[4][5] Her work identified the lack of knowledge about African gene variants that hindered pharmacogenomics research, including into the efficacy of HIV treatments.
Hayes and her collaborators revealed in 2010 that the genetic diversity among people in southern Africa is greater than among other populations worldwide.
[9] [10] In 2010 Hayes joined the J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego, California, USA, where she continued her research into human genetic diversity.
[4] That year she began leading a study sequencing DNA from a skeleton of an African hunter gatherer from around 315 BC found in St Helena Bay in South Africa.
The study highlighted the significance of southern African archaeological remains in defining human origins and was published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution in 2014.