Thinking Outside the Box: Navigating Ethnicity in Genomic Medicine  

The CPM hosted a panel discussion with experts from across healthcare and policy landscapes and explored how ethnicity is currently approached in genomic medicine and how it might be reimagined for the future. Panellists included Anneke Lucassen, Maxine Mackintosh, Zeshan Qureshi, and Elizabeth Young. The panel reflected and responded to a set of co-created, forward-looking questions developed during a participatory workshop held earlier in the day with patient support groups and representatives. Participants reflected on the limitations of current NHS ethnicity categories, which often fail to capture the complex sociocultural and historical aspects of patients’ identity. A series of activities were organised during the workshop to explore more nuanced, equitable approaches that integrate lived experience, social context and biological ancestry. This event was our version of ‘public switching’, which aims to involve various interest-holders early on, so that they can help shape the direction of research and policy from the beginning.