Geneticist to Present Carroll Lecture
The 13th annual Robert L. Carroll Lecture will be presented at 12:30 p.m. and at 7:30
p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, in the Turley Center Ballroom at Fairmont State. Admission
to both talks is free and open to the public.
The FSU College of Science and Technology has announced that Dr. Georgia Dunston,
Founding Director of the National Human Genome Center at Howard University, will present
the two talks addressing "Human Genome Variation in Health Disparities" with the first
talk subtitled, "Moving from population-based to personalized medicine and individualized
healthcare for all" and the evening talk subtitled, "What does 'race' have to do with
it?"
Dunston's research focuses on genetic markers for diseases in African-American populations.
Despite significant advances in the treatment of common complex diseases, such as
heart disease and cancer, African-Americans still carry a disproportionate burden
of health disparities in the U.S. However, the results of the Human Genome Project
challenge the traditional concepts of 'race and ethnicity' as legitimate biological
groups. What, then, will be the long-term effect of knowledge gained from the Human
Genome Project on the directions of medical research for these diseases?
Dunston's presentation will address genome-based data that forces a shift in thinking,
from treating populations as basic biological groups, to recognizing individuals as
the relevant biological units. In the process, the focus of medical research turns
from population-based toward personalized, genome-based identification of health disparities.
The annual lecture, sponsored by the Fairmont State Foundation, Inc., is in honor
of Dr. Robert L. Carroll, a former member of the physics faculty. The lecture is an
annual celebration of research at the cutting edge of a scientific discipline.
Dr. Robert L. Carroll died on April 13, 1997, in Charleston, S.C., at the age of
87. He received an A.B. degree in education from FSC in 1933, a Master of Science
degree in Mathematics from West Virginia University in 1940 and a doctorate degree
in mathematical physics from WVU in 1944.
Carroll served as professor of physics and head of the physics department at FSC
from 1946 to 1956. His other positions included Associate Project Leader of Proximity
Fuze Research with the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C.; Chief Engineer
and Dean of Academics at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Md.;
and senior scientist and analyst with various government research and testing operations.
From 1965 to 1977, he was head of the Department of Physics at Baptist College in
Charleston, S.C. Carroll was honored with numerous awards including American Men of
Science, Who's Who in American Education, Two Thousand Men of Achievement (1972) and
the Ordnance Development Award for Naval Research.
