Communities of focus

Our communities of focus

Many multicultural communities are underrepresented in the genetic resources that doctors and researchers use to provide better care. These especially include Australians who have ancestry from Africa, the Middle East, Oceania, and Southeast Asia.

OurDNA is working to change this by focusing on some of the larger communities who are underrepresented. We have worked with doctors and researchers to find out which communities could benefit the most from being better represented in genetic databases. But we don’t intend to stop there! We aim to build resources that represent all Australians eventually.

Communities we're inviting to join OurDNA

We’re currently inviting:

Community members with Filipino ancestry

Community members with Vietnamese ancestry

Filipino community

1023

Filipino community members

have already joined OurDNA

OurDNA events held to date

have taken place with the Filipino community so far

Vietnamese community

1296

Vietnamese community members

have already joined OurDNA

OurDNA events held to date

have taken place with the Vietnamese community so far

Communities we’re expanding to

In the coming months, we’ll be working with the following communities to include community members in the OurDNA program.

And we plan to work with many more communities of African, Middle-Eastern, Oceanian and Southeast Asian background. If you are a part of one of these communities and are interested in partnering with us, fill out the expression of interest form linked below.

Lebanese community

Are you part of one of our communities of focus? Are you interested in learning about and helping the OurDNA program to advance medical research that might benefit your community members? Please let us know by filling in this form. A member of the team will be in contact with you soon.

Fijian community

Samoan community

South Sudanese community

Sudanese community

Tongan community

Upcoming events

Join us at a community event to learn more and be part of the change.

No upcoming events found.

Do you have questions?

If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, contact us.

Can anyone take part in OurDNA?

To take part in OurDNA, you must:

Be over 18 years old
Be eligible for Medicare
Be able to give a blood sample in Victoria or New South Wales
Self-identify as having ancestry from one of the communities underrepresented in genetics resources. Visit this page to check which communities we are actively working with.
People cannot participate if they or anyone in their close family has a known severe genetic health condition, like cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy. This does not include common conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, cancer or diabetes.

How long will OurDNA go for?

OurDNA is currently funded until the end of 2027. It is our intention to continue our work until all Australian communities are represented and for the OurDNA database and sample bank to be available for as long as possible for researchers.

I’m not sure what my genetic ancestry is, should I take part?

The goal of the OurDNA program is to include representation in genetic resources of people from specific underrepresented communities in genetic resources. However, we understand and respect that some people may identify as being part of one cultural community, but have a different genetic background.

If you identify as having ancestry from one of the communities we are actively working with, but you are not sure of your background or do not know, we encourage you to take part.

Is OurDNA working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?

While we are not working directly in Indigenous communities, we are an active member of the ALIGN and CONNECT consortia, national Indigenous-led efforts that are working to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in genomic medicine and research.

We provide technical advice for the development of genomic data infrastructure for nationally consistent, culturally appropriate, ethical storage, management, and sharing of genomic data to benefit Indigenous Australians.

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