"A Post-Genomic Surprise: The Increasing Significance of Race in Debates and Practical Applications of Human Molecular Genetics" Troy Duster, Ph.D., New York University

The oft-quoted figure of "we are all 99.9 per cent alike" at the DNA level became a mantra for the next few years. However, at the same time, there was a "turn to difference" in the new fields of pharmacogenomics and pharmacotoxicology, aided by supercomputers and the capacity to do SNP profiles of the (at least) three million points of difference between any two individuals—at the DNA level. This has generated a huge debate, culminating in the approval by the FDA in late June of the first race-based drug, BiDil, about the role of race in clinical medicine.

Troy Duster is Professor of Sociology at New York University and he also holds an appointment as Chancellor’s Professor at the University of California, Berkeley.


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Date: August 2
Time: 4:00 PM
Place: Lillie Auditorium
Sponsor: Drs. Gerald and Ruth Fischbach


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