ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 provides a definition of genome-based precision medicine, describes it on a global scale, and explains why it has been seen as a solution to race-based medicine. It also explains what the problems are with race-based medicine and racial profiling in medicine in both contemporary and historical times. It then goes on to highlight an ongoing debate regarding whether medicine in the genomic era will really move beyond race. We examine who, where, how, and why race/ethnicity is being used in precision medicine. Moreover, we propose the concept of racialization of precision medicine and define it as the social processes by which racial/ethnic categories are incorporated (or not) into the development, interpretation, and implementation of precision medicine research and practice. Drawing on primary interview data with clinicians and researchers in the field of cancer precision medicine, this book addresses the following questions: Who are the racializers in precision medicine, what do they do, and how and why do they do it? Where can we see de-racialization? Under what conditions do clinicians racialize (instead of personalize) medical treatment in the context of precision medicine for cancer?
