Francis Collins in Houston

Consider this an irregular PSA. The Houston Holocaust Museum has been having a seemingly exhaustive mega-part lecture series dating back to last fall. It's about to wrap up with one of the reasons I took note of it. Francis Collins is one of the scientists who led the public effort to map the human genome. He's also written a great book that I'm finally gotten around to reading: The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. Check it out if you're nerdy enough.

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"21st Century Genetics: Maximizing Benefits, Minimizing Harms"
and
"What Does 21st Century Eugenics Look Like"

with

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, National Human Genome Research Institute

Christine Rosen, Ph.D.
Fellow, Project on Biotechnology and American Democracy at the Ethics and Public Policy Center

"Medical Ethics and the Holocaust," a 15-part lecture series presented by Holocaust Museum Houston, concludes this January with a warning against tampering with the genetic code - tampering that could lead to the next generation of discrimination. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Christine Rosen, Ph.D., senior editor of The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology & Society, will both ask what happens when DNA tampering leads to genetic discrimination - the type of discrimination used against victims of the Holocaust more than 60 years ago. Collins will discuss how it will take the full involvement of scientists, health care providers, policymakers and society at large, together with an appreciation of history, to ensure that the medical benefits of the genome revolution are not misused. Rosen will discuss how eugenics, the movement to improve the human race through better breeding that influenced the practices of the Third Reich, has long been held in disrepute. Nevertheless, she will point out that society continues to practice eugenics through sex selection, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and the abortion of fetuses diagnosed with diseases such as Down Syndrome. Admission is free, but advance registration is required.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the University of Houston as their annual Elizabeth Dr. Rockwell Ethics and Leadership Lecture.

Lecture at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008

Entrance 1
Cullen Performance Hall
University of Houston

Please note: All seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Arrive early. Parking is available for $3 after 6 p.m.

For more information, visit www.hmh.org/medethics. Medical professionals may register for CME, CNE and Ethics credit for each lecture, which will be certified for two (2) credits per lecture. For more information, contact Deanna Tessenyi at dmtessen@utmb.edu.

Don't miss our companion exhibit:

"How Healing Becomes Killing: Eugenics, Euthanasia and Extermination"
On display at Holocaust Museum Houston's Morgan Family Center,
5401 Caroline Street, Houston, TX, 77004 in Houston's Museum District
September 7, 2007 through February 3, 2008
9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday
Noon-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Free Admission Always

For more information on the human genome, visit "Genome: The Secret of How Life Works," on display February 2 through May 4, 2008 at The Health Museum. "Genome" explores the mysteries of the human gene, why the genome is being mapped and the potential benefits of gene research. It also looks at the 200-year history of this science and the individuals who have shaped it - from Gregor Mendel, the 19th-century monk who discovered the rules of inheritance by cultivating peas in a monastery garden, to Jim Watson and Francis Crick, who in the early 1950s discovered the form and process of genetic replication, the famous DNA double helix. Holocaust Museum Houston members receive a $1.00 general admission discount with a valid membership card. For more information, click here.