Newsletter No. 18
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Arno G. Motulsky, MD, Founder of Medical Genetics, Dies at Age 94
Arno G. Motulsky, MD, Founder of Medical Genetics, dies at age 94 July 5, 1923 – January 17, 2018 Arno Motulsky was the founder of Medical Genetics at the University of Washington. Today he died at the age of 94 years, surrounded by his children Judy, Harvey, and Arlene. The life and career of Arno Motulsky were in every way remarkable. His contributions to human genetics were as a scientist, clinician, and mentor. In 1939, at age 16, Motulsky was among the Jewish passengers attempting to flee Germany on the MS St. Louis. The ship was denied entry to Cuba and turned away from the United States. It was forced to return to Europe, where the young Motulsky was arrested in Belgium, ironically, for being German. After a series of transfers, he was sent to the Gurs internment camp in Vichy France. Unlike many, he did not die of starvation or cholera, but survived to leave France in June of 1941 just ten days before his 18th birthday, when transit would have been impossible through Franco-controlled Spain. Motulsky came to America, met his future wife Gretel in night school in Chicago, became an American citizen, and joined the U.S. Army. He attended Yale University as part of the Army’s program for rapid training of physicians, earning his M.D. at the University of Illinois in 1947. He and Gretel married in 1945. He undertook residencies in medicine and hematology, studying hemoglobinopathies with Karl Singer at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and during the Korean War, was posted at Walter Reed Hospital to study red cell disorders affecting American troops. -
Genetic Discrimination: Genealogy of an American Problem
Genetic Discrimination: Genealogy of an American Problem Janet Elizabeth Childerhose Department of Anthropology McGill University, Montreal November 2008 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Janet Elizabeth Childerhose 2008 ABSTRACT Genetic discrimination has been transformed from an isolated concern of a handful of professionals into a pressing civil rights and public policy problem in the United States over the last twenty years. My dissertation is a genealogical account of how genetic discrimination has been shaped into a problem of this stature. It answers two questions: Where did the problem come from? How has the problem changed over time? In Part One, I trace the history of concerns about discrimination from the 1970s to the present. Drawing from oral histories with key actors and organizations that shaped early public understanding of the problem, I show that concerns about genetic discrimination originated in diverse practices. These practices include workplace genetic screening, insurer discrimination against individuals with AIDS, the rapid commercialization of genetic tests in the 1980s, and health care reform. In Part Two, I present findings from a three-year ethnographic study of public policy hearings on genomic medicine in the United States that illustrate how new actors have been defining the problem of genetic discrimination since 1995. The hearings of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society were a site where participants legitimized genetic discrimination as a civil rights problem and developed lobbying tools to persuade Congress to pass federal nondiscrimination legislation. Participants framed fear of discrimination as a barrier to the nation’s scientific progress and a significant threat to the lives of Americans. -
Arno G. Motulsky 1923–2018
Arno G. Motulsky 1923–2018 A Biographical Memoir by Stanley M. Gartler and Gail P. Jarvik ©2019 National Academy of Sciences. Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. ARNO GUNTHER MOTULSKY July 5, 1923–January 17, 2018 Elected to the NAS, 1976 Arno G. Motulsky, a founder of modern human genetics and creator of pharmacogenetics, was born in Fisch- hausen, Germany, on July 5, 1923, and died in Seattle, Washington, on January 17, 2018. Hitler and his Nazi Party had come to power in 1933, and anti-Semitism was a centerpiece of the Nazi platform. By 1939, many German Jews had already left or were making plans to leave Germany, as was the Motulsky family. Arno’s father had a brother in Chicago, so in 1939 Arno’s father left for Cuba, planning to establish the family there before heading to the United States and Chicago. Photograph by Elson Alexandre. Conditions for Jews in Germany continued to deteriorate. Arno’s mother became concerned about remaining in Germany and obtained a tourist entry card for the family By Stanley M. Gartler and Gail P. Jarvik to join his father in Cuba. In May 1939, Arno, his mother, and two younger siblings boarded the German ship, the St. Louis, for the two-week trip to Havana. As Arno wrote aboard the St. Louis, “spirits (of passengers) were high because everyone was glad to escape the hell of Hitler.”1 After arrival in Cuba, however, few were allowed to disembark because the tourist entry cards were not considered valid. -
