Meharry Medical College, along with partners Regeneron Genetics Center® (RGC™), AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, and Roche, announced the launch of the Together for CHANGE™ (“Changing Healthcare for People of African Ancestry through an InterNational Genomics & Equity”) initiative to create better health care and outcomes for all.

The Together for CHANGE initiative seeks to address inequities in STEM careers and research with a two-pronged approach. First, the Diaspora Human Genomics Institute (DHGI) will establish a grant program to support research and educational capacity in genomics and related fields at Meharry Medical College, as well as broader STEM programs in racially diverse communities for grade school-aged children. Second, in close consultation with the local Black community through listening sessions and ongoing input, the DHGI will help facilitate the building of the largest African ancestry genomics research database, composed of de-identified genomic and phenotypic data from up to 500,000 volunteer participants.

Lyndon J. Mitnaul, PhD is an Executive Director in the Regeneron Genetics Center at Regeneron.Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in Tarrytown, NY, where he establishes and manages multi-organization,large-scale, diverse, human genetics research collaborations, and education and training initiatives focused on minority communities. In 2023, he led the formation of a new initiative, Together for CHANGETM, to increase the number of underrepresented students in STEM, and to significantly increase diversity in genomic databases being studied.

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