Religion is an understudied and significant factor that shapes attitudes toward genomic medicine. Our project, BRIDGE: Building Religious Inclusion for Diverse Genomic Engagement, addresses critical gaps in understanding concerns about genomic medicine among Christian adults in the US. Through a subaward from NIH-funded BRIDGE Program at Biola University, we will develop a multi-disciplinary research program aimed at identifying facilitators and obstacles to engagement with genomics from reproduction through early childhood (GREC) among Christians. The research will focus on understanding what aspects of religious faith shape attitudes toward prenatal genetic testing, IVF and genetic screening, gene editing, and stem cell research and therapies. Research and scholarly projects will include:

1. A review of theological considerations from different Christian theological streams (including Black Church, Catholic, Evangelical, and Mainline Protestant) regarding prenatal genetic testing, IVF and genetic screening, gene editing, and stem cell research.

2. A narrative review of secular and non-Christian reflections on genomics from reproduction through early childhood (GREC) mapped onto Christian theological reflections. This will identify areas of overlap and uniqueness as Christian thought is brought into dialogue with others.

3. A survey of 2700 adults from different Christan groups in the US to explore how attitudes toward science, demographics, religion, and role of moral foundations impact the way people make decisions about genomic healthcare issues from reproduction through early childhood.

4. We will conduct 120 in-depth interviews with people who are or seek to become parents to understand more about their attitudes and experiences with genetic testing, gene editing, and stem cell therapies.

5. We will conduct participatory design workshops with three groups including, 1) healthcare professionals who identify as Christian, 2) health care professionals who do not identify as Christian, and 3) faith leaders and faith community members to develop and evaluate online educational materials to assist parents and healthcare professionals as they navigate healthcare decisions about genomics from reproduction through early childhood.

DuBois will co-lead this research project with Biola University faculty, Drs. Eu Gene Chin and Liz Hall. This collaborative project was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute’s “Building Partnerships and Broadening Perspectives to Advance Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Research (BBAER) Program.” The purpose of this program is to increase the involvement of research organizations like Biola University that are underrepresented in NHGRI’s ELSI Research Program The BRIDGE program will offer Biola University the opportunity to develop its research compliance and administration infrastructure and grow its research workforce, including faculty and graduate students.

 

Funding: The NIH National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) UM1; #1UM1HG014591; 4/9/2026 – 2/28/2031

 

Project team:

• James M. DuBois, DSc, PhD, Principal Investigator
• Liz Hall, PhD, Biola University, Principal Investigator
• Eu Gene Chin, PhD, Biola University, Principal Investigator
• Lauren L. Baker, PhD, Co-Investigator
• Bryan Sisk, MD, MSCI, Co-Investigator
• Dorothy Calley, PhD
• Kari Baldwin, MSW, Project Manager
• Erin Solomon, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist
• Ebelechukwu C. Obi, MPA, Biola University, Research Assistant

 

In this project, we searched for published statements by national organizations representing the Catholic, Orthodox, and the largest denominations in the Black, Evangelical, and Mainline Protestant traditions in the US. Statements were also collected from the largest Christian health professional associations: the Catholic Health Association, the Catholic Medical Association and the Christian Medical and Dental Association. Our focus was on statements regarding three socially divisive issues in healthcare: abortion, transgender care, and vaccines. We identified a total of 47 statements. Statements were content analyzed to characterize the publication date, the purpose of the statement, the target audience, if the statement was issued in response to a specific event, mentions of political or government entities or activities, the process for issuing the statement, content and guidelines for the stance taken on the issue, whether the stance appears subject to revision or is deeply rooted in tradition and unchangeable, if the statement refers to previously issued statements by the group, references to scientific information, whether the statement explicitly draws upon Christian Scriptures or theology or views of the tradition, and whether the approach included statement of compassion or expressions of pastoral care.

