# Organizational and Cultural Dynamics in Genomics Companies: Industry Engagement in Navigating Social and Ethical Issues

> **NIH NIH K99** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $54,450

## Abstract

This K99/R00 Award is designed to generate scholarship and interventions to guide genomics companies
towards more just practices. It does so through a five-year training and research project, which investigates
perspectives from members of the genomics industry, and leverages them to inform normative analyses and
identify feasible paths towards concrete change. The project addresses issues of price, access and industrial
control, with a focus on the ethics of profit and social responsibility. Through the proposed training program,
the project prepares the candidate as an independent scholar whose research program links empirical and
normative research with practical interventions to positively influence ethics and justice in private sector
genomics. The first phase of research (conducted during the K phase, alongside training activities) is a
comparative study examining social and cultural factors involved in perceptions of ethical issues among
members of industry. The comparative study focuses on three biotech hubs in the US (the Bay Area, San
Diego, and Boston), as well as an additional site in South Africa (Cape Town). The South African site helps
place investigation of the US industry in light of a shifting global industry, and especially South Africa’s policy
focus on genomics for population health (as well as its role in the H3Africa initiative). The study also considers
industry subsector and individual company culture, in examining influences on industry approaches to social
and ethical issues. During its R phase, the project then involves a systematic normative analysis of profit and
social obligation in the genomics industry, based on key theories from bioethics and business ethics. The
project will then feed this scholarly analysis back to industry stakeholders; using a Delphi study, it allows
members of industry to use results of the normative analysis in strategizing interventions with the greatest
likelihood of influencing the genomics industry in ethically desirable ways. This project addresses the NHGRI
ELSI research priorities of genomic equity and social justice, as well as genomics and public health. Its career
development plan focuses on training in normative analysis and Delphi methods, as well as content training in
genomics and entrepreneurship. The training will be conducted at Johns Hopkins University, where the
school’s preeminent bioethics center houses world experts in qualitative and quantitative empirical bioethics,
alongside the University’s leading research and training in the biomedical sciences and their application in
industry. The integrated research and training plan will prepare the candidate as an independent ELSI scholar
with a rigorous research program focused on empirical and normative analysis of the business of biomedicine
and genomics, and engagement with industry stakeholders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10017284
- **Project number:** 5K99HG010499-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Alexis Walker
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $54,450
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-12 → 2020-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10017284

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10017284, Organizational and Cultural Dynamics in Genomics Companies: Industry Engagement in Navigating Social and Ethical Issues (5K99HG010499-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10017284. Licensed CC0.

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