The Development, Rise, Fall, and Return of the Concept of Anticipation in Hereditary Disease
Coming Full Circle: The Development, Rise, Fall, and Return of the Concept of Anticipation in Hereditary Disease by Judith Ellen Friedman B.Sc., University of Alberta, 1994 B.A. University of Alberta, 1995 M.A. University of Alberta, 1997 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History © Judith Ellen Friedman, 2008 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying or other means, without the permission of the author. ISBN: 978-0-494-52946-1 ii Coming Full Circle: The Development, Rise, Fall, and Return of the Concept of Anticipation in Hereditary Disease by Judith Ellen Friedman B.Sc., University of Alberta, 1994 B.A. University of Alberta, 1995 M.A. University of Alberta, 1997 Supervisory Committee Dr. Gregory Blue, Supervisor (Department of History) Dr. Angus McLaren, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. David Zimmerman, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. Robert Reid, Outside Member (Department of Biology) Dr. Michael Ashwood-Smith, Outside Member (Department of Biology) Dr. Robert Olby, External Examiner (Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh) iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Gregory Blue, Supervisor (Department of History) Dr. Angus McLaren, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. David Zimmerman, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. Robert Reid, Outside Member (Department of Biology) Dr. Michael Ashwood-Smith, Outside Member (Department of Biology) Dr. Robert Olby, External Examiner (Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh) ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the history of the creation and development of the concept of anticipation, a pattern of heredity found in several diseases (e.g. -
Summer 2005 (Pdf)
T H E G E N O M E S C I E N T I S T Volume 2, Number 1 Summer 2005 DEPARTMENT ADDS THREE FACULTY MEMBERS Joshua Akey, Assistant Professor Joshua Akey, Ph.D., joined Genome Sciences last fall from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center where he had been a postdoctoral fellow in the Kruglyak Lab. Dr. Akey commented that “there were many features that attracted me to Genome Sciences, including the strength, breadth, and collegiality of the faculty and a strong graduate pro- gram.” Well known in the fields of population Evan Eichler, genetics and molecular evolution, Dr. Associate Professor Akey has research interests that include understanding how evolutionary forces Evan Eichler, shape patterns of genetic variation Ph.D., joined within and between species and how we Genome Sci- UW Genome Sciences www.gs.washington.edu continued on page 2 ences in May 2004 from , Case Western Michael MacCoss Reserve Uni- Assistant Professor versity, not- IN THIS ISSUE: Michael ing that “Ge- MacCoss, Ph.D., nome Sciences combines the strengths came to Ge- of a more traditional genetics program New Faculty 1-2 nome Sciences while taking advantage of new devel- Notes from the Chair 2 in December opments in genome technology and Fangman Symposium 3 2003 from the computer science. I am excited by the Foege Building 3 Scripps Insti- prospects – genomics with a strong Faculty Honors 4-5 tute, where he genetic backbone is poised to make News & Notes 6-7 had been a some of the most significant contribu- Research Highlights 8-12 postdoctoral fellow in the Yates Lab. -
Human Genetics Human Vogel and Motulsky’S Vogel
