There's a lot of baggage with "race related medical research."

At least within the US, it is currently deemed wrong think for a number of reasons.

First, how are you defining race? The current American definitions of race are imprecise and sociologically constructed. Since the founding of America, the definition of white has expanded to include various groups that were previously excluded (e.g. Polish, Irish, Jewish people, Italians, Greek) [0].

As far as black/African Americans, the current definition (one drop rule) has its limitations. Sub-saharan Africa is not a monolith. It has been found that the genetic diversity between Sub-saharan African ethnicity groups exceeds other regions of the world [1]. Even as far as physical differences, there is a noticeable physical difference between a Tutsi from Rwanda, a Luhya from Kenya, an Amhara from Ethiopia, and a Yoruba from Nigeria. A very noticeable difference. I can't speak for their "genetic difference." However, it's large enough to warrant further investigation on what categories are used. This distinction is important moving forward. Since 1970, voluntary immigration from Africa has surged from the aforementioned regions [2], with many becoming first, and second generation Americans [3], the current racial assumptions and definitions are a tad archaic.

This is just one racial group within the US. I didn't really even mention how ludicrous bucketing 60% of the world's population as "Asian" is.

Second, and most importantly, the US does not have a great track record with biological research targeting black people, Native Americans, and other minority groups. There is a long history of medical abuse where researchers conduct experiments without the knowledge or consent of black patients. A few notable examples in recent history are the Tuskagee Syphilis Experiments between 1932 and 1972 [3] and DoD's non-consensual whole body radiation experiments on black cancer patients between 1960 and 1971 [4][5]. Even today, this sort of non-consensual racial medical experimentation has not stopped. As recently as 2013, Ethiopian Jews (immigrating from Ethiopia) in Israel were coerced into agreeing to injections of long acting birth control drugs by Israeli medical officials [6]. The apprehension is very much justified.

> If everyone is the same, why bother with diverse studies?

You're tone suggests that you don't understand why people are "dancing" around the subject and trying to be politically correct or whatever. I am under the impression that the American medical research community has, through its actions, fostered distrust in "racial" based medical research. Now, it's stuck in a bind, as a direct consequence of its actions.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_whiteness_in_th...

[1] cshperspectives.cshlp.org/content/6/7/a008524.full

[2] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/14/african-immi...

[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2015-10-13/it-isn-t-...

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/health/23book.html

[6] https://goo.gl/BbpdhX

[7] https://www.forbes.com/sites/eliseknutsen/2013/01/28/israel-...