Race-based health disparities have endured for centuries1. In neuroscience and genomics, individuals with recent African genetic ancestry (AA) account for less than 5% of large-scale research cohorts for brain disorders but are 20% more likely to experience a major mental health crisis2,3. Insights gained from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) about disease risk are promising for clinical applications (for example, drug targets for new therapeutics and polygenic risk prediction). However, most GWAS of brain-related illness lack diversity with regard to the inclusion of individuals of AA, who account for less than 5% of GWAS participants4, despite AA individuals having more extensive genetic variation than any other population. This lack of diversity limits the accuracy of genetic risk prediction and hinders the development of effective personalized neurotherapeutics for individuals of non-European genetic ancestry5. While diversity in large-scale GWAS has increased in recent years (for example, the 1000 Genomes Project6, the All of Us research program7, the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program8 and the Human Heredity and Health in Africa Consortium9), population-based genetic association studies do not directly elucidate potential biological mechanisms
