GMH@Harvard: Genes, Equity, and the Biggest Neuropsychiatric Genetics Study in Africa
Over the next few weeks, GMH@Harvard will be featuring a five-part series on the largest mental health genetics study in Africa and the project’s corresponding training initiatives. The study and training efforts are a collaboration between scientists in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and Boston at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Broad Institute. The series explores issues of equity, ethics, building the next generation of psychiatric geneticists, and what it takes to recruit more than 35,000 people.
Introducing NeuroGAP-Psychosis
Get a glimpse of the study that aims to chip away at what we know about the genetics of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Click here to watch video.
Capacity Building & Training: Dr. Asha Omari
Hear Dr. Felicita Omari speak about ensuring sustainability in global research and the joint efforts of NeuroGAP-Psychosis and GINGER. Click here to watch video.
Addressing Stigma, Advancing Diversity, and Overcoming Inequity
NeuroGAP-Psychosis scientists explain the taboo around mental illness in Kenya and Uganda and why genetic diversity is so important to the study of mental health disorders. Click here to watch video
Capacity Building & Training: Dr. Allan Kalungi
Hear Dr. Allan Kalungi, former GINGER Research Fellow and recent Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator grant recipient, speak about the GINGER program’s impact. Click here to watch video
NeuroGAP-Psychosis: Reaching out to participants
Study staff from Uganda and Kenya share what it takes to recruit more than 35,000 people and what their goals are in the end for NeuroGAP-Psychosis. Click here to watch video.
Capacity Building & Training: Dr. Jackline Mmochi
Hear Kenyan psychiatrist, Dr. Jackline Mmochi, discuss beliefs surrounding mental illness in Kenya and the importance of integrating genetics research in fighting stigma. Click here to watch video.
NeuroGAP-Psychosis: Presenting Early Findings
The Moi University team in Kenya discovers interesting ethnolinguistic findings from the first genetic and demographic data they collected. Click here to watch video.
Capacity Building & Training: Mowlem Pierre
NeuroGAP-Psychosis is helping people like lab technician, Mowlem Pierre, access the data and training he needs to complete a master’s degree and further his research career. Click here to watch video.
NeuroGAP-Psychosis: Hopes for the Future
Investigators share the outcomes they hope to see from the study: reducing stigma around mental health disorders, new treatments for several mental illness, and increasing research infrastructure at their institutions. Click here to watch the video.
Bioethics: Autonomy, Equity, and Cultural Considerations
Three bioethicists from Kenya and Uganda talk about how they address ethics in genetics and mental health genetics, scientific fields still new to many parts of Africa. Click here to watch the video.
