Diksha Srivastava, Dr Prabhu Arumugam, Genomics England
“Do diverse populations in genomic research help to facilitate new understanding? We are all one population, we should all have equal rights. The challenges are significant but they are not unsurmountable.”
For our Diverse Data Week podcast series, Diksha Srivastava, our Policy Lead in the Diverse Data Team, is joined by Prabhu Arumugam, our Strategic Partnerships Director. Prabhu’s key focus is on improving cancer clinical data and multimodal diagnostics in cancer for Genomics England. He is currently leading on the delivery of digital pathology and radiology with a view to improving clinical cancer data and advocating precision health.
Prabhu discusses the genomic research landscape for diverse populations, including its historical barriers and how to address them. He also discusses disparities in genomic and biomedical research - in particular those impacting individuals of African, Asian and Hispanic ancestry - and the measures required to bring the benefits of genomic medicine to everyone.
Diksha Srivastava is our Policy Lead for the Diverse Data initiative, here at Genomics England. She studied Health Sciences at Western University and has a Master of Science degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Dr. Prabhu Arumugam undertook medical training at St. Bartholomew’s and the Royal London. Prior to starting Pathology training, he completed a PhD at The Barts Cancer Institute on pancreatic pathology. He joined Genomics England in September 2019 and is the Director of Clinical Data and Imaging. He is leading the multimodal programme, focusing on the utility of linking whole genomes to digital pathology and radiology imaging. He is also Genomics England’s Caldicott Guardian.