 

Funding: BF Charitable Foundation and Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University

 

Project team:

• James M. DuBois, DSc, PhD
• Ana S. Iltis, PhD
• Lauren L. Baker, PhD
• Clara Ambrose
• Kari Baldwin, MSW

This project aims to understand what factors would foster peaceable engagement with socially divisive issues in healthcare among Christians. We will lead a series of co-creation workshops with Christian faith leaders and healthcare professionals to explore which divisive issues are regularly encountered in their work, and how these issues arise. We will also conduct two survey studies to validate a measure of Social Engagement with Divisive Issues (SEDI). The SEDI will be used in future studies to examine what factors are associated with peaceable forms of engagement with divisive issues. Finally, we will convene a research project planning meeting with our full team of project leaders and consultants. This meeting will help us to generate a 3-year project grant proposal to the Templeton Religion Trust aimed at leveraging resources from Christianity and diverse disciplines to develop a peacemaking approach to engagement with divisive issues in healthcare.

 

Project team:

• James M. DuBois, DSc, PhD, Principal Investigator and Project Director
• Lauren L. Baker, PhD, Qualitative Project Co-Lead
• Don E. Davis, PhD, Survey Project Co-Lead
• Ana S. Iltis, PhD, Qualitative Project Co-Lead
• Devan Stahl, PhD, M.Div., Theological Project Co-Lead
• Penina Acayo Laker, MFA, Co-Design Workshop Co-Lead
• Kari Baldwin, MSW, Project Manager
• Erin Solomon, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist

We know that people who are highly religious have more concerns with genetics in medicine than other people. Genetics in medicine includes activities such as prenatal genetic testing, gene editing, and the development of mRNA vaccines such as the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines. In this project, we seek to better understand why higher levels of religious practice are related to greater concerns with genetic medicine. Gaining insight into this might help healthcare to better serve the many people in the US who are religious: Ninety percent of the US public believes in some kind of higher power, 55% pray daily, and most health disparity populations are more highly religious than the general US public. This 3-year study is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NIH NHGRI).

First, we will conduct a national survey with 5,000 adults in the US. The Healthcare, Values, and Spiritual Life Survey asks about personal religious and spiritual beliefs and attitudes toward key healthcare activities that involve genetics—particularly prenatal genetic testing and the use of mRNA vaccines. Building on what we learn from the HVS Survey with the US public, we will then conduct in-depth interviews with 161 faith leaders from six major religious groups (Catholic, Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, Black Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim). Faith leader perspectives will help us interpret our survey findings and identify ways genetic medicine can respectfully and constructively engage with people of faith about healthcare.

 

Funding: NIH Ethical, Legal and Social Implications R01; 1R01HG012830-01; 9/22/2022 – 6/30/2026

 

Project team:

• James M. DuBois, DSc, PhD, Principal Investigator
• Lauren L. Baker, PhD, Co-Investigator
• Eu Gene Chin, PhD, Biostatistician
• Erin Solomon, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist
• Kari A. Baldwin, MSW, Senior Project Manager
• Scott Thumma, PhD, Recruitment Consultant
• Gabrielle Kennedy, MDiv, MBA, Recruitment Consultant

 

Publications:

We have completed our survey and in-depth interviews and are currently writing up our findings.

DuBois JM, Chin EG, Solomon E, et al. (2025). Religious Factors Predict Support for Genomic Medicine More Strongly than Politics, Education, or Trust: A Survey of 4,939 Adults in the United States. Frontiers in Genetics. 16:1587774:1-11.

Harris, J. K., Solomon, E. D., Baldwin, K., Baker, L. L., Chin, E. G., & DuBois, J. M. (2025). Integrating mRNA vaccines into the attitudes toward genomics and precision medicine scale: A validation study with a sample of 4939 adults in the USA. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 9(1), e60. doi: 10.1017/cts.2025.38

Van Tongeren, D. R., Solomon, E. D., Baldwin, K., & DuBois, J. M. (2026). Attitudes toward Genomic Healthcare among Christian Dones in the United States. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 18(1), 154-159. doi: 10.1037/rel0000589

Solomon, E. D., Chin, E. G., Baldwin, K., Baker, L. L., & DuBois, J. M. (2026). Which religious and personal characteristics predict attitudes toward gene editing? Findings from a survey of 4,939 adults in the U.S. Journal of Community Genetics, 17(3). doi: 10.1007/s12687-026-00898-4

Solomon, E. D., Chin, E. G., Baldwin, K., Baker, L. L., & DuBois, J. M. (in press). Religious beliefs and practices, political orientation, and distrust in healthcare predict attitudes toward mRNA vaccines in the United States. PLOS Global Public Health.