Motulsky Speicher · Antonarakis M.R. Speicher S.E. Antonarakis A.G. Motulsky Eds. Editors Vogel and Motulsky’s Human Genetics 1 Human Genetics and Motulsky’s Vogel Problems and Approaches 4th Edition 4th Ed. 1 23 Speicher ● Antonarakis ● Motulsky VOGEL AND MOTULSKY’S HUMAN GENETICS Problems and Approaches Fourth Edition Speicher Antonarakis Motulsky VOGEL AND MOTULSKY’S HUMAN GENETICS Problems and Approaches Fourth, Completely Revised Edition With 343 Figures and 76 Tables Editors Michael R. Speicher Arno G. Motulsky Institute of Human Genetics Professor Emeritus Medical University of Graz Departments of Medicine (Division of Medical Genetics) Harrachgasse 21/8 and Genome Sciences 8010 Graz University of Washington Austria School of Medicine [email protected] Box 355065 1705 N.E. Pacifi c St. Stylianos E. Antonarakis Seattle, WA 98195-5065 Department of Genetic Medicine and Development USA University of Geneva Medical School [email protected] and University Hospitals of Geneva 1 rue Michel-Servet 1211 Geneva Switzerland [email protected] ISBN 978-3-540-37653-8 e-ISBN 978-3-540-37654-5 DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-37654-5 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009931325 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. -
Human Genetics in Troubled Times and Places Peter S
Harper Hereditas (2018) 155:7 DOI 10.1186/s41065-017-0042-4 REVIEW Open Access Human genetics in troubled times and places Peter S. Harper Abstract The development of human genetics world-wide during the twentieth century, especially across Europe, has occurred against a background of repeated catastrophes, including two world wars and the ideological problems and repression posed by Nazism and Communism. The published scientific literature gives few hints of these problems and there is a danger that they will be forgotten. The First World War was largely indiscriminate in its carnage, but World War 2 and the preceding years of fascism were associated with widespread migration, especially of Jewish workers expelled from Germany, and of their children, a number of whom would become major contributors to the post-war generation of human and medical geneticists in Britain and America. In Germany itself, eminent geneticists were also involved in the abuses carried out in the name of ‘eugenics’ and ‘race biology’. However, geneticists in America, Britain and the rest of Europe were largely responsible for the ideological foundations of these abuses. In the Soviet Union, geneticists and genetics itself became the object of persecution from the 1930s till as late as the mid 1960s, with an almost complete destruction of the field during this time; this extended also to Eastern Europe and China as part of the influence of Russian communism. Most recently, at the end of the twentieth century, China saw a renewal of government sponsored eugenics programmes, now mostly discarded. During the post-world war 2 decades, human genetics research benefited greatly from recognition of the genetic dangers posed by exposure to radiation, following the atomic bomb explosions in Japan, atmospheric testing and successive accidental nuclear disasters in Russia. -
THE MENDEL NEWSLETTER Archival Resources for the History of Genetics & Allied Sciences
THE MENDEL NEWSLETTER Archival Resources for the History of Genetics & Allied Sciences ISSUED BY THE LIBRARY OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY New Series, No. 16 December 2007 Mendel Newsletter To Go Digital IMPORTANT NOTICE TO LIBRARIANS AND SUBSCRIBERS EGINNING with the next issue, the Mendel Newsletter will be available exclusively in digital format. This will bring this B title in line with other publications of The American Philosophical Society, which are now distributed electronically. This allows timely access by our international membership and researchers and students anywhere. Such accessibility from any place in the world continues the Society’s founding purpose, 265 years ago, of disseminating Useful Knowledge. There will be no change to the high-caliber, informative content that our readers have come to expect in the Newsletter. The Editor still encourages \ inquiries about contributions to the next issue; and as before, there is no charge for the Newsletter. Gregor Mendel Past issues of the Newsletter, 1996–2006, have been available for several years in traditional HTML format on the newsletter webpage: www.amphilsoc.org/library/mendel. When the next issue appears, it may be obtained on this web page in PDF format. IN THIS ISSUE Its appearance will be exactly like this traditional, printed publication. It may be easily and quickly downloaded; individuals Arno Motulsky Papers at the American and libraries who wish to retain paper copies of this publication Philosophical Society 3 may print their own. Subscribers and libraries will be given notice Discovery of the Correspondence of Hugo of each new issue’s availability by e-mail.