I have been privileged to practice gastroenterology and perform research studies in England, Africa and the USA as it gave me first-hand experience of the variations in incidence of gastrointestinal diseases around the world. It was this experience that kindled my interest in the remarkably different states of nutrition and disease patterns in different ethnic communities. What was truly remarkable was the difference I observed in the prevalence of colon polyps and cancer between Africans, who rarely had polyps or cancer, to African Americans, who commonly presented with the disease, and suffer the highest incidence of colon cancer within the continental USA. Over the last five years I have collaborated with Dr Tim Thomas' research team at ANTHC to see how we can optimize the diet of Alaska Native people to prevent non-communicable diseases, specifically colon cancer.