Genetics and Race

Digital News Director, WHYY
Moderator, Genetics and Race

Michael Adams is the Director of Digital News For WHYY. He is also the Managing Partner of Bridge View Media, a Philadelphia based media content creation and management firm servicing clients internationally. Throughout his long media career in television, radio, film and the Internet, he specialized in content development and distribution in both news and entertainment and was recognized with multiple Emmy awards, Edward R. Murrow awards and Associated Press and UPI awards for his work. His career has been filled with projects that pushed the boundaries of media creation and innovation, many of which helped shape the landscape we see today. He has also been a longtime advocate of civic journalism, allowing citizens to participate in shaping how news is covered and disseminated.

Classes

• Class 3: Genetics and Race

Professor of Biology, Director of the W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory, Howard University

Dr. Jackson received her Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. (cum laude with Distinction in all Subjects) from Cornell University. Her doctoral dissertation research was on The Relationship of Certain Genetic Traits to the Incidence and Intensity of Malaria in Liberia, West Africa. She has conducted research on: 1.) Human-plant coevolution, particularly the influence of phytochemicals on human metabolic effects and evolutionary processes and 2.) Population substructure in peoples of African descent, developing Ethnogenetic Layering as a computational tool to identify human microethnic groups and differential expressions of health disparities. Trained as a human biologist, Dr. Jackson has published extensively in such journals as Human Biology, Biochemical Medicine and Metabolic Biology, Journal of the National Medical Association, American Journal of Human Biology, Annals of Human Biology, BMC Biology, and most recently the American Journal of Public Health. In 2012, she was Coined by Rear Admiral Dr. Helena Mishoe, National Institutes of Health, NHLBI and US Public Health Service.

Classes

• Class 3: Genetics and Race

Professor of Anthropology of Science, Department of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam

Dr. Amade M’charek’s research has focused on the social aspects of various biomedical technologies and practices, such as human genetic diversity, diversity in medical practice, and forensic genetics. She has conducted ethnographies of scientific or clinical practices looking at the entwinement of technologies and the objects of study/intervention. Her most recent research is on face-making and race-making in forensic identification (funded by a five-year ERC consolidator grant). In this study, she and her colleagues examine how technologies of face-making, aimed at the identification of a suspect or a victim, is also involved in race-making. The primary research aim is to develop methods and theoretical concepts with which to understand the simultaneous presence and absence of race in science and society. By taking into account biological factors, this research project will go beyond the social constructivist paradigm and unravel the ways in which ‘race’ is shaped as a set of relations between the biological, the social and the technical.

Select Resources

• "Topologies of Race: Doing territory, population and identity in Europe" in Science, Technology and Human Values (2014) [pdf]

• "Silent Witness, Articulate Collective: DNA Evidence and the Inference of Visible Traits" in Bioethics (2008) [pdf]

Classes

• Class 3: Genetics and Race

Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
Consulting Curator in Physical Anthropology and American Sections, Penn Museum

For the past twenty-five years, Schurr has investigated the genetic prehistory of Asia and the Americas through studies of mtDNA, Y-chromosome and autosomal DNA variation in Asian, Siberian and Native American populations.  Current projects include studies of genetic diversity in indigenous populations of Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.  His research group is also investigating the population history of Georgia (Caucasus), Pakistan and Kazakhstan through our collaborative genetic studies in those countries.

Select Resources

• "Mitochondrial DNA and the Peopling of the New World" in American Scientist (2000) [pdf]

Classes

• Class 3: Genetics and Race

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania

Spencer is an analytic philosopher that focuses on Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Biology, and Philosophy of Race. His interests in philosophy lie in the metaphysics of race, the nature of biological populations, and the natural kind realism debate.

Select Resources

• Philosophy of Race Meets Population Genetics (2015) [for purchase]

• A Radical Solution to the Race Problem (2014) [pdf]

Classes

• Class 3: Genetics and Race

David and Lyn Silfen University Professor in Genetics and Biology, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Tishkoff studies genomic and phenotypic variation in ethnically diverse Africans. Her research combines field work, laboratory research, and computational methods to examine African population history and how genetic variation can affect a wide range of practical issues – for example, why humans have different susceptibility to disease, how they metabolize drugs, and how they adapt through evolution.  She sits on the editorial boards at Genome Research; Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health;Molecular Biology and Evolution; G3 (Genes, Genomes, and Genetics). Her research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

Select Resources

• "Out of Africa: Startling New Genetics of Human Origins," Scientific American (2012)

• African Integrative Genomics: Implications for Human Origins and Disease [video]

• Interview with Dr. Tishkoff [video]

Classes

• Class 3: Genetics and Race