The Sociogenomic Paradigm

Friday, 14 February 2014
Regency B (Hyatt Regency Chicago)
Catherine Bliss , University of California, San Francisco , San Francisco , CA
I will discuss the move in the genomic sciences toward recasting race as a multifaceted entity worth understanding from a genomic perspective. Since the Human Genome Project, geneticists have led public health efforts to recruit racial minorities and innovate health disparities research. Today, as public funding is channeled into racial research that takes a gene-environment approach, race is being redefined in terms of innate biology, thereby masking critical issues like trans-generational health effects, institutionalized racism, and unequal living conditions.