Making sense of race is a difficult challenge for biomedicine. Should medicine focus on shared humanity or recognize the salience of racial and ethnic divisions? While physicians and patients continue to hope for a future free of racial animus, the unfortunate reality is that race continues to adversely affect the health and well-being of millions of individuals. The effect of race must therefore be measured and explicated. The quality of data on racial inequities has increased exponentially in recent decades, and a vast literature exists of primary reports, books, committee reviews, and recommendations from government panels. Yet, with all this documenting and cataloguing, is science meeting its obligation to make a socially useful contribution?