attention to comprehensively quantifying risks in the social and physical environment and understanding how they interact with biological mechanisms to affect health. Importantly, fully understanding the biological processes shaping health disparities will require attention to social risk factors. As research on the human genome moves forward, there will be an increasing need for comprehensive, detailed and rigorous characterization of the risk factors and resources in the psychological, social and physical environment that may interact with biological predispositions, and alter gene expression, to affect patterns of health risk.
