virtual face-to-face
Epidemiology Department Seminar Series
speaker:
David Hunter, MB, BS, Sc.D.
Richard Doll Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine
Director of Translational Epidemiology Unit
School of Population Health, University of Oxford, Nuffield, Oxford School of Population Health.
Abstract: In the 1990s, the “common mutations, common diseases” hypothesis was proposed. The Human Genome Project was followed by HapMap, and the development of genome chips that can evaluate the entire genome in case-control and nested case-control studies has made it possible to test hypotheses. We discuss subsequent developments and the clinical utility of measuring common genetic variations, as well as barriers to using this information for disease prevention. Overcoming these barriers through unprecedented levels of data sharing could be the key to our future health.
Bio: David Hunter is Richard Doll Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Translational Epidemiology Unit at the Nuffield School of Population Health, University of Oxford, UK. He founded the Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics at Harvard University and co-chaired the steering committee of the National Cancer Institute’s Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium. He is co-director of the NCI Cancer Genetic Susceptibility Markers Project, which focuses on genome-wide association studies, and served as Dean of Academic Affairs and Assistant Dean of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He is chief scientific advisor to ‘Our Future Health’, the UK’s new major national initiative which aims to return genomic information to consenting participants.
