Gene-guided healthcare has taken U.S. medicine by storm, promising precision, targeted treatments to myriad illnesses. It has also proved very profitable. James Tabery traces how genetic medicine vied within the federal government with another approach to healthcare — one emphasizing the social and environmental determinants of health, such as whether you live in a polluted neighborhood — and triumphed over it. He argues that private industry has benefited, while public health has suffered.
Resources:
James Tabery, Tyranny of the Gene: Personalized Medicine and Its Threat to Public Health Knopf, 2023
Photo credit: Dave Titensor