Biological anthropology professor Fatimah Jackson has devoted her entire life to studying the connections between ethnic groups. Most recently, she received a $50,000 stipend from wealthy financier Alphonse Fletcher Jr. that she will use to complete work on a book explaining her theory that similarities between diseases are more related to where people come from than their race.

“I was really honored to have the opportunity to have this fellowship and the chance to write this book I had wanted to do,” she said.

The award, which the Fletcher Fellows program gives out to fewer than a dozen scholars, will be used to further the goals of Brown v. Board of Education, because one of the central themes of her work is identity being a key element of civil rights.

“We talk about civil rights, but not class, in this country,” she said. “We need to look more carefully at what regional groups need to do to reduce health and educational disparities.”

People have been slow to realize that groups’ special needs are often based more on region than skin color, because “racism prevented people from realizing they’re in the same boat,” Jackson said.

The basic premise of Jackson’s research is that local groups have more in common than ethnic groups.

Instead of classifying people using broad categories such as black, white and Hispanic, Jackson’s research integrates genetic, cultural, environmental and historical data to pinpoint the susceptibilities and special needs of more area-specific groups.

“Humans are very similar biologically,” Jackson said. “It’s the non-genetic variations that distinguish us. I like to say, ‘Our blood is in the soil.'”

Jackson developed two computer analysis models known as ethnogenetic layering and phenotype segregation network analysis to hunt for the causes of public health problems.

Ethnogenetic layering allows researchers to stratify groups of people based on genetic, historical and toxicological data. Phenotype segregation network analysis then allows them to re-sort groups based on the presentation of a disease or disorder so common characteristics can be examined to discover possible causes.

The limitations of current methodologies that try to study connections between public health problems and ethnicity are that they are not specific enough, Jackson said.

Contact reporter Andrew Schaeffer at schaefferdbk@gmail.com.