Making genomics more accessible through community, education, and trust.
● We seek a more equitable future for genomics and precision medicine — one where Black communities are equipped with the knowledge, resources, and agency to engage with and benefit from advances in technology and biomedicine.
Provide Black communities with the education and resources to understand genomics.
Eliminate “race as biology” from conversations about human genetics and acknowledge science’s complicated histories with race and racism.
Explicitly avoid replicating white supremacist thinking and furthering existing social inequities in health and medicine.
OUR VISION
Empower people to use genomic advancements to improve their own health outcomes and help people attain agency over their bodies.
Develop more accurate understandings about ancestry, heredity, and genetic relatedness for Black communities.
“While Black St. Louisans have concerns about genomics and precision medicine, they still see a bright future for their impact on health and health equity. Through the Black Genome Project, we have learned that Black St. Louisans have an unequivocal sense that genomics has important implications for health and want to be ethically, honestly, and earnestly included in and empowered by the process. ”
Chelsey R. Carter and Brett Maricque in The Lancet Regional HealthUPCOMING EXHIBITION
A Blueprint of Us:
BLACKNESS, ANCESTRY, & IDENTITY
September 4 – October 10, 2026The Griot Museum | The INDEX - The Luminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
WHO WE ARE
Black Genome Project (BGP) is a community-centered research project focused on understanding how Black St. Louisians understand and value their DNA and genetic data.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to fairly understand the meaning and promise of genetic research for Black communities in the Greater St. Louis area. We seek to avoid the risky impacts of racializing genetic findings and continuing race-based (race as biology) medicine within genetics. Our hopeful desire is to create a more rigorous and critical space for Black communities to not only better understand human genetic diversity and genetic ancestry but to also help create opportunities for individuals to have agency over their personal health information. Together with Black communities, we hope that individuals become more empowered with their genetic health information within science, medicine, and healthcare.
DATA & RESEARCH
Inspired in part by W.E.B. Du Bois's hand-drawn data infographics, A Blueprint of Us translates five years of community-centered research into a public, visual, sensory experience. The exhibition draws on BGP's original research data, and features new work commissioned from local artists and portraits by award-winning photographer Adrian Octavius Walker, who documented community members and research participants throughout BGP's data collection process.
BLACK GENOME PROJECT TEAM RESEARCH ANALYSIS IN ST. LOUIS, MO.
73%
of Black people shared awareness of medical conditions that run their family.
OUR TEAM
MPH, PhD
Chelsey Carter
Co- Principal Investigator Co- Principal Investigator
Brett Maricque
PhD
Imani Myton
Project Coordinator Research Coordinator Ashley Nurse
Maame-Owusua Boateng
Graduate Research Assistant 
Judith Mwobobia
Graduate Research Assistant 
Nautica Alexander
Research Assistant We believe that intentional and transparent engagement with the community can lead to safe spaces for Black people to evaluate, learn, and take ownership of their health and the future of genomics and precision medicine.
