Lunch with Dr. O
Can you spot the real scientist? (photo by Bob Cook-Deegan)
I was walking through Tower City, the teeming mall in downtown Cleveland, regretting not calling friends I used to know when I lived there, when I spied, sitting alone at the food court with a New York Times, one of the giants of genome history, Maynard Freaking Olson, in town to give a brilliant plenary address. As is my wont, I shamelessly pulled up a chair and started interviewing him. I mentioned the PGP and his eyes lit up. We talked about personal genomics, why he thinks it’s all so much “Freudian genetics,” ELSI, race, changing fields, George Church, health care, liberal politics, the disappointments of GWAS, Jim Watson, and on and on.
I was wrong: George Church is unique in many ways, but he is not the only hardcore genome sequencer who actually takes a real interest in the societal implications of his work. Thank you, Maynard!
I work as an Assistant Professor in the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (although this site and its content are my own).
In 2007 I became the fourth subject in Harvard geneticist George Church's Personal Genome Project. As the PGP moves forward, I am chronicling the dawn of personal genomics, that is, people obtaining their genomic information for whatever reason(s) and figuring out what to do with it. I am interested in the relevant technologies and especially the attendant privacy and other ethical/legal/social issues.
This blog may also discuss some of my non-genome interests or, to paraphrase Dwight Yoakam, "Guitars, Cadillacs, hillbilly music, etc etc."
The header image comes from the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's multimedia performance piece, "Ferocious Beauty: Genome."