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So here is my question.

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So we've been talking, certainly
from

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your perspective from
pharmacogenomics

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and genomics, more generally,
and we've been talking about

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that all day.

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But I'm wondering if you mean,
it seems to me that all of the

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principles

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and approaches and,

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that would apply to any
researcher

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who is planning to engage
an indigenous community

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in a research effort.

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Yes, that's right.

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And I think it's not only just
indigenous

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communities.

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I think other other communities.

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And we can use these same
principles.

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So other communities
that might be underserved or I

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mean,

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I think I, I really like the way

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you talked about the importance
of

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not thinking about these
as separate realms.

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And you know that there's
science

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on the one hand.

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And then there are cultural,
cultural traditions on the

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other.

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And that seems like a universal
lesson

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that there are, all sorts of
ways

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that if you go in

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with one perspective
and sort of dismiss the other,

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it wouldn't be surprising if

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you wouldn't be
welcome into that community.

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So in thinking more about the

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the work that you're doing,
are there particular

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topics that you find are,

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you know, more controversial

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than others when engaging
indigenous

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communities,
or is it a matter of sort of

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meeting them

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where they are
and, you know, engaging them

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from that point?

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Yeah.

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I think that's initially
one of the questions

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that I always get. And,

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from folks is about,

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tribal membership and tribal
enrollment

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and how genetics could play a
role.

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But I think it's,

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I don't think
that genetics can help with that

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because a lot of tribal
enrollment,

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rules are tribes specific, too.

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So it
it always involves a

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conversation of,

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what can genetics actually do?

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We can't distinguish we can't
distinguish

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between people at a tribal
level.

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And would we even want to. So,

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I think the other one of the
ways is,

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genetics can be used in tribal
enrollment

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as, like a paternity test.

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That's the only

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test.

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Genetic test I've seen is
enrollment.

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But usually that's
a, sort of a controversial or,

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could be a contentious topic
that,

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I don't do any research in that
area, so,

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I try to avoid that.

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Yeah. If possible.

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The other thing,

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and I think the other topics
are really driven

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by the tribal communities
themselves,

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and sometimes it's

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also that I have to take a step
back and,

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say that, well,

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this technically isn't a
genetics.

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Genetics research probably won't
help

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this as much as,

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prevention research
or having adequate health care.

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So, that's one of the things
I think of when, like a lot of

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people,

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like, are interested in type two
diabetes

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because it affects
so many of their community

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members.

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But I don't know if a genetic
approach

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would be appropriate.

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Like using a lot of funds to
study type

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two diabetes and genetics

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and the genetics aspect,
when I can see that there are

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people are living in health
or food deserts, they don't have

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adequate,

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access to healthy foods.

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They don't have, a lot of these
other resources that are not

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genetics,

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but other prevention mechanisms
that are more appropriate for.

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And when you're thinking about
this topic.

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So I think I'm, I'm always
trying

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to see how genetics really,

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play a role.

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And just thinking about
what would be best from my

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perspective.

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And so that's also why.

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And when I do these studies, I
try to at

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least have other types of
measurements,

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that can be useful in the future
too,

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if we do do some type of genetic
study.

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Great. Yeah.

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Just another reminder
about context, right.

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In terms of.

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You know, the like the
limitations

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of the genetic information.

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We have a question here.

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Brittany Scott one. Hi.

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I was wondering if you can say
more about,

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the discussions within the
Navajo Nation

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about the ban on genetics
research

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and if it's just kind of the
risks

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seem to be more

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than the benefits
for people within the nation.

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And also that extends to
clinical

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genetics or just research.

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Yeah, that's a great question.

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So the moratorium

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only extends to individuals.

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The jurisdiction of the Navajo
Nation.

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So technically,
if we were off the Navajo

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Nation,

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we could participate in a study.

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And it's only, on research,
clinical,

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use of genetics for clinical
testing,

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can be done.

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It's often not done on the
Navajo Nation.

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Anyways,
but they usually have to refer

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people

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outside of the reservation
for, clinical genetic testing.

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So if it's being used for
clinical care,

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I think that's completely
allowable.

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So back
when the moratorium was put in

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place,

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there's a really great video

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that came out around
the time, called The Gift of

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Life.

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It's I don't know
if it's available online, but

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it's there

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for video that contextualizes
all of the concerns at the time.

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I think
also those perceptions have

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changed.

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So we published a paper in 2019
where we did a survey

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in the Navajo community
we surveyed over 700 Navajo

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people,

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and we asked them questions
like,

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what did you know?

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The moratorium was, existed.

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And and then one of the last
questions

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was, do you think that

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we should lift or remove the
moratorium?

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And also we asked them about
different

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concerns that they had in the
community.

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So, one of the most resounding
results

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was that over about 75% of
people

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did not know
that the moratorium was in place

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back in 20 2018, 2019,

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when we conducted the survey,
but about,

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and about 50 to 60%,
we're not sure what to do.

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They weren't they felt like they
weren't

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informed enough to know whether

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they should support
lifting the moratorium or or

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not.

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And one of the big things that
came out of

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that was that

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people said,
we want more information on

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genetics

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and how it could affect
the Navajo community.

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We want if this was to genetic
research was to go forward,

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we want it to prioritize some of
the

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health issues in our community.

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And then, we want to be
involved.

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And so that that survey
led to my colleagues

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and I creating another or
submitting

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another grant.

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It's a large pilot grants.

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And as a part of that grant,
we proposed to develop

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all of these genetic literacy
projects

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for the Navajo Nation.

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So, we're excited that next
year,

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we as a part of that,

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we're also we, proposed
to, to host a big conference.

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So next year
we will be hosting the Navajo

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Genetics

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Conference in May of 2025, where
we will,

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share

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all of the educational products
that we've created.

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One is a Navajo genetics
glossary of over 250

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00:08:41,221 --> 00:08:43,890
genetics
terms translated into the Navajo

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language.

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And that'll be a booklet we
publish.

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Another is five, digital stories

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that we will share, hopefully
before then.

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And then we're also creating,
cultural framework

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for thinking about genetic
research

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00:08:59,239 --> 00:09:00,840
with, the Navajo community.

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00:09:01,141 --> 00:09:03,710
So we're really excited
about this conference next year.

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00:09:03,710 --> 00:09:05,311
If you're if anyone's
interested,

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00:09:05,311 --> 00:09:06,279
please let me know.

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00:09:06,279 --> 00:09:08,047
We should have,

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00:09:08,047 --> 00:09:10,617
website up, in a couple of
months

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00:09:10,617 --> 00:09:11,718
or this year.

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00:09:12,051 --> 00:09:13,486
Great.

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00:09:13,486 --> 00:09:14,788
Well, thank you for that
question.

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00:09:14,788 --> 00:09:16,189
Yeah. Thank you again.