By Pam Sowers
News & Community Relations
Scientists have mapped the human genome and are hoping to predict who might be susceptible to certain diseases or responsive to certain treatments.
Yet the scientific advances raise ethical, legal and social questions and have implications for communities. How can I protect my family鈥檚 privacy? How will genomics affect the legal system? Will genomic medicine reduce health disparities? Will the cost of medical care rise or fall?
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, will be at the 91探花Saturday, May 21, to consider such complex questions with community members and to discuss these ethical, social and legal implications of genomic research.
鈥淒NA, Health and Social Justice: A Community Forum on Genetics,鈥� at the 91探花Law School in William Gates Hall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., will engage community members, educators, students and professionals in a dialogue about genomics, research, applications and ethics. This free event is open to the public.
Speakers and session facilitators include: Sharon Terry, executive director of the Genetic Alliance; Ralph Forquera, executive director of the Seattle Indian Health Board; and Makani Themba-Nixon, executive director of the Praxis Project.
The forum is a collaboration between the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, and several 91探花partners, including the Department of Medical History and Ethics, the Department of Genome Sciences, the Institute for Public Health Genetics, and the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences.
The agenda includes Collins鈥� keynote address at 10 a.m., plenary sessions and breakout sessions.
To register, see the forum Web site at http://depts.washington.edu/ceeh/Genetics_Forum/Genetics_Forum_main.htm