Ramos and Rotimi153 recently provided examples of the potential of genomics to address racial disparities in health through treatment and prevention. They show how recent comprehensive research identifying a genetic variant that is associated with an increased survival rate against cardiac failure and ischemia, 154 has shed important new light on the confusing data on racial differences in response to beta blockers. The study revealed that only about 40% of African Americans carry this protective variant and the majority of blacks who do not carry it will benefit from the use of beta blockers in the treatment of heart failure. Ramos and Rotimi153 also describe how research that has identified genomic regions that contain risk variants for prostate cancer holds promise for increasing our understanding of the markedly elevated risk of this disease in African Americans. These susceptibility variants for prostate cancer exists in many populations but the estimate of the population attributable risks (the proportion of cases that would not occur if this risk factor were not present) ranges from 32% in whites to 45% in Native Hawaiians, 46%
