The inaugural Patricia Marshall Lecture on Genomics and Equity will be held Tuesday, Sept. 20, from 11 a.m. to noon in the Wolstein Research Building auditorium.
The lecture series is named in honor of Professor Emerita Patricia A. Marshall, who has long championed genomic equity through her work in international research ethics and genomics.
Charles Rotimi, scientific director at the National Human Genome Research Institute and president of the American Society of Human Genetics, will give the inaugural lecture.
Rotimi, a genetic epidemiologist, is an NIH distinguished investigator and director of theTrans-NIH Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health. He is a leader in exploring the implications of the increased genetic diversity in African ancestry populations for disease gene mapping. Rotimi is especially proud of his efforts at globalizing genomics. His engagement of African communities in genomic projects has had a transformative impact.
Rotimi was the founding president of the now-thriving African Society of Human Genetics, and he led the formation of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Initiative with more that $176 million in funding from NIH and Wellcome Trust. Rotimi is a member of three global academies—the US National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the African Academy of Sciences.
This lecture series, hosted by the Bioethics Center for Community Health and Genomic Equity (CHANGE) and the CWRU Department of Bioethics, will showcase scholarship centered on advancing health equity in genomics.