 

Deposited Datasets:

• DuBois, J. M. Attitudes toward Genomic Healthcare among Christian Dones in the United States (2023). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-09-18. doi: 10.3886/E209151V1
• Dubois, J. M. Which religious and personal characteristics predict attitudes toward gene editing in the United States? Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2026-02-05. doi: 10.3886/E244964V1
• DuBois, J. M. Which religious and personal characteristics predict attitudes toward mRNA vaccines in the United States? Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2026-03-30. doi: 10.3886/E247241V1

People regularly make difficult ethical decisions about their healthcare. Not surprisingly, people who are highly religious primarily rely on religious teachings when deciding what is right and wrong. All major religions have teachings on controversial moral issues such as abortion, prenatal genetic testing, physician-assisted suicide, and organ donation. However, some religious teachings related to healthcare are complex, not widely known, or challenging to apply in concrete situations.

No one has yet studied how often highly religious people make difficult healthcare ethics decisions, whether they have access to healthcare ethics consultation (HEC) services, whether HEC providers feel qualified to serve the needs of people from diverse faith groups, and how highly religious people would prefer to meet HEC needs. With funding from the BF Foundation, we will study these important issues.

First, we will survey 3,000 highly religious people to identify the healthcare ethics decisions they grapple with, the assistance they seek, and the gap between what they seek and what is available. We will conduct follow up interviews with 30 participants to gain greater insight into these issues. Second, we will conduct 180 surveys with HEC providers. With HEC providers we wish to understand how well prepared they feel to address complex healthcare issues from a religious perspective, and what resources they would welcome.

Building off the results from these surveys and interviews, we will explore several real-world options for better meeting the needs of highly religious patients, such as: (a) establishing a national network of faith-based HEC providers who can be accessed via phone or videoconferencing, or (b) developing a faith-based healthcare ethics website that addresses issues highly religious people most struggle with from diverse faith perspectives.

 

Funding: BF Foundation Gift

 

Project team:

• James M. DuBois, DSc, PhD, Principal Investigator
• Annie Friedrich, PhD, HEC-C, Co-Investigator
• Lauren L. Baker, PhD, Co-Investigator
• Erin Solomon, PhD, Senior Staff Scientist
• Kari A. Baldwin, MSW, Senior Project Manager
• Heidi Walsh, MPH, CHES, Senior Project Manager
• Felicia Cohn, PhD, Consulting Content Expert

 

Publications:

We have completed our survey of 3,000 adults in the US, 18 follow-up interviews, and our survey of clinical ethics consultants working in the US. We are currently analyzing data for publication.

Health researchers and professionals sometimes seek to partner with faith communities to improve public health. Past engagements with faith communities have focused on diabetes, hypertension, cancer screening, HIV/AIDS, infectious disease prevention, and maternal and child health. To improve community health, professionals may try to change certain behaviors such as diet, exercise, and participation in health screenings and vaccinations.

We are conducting a systematic review of articles that describe collaborations between health professionals and faith communities on vaccines, genetic testing programs, and colorectal cancer screening. We want to answer the following questions:

• How have health professionals collaborated with faith communities?
• What are the goals of these collaborations?
• How often do health professionals seek to offer information and listen to the needs and concerns of faith communities?
• How are these collaborations received by faith communities? What appears to work well, and what are opportunities for improvement?

We searched through thousands of articles and analyzed 121 articles that report on collaborations between health professionals and faith leaders. Findings will be used to help identify and develop models of effectively and respectfully engaging faith communities to improve public health.

 

Funding: NIH Ethical, Legal and Social Implications R01; 1R01HG012830-01; 9/22/2022 – 6/30/2026, and BF Foundation Gift

 

Project team:

• Ana S. Iltis, PhD
• Lauren L. Baker, PhD
• Kari Baldwin, MSW
• Lucas Cruz
• Lauren H. Yaeger, MA, MLIS
• James M. DuBois, DSc, PhD

 

Publications:

Findings from this project are reported in this open access article:

Iltis, A.S., Baker, L.L., Baldwin, K., Cruz, L., Yaeger, L.H., & DuBois, J.M. (2025). Approaches to engaging faith communities in public health efforts regarding vaccination, genetics, and colorectal cancer: a systematic review. BMC Public Health, 25(1):703. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21903-4