I was reading a study on the efficacy of a therapy to treat Hepatitis C, but my mind kept drifting to Tiger Woods. I was thinking about Woods, not because he is the current topic of every trash news source, but because he is an example of why race-based medicine does not work.

Race-Based Medicine

The study I was reading concluded that this particular Hepatitis C therapy was not as effective in African-Americans. This is not the first time I read a study such as this. But after reading each one, I have had the same question. How do these researchers or physicians know that their study participants are African-American? The answer is obvious. They don’t know.

Physicians and researchers racially stratify their participants similar to the way society does. Socially, a person is considered Black as long as they have one drop of Black blood. Whether they are 90% Black or 10% Black, they are still considered Black. Societal definitions of race are of little concern to me as a physician. That is until these societal definitions affect medical decisions.

Multi-Racial

Tiger Woods is multi-racial and considers himself "Cablinasian". He is 25% Chinese, 25% Thai, 25% African-American, 12.5% Native American, and 12.5% Dutch. Despite his Cablinasian status, society considers Woods to be African-American. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem ensues when physicians make the same mistake as society. Most physicians would look at Woods and assume he was African-American, but based off of his heritage he is not. If I was forced to pigeonhole him, I would classify him as Asian because he is 50% Asian and at most 25% African.

President Obama is also multi-racial but he considers himself African-American. He is 50% African and 50% European. Obama is as White as he is Black, but society considers him to be African-American. The average physician would probably do the same.

Both men are multi-racial and both men are considered African-American. However, we have no idea what they are physiologically. Most African-Americans are multi-racial to varying degrees and lumping them in to a category by looking at them is ridiculous. Until we have an objective race test, race should not be used as a basis for therapy.

Personalized Medicine

Personalized genomic-based medicine is the future and I look forward to it revolutionizing health care. However, race-based medicine is not personalized medicine, it is trash medicine. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but physiology is not.

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