Type: Public event

Segregation Anew? The Rise of Pharmacogenomics and the Implications for Race in America

Date & time

Dec 8, 2009, 4:30-6:00 pm EST

Location

Weill Hall

Pharmacogenomic research offers the potential benefits of personalized medicine and targeted therapies, but it also raises the risk of reinforcing racial differences and stereotypes. Will pharmacogenomics increase the importance of race in American society? This panel explores how racial concepts and categories are influencing scientific, medical, and industrial development in this arena. It will also investigate how policy interventions may allow us to exploit the potential of pharmacogenomics, while avoiding its pitfalls.

Keynote speaker: Jonathan Kahn, Professor, Hamline University School of Law

With Commentary by:
Liz Barry,
Managing Director of the UM Life Sciences Institute
Kevin Gaines, UM Professor of History, Director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies
Jonathan Metzl, UM Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Women's Studies, Director of the Program in Culture, Health, and Medicine

Moderator: Shobita Parthasarathy, UM Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Co-Director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program

Sponsored by:
Office of the Vice President for Research Center for Ethics in Public Life, School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, and the Center for Public Policy in Diverse Societies.