Creating a Positive Space to Train Native Americans / American Indians / Alaskan Natives in Genomics

The number of Native American scientists in the areas of biological sciences, bioinformatics, computational biology, genetics and data science is still low compared to other underrepresented minorities (URMs). Two areas that influence these numbers are the history of the assimilation of Native Americans in Western education and encounters of Western researchers’ misuse of blood samples and genetic data. With this in mind, there are creative ways for institutions to create a positive space for engaging Native populations to enter the genomics field. Tribes are aware of scientific and technological advances and do not want to be left out of the discussion. In training the next generation of Native researchers, aligning cultural ideologies of Native people (i.e. natural resources and personal well being) to Western concepts in genomics is a big task. Here, discussion points on creating a positive space and engaging with Native communities will be presented.