Diber Lecture: Robert Westman

Dibner Lecture
7:30pm Thursday, June 3, 2010 at Friends' Hall
THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY, ART COLLECTIONS, AND BOTANICAL GARDENS

Robert Westman, History, UCSD

Copernicus and the Astrologers of Cracow and Bologna

Nicolas Copernicus's hypothesis that the earth is a planet revolving
together with five other planets around a stationary sun is one of the
best known claims in the history of science. First announced in print in
1543, historians often describe Copernicus's proposal as the beginning of
the Scientific Revolution.

But what was the question to which Copernicus's hypothesis was the answer?
Robert S. Westman, Professor of History, University of California, San
Diego, suggests that crucial clues lie in a late-fifteenth century
controversy about the status of astrology-although not a single word
about astrology exists in any of Copernicus's extant writings.

Free. No reservations required.

Call for Abstracts: Genetics & Ethics in the 21st Century Conference

On July 22-24, 2010, the Genetics & Ethics in the 21st Century: 14th Conference, will convene at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. The theme of the 14thAnnual Conference will be "Genomic Diversity and Health Disparities". With an emphasis on issues surrounding new genomic technologies such as health risk assessments and large-scale ancestry testing, the conference will explore how these technologies are co-evolving with societal and legal understandings about human diversity and health disparities across groups.

Are new technologies paving the way for personalized genomics, providing new identities and destabilizing old identities to individuals and groups, re-instituting biological determinism? Anchored by "state-of-the-art" featured presentations, thematic sessions will consider multiple facets of human diversity, and how different groups and constituencies experience health disparities and are affected by new medical technologies for population screening.

As with previous Genetics & Ethics Conferences, we will utilize the successful format of pairing presentations with relevant, concurrent sessions. Each presentation will have sufficient time for discussion to facilitate a lively exchange of new ideas and thoughts on the ways in which genomic 'next gen' technologies will or will not alter health care and identity amongst various populations and society as a whole.

Click here for Conference Brochure

Featured Speakers Include:

Rick Kittles, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, “The Role of Diverse Populations in Understanding Cancer Disparities”

Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford University. “The Search for Difference: Personalized Medicine and its Implications for Health Disparities”

Jeffrey C. Long, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, “Genetic Ancestry and Race and Their Implications for Health Disparities”

Ed McCabe, Pediatrics, Human Genetics, and Center for Society and Genetics, UCLA; Physician-in-Chief, Mattel Children’s Hospital, “Ancestry and Identity: From Recreational Genetics to Personalized Medicine”

Patrick Boudreault, Deaf Studies Department, California State University Northridge, and Christina Palmer, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Human Genetics, and the Center for Society and Genetics, UCLA, “Genetics and Deaf Communities”

We are particularly interested in attracting abstracts related to the broad topics above. Additionally, topics may specifically include, but are not limited to:

Ancestry Testing; Population Screening; Ancestry and Cancer; Genomics and Health Disparities in African-American, Latino/a, Asian and Native American Communities; Health Disparities in Diverse Communities; LGBT Genetics, Identity and Health; Cultural Diversity, Epigenetics, and Health; Trust, Mistrust, and Ambivalence in Underrepresented Communities; Understanding Human Population History through Genetics; Genetics and Deaf Communities; Health Disparities for the Differently Abled; Underrepresented Communities and Genetics; Ethics of Health Care and Medical Research in Diverse Communities; Ethical, Legal and Social Issues in Genetics and Cancer.

Accordingly, we invite you and your colleagues to submit abstracts for consideration for presentation at the conference. Please use the abstract guideline as your guide.

The deadline for abstract submission is Monday, May 10th, 2010. Abstracts will be reviewed by a selection committee and you will be informed of acceptance for presentation as well as presentation format by June 1st, 2010

We are also offering travel fellowships to students and fellows who are presenting on the (combined) topic of Genetics, Racial Variation, and Cancer Risk and whose abstract has been accepted for presentation-- if you are interested in this fellowship, please indicate so on your application page.

Please submit abstracts (250 words or less) to Ana Wevill at ana@socgen.ucla.edu. We are soliciting papers, panels and posters (note your preference in your submission). We encourage life and social scientists, ethicists, health care professionals and physicians, historians, legal professionals and students to consider a submission.

Additionally, sign language interpreters (ASL) will be provided at the conference. Please indicate if you would like to present your topic in ASL.

Petition to Save the History of Medicine at UCL

As many people will already know, on March 31, the Wellcome Trust abruptly announced that it intended to withdraw its funding from the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, which would be closed completely on September 30, 2012. A similar statement followed from UCL.

You are invited to sign the petition against closure that is now online at
www.petitiononline.com/WTCHOM/petition.html and to pass details of it on to others known to you who might also support our cause.

Further information is available on our website and the opportunity to comment on the closure can be found on http://friendsofwtchom.blogspot.com