We and others128,129 have argued that use of diverse populations will be an essential component of the next phase of GWA work, and we have discussed the benefits that arise from the consideration of GWA studies in diverse populations. Not least among these benefits is that in the long-term, as knowledge gained from GWA becomes relevant to medicine, reducing differences across populations in the understanding of underlying genetic variation can help to avoid unintentionally promoting health disparities. Many GWA studies in diverse populations are now ongoing or are imminent, largely using the same approaches as current and past GWA studies in populations of European origin. To achieve their maximal potential, these studies will profit from deeper investigation of such issues as imputation, admixture, and replication, as we have described.
