the forefront of Sickle Cell Disease Research in Africa with moderate expertise on psychosocial research (Cameroon), newborn screening (Ghana) or genomics studies (Tanzania) could serves as a reservoir for rigorous examination of a wide range of accompanying ethical, psychosocial, cultural, and policy issues.

In the emerging era of precision medicine, there have been increasing calls for diversity and the inclusion of historically under-represented racial and ethnic populations in biobanking and precision medicine research. Recent findings suggest that the lack of diversity in genetic repositories may pose serious challenges to identify genetic variants that are clinically significant in certain populations. These concerns have been linked to ethical concerns over disparities in health and disease among racial and ethnic groups.