Event

Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology, and the Missing Heritability "Problem" in Public Health Genomics

Claudia Chaufan, MD, PhD

Associate Professor at the Institute for Health and Aging (IHA), University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

This presentation will critique the “missing heritability” position, which calls for greater efforts and funding to identify the genetic architecture of common disorders (i.e., common clinical diseases and mental health conditions affecting 1 in about 1,000 individuals) even if this endeavor has yet to translate into tangible prevention, diagnosis or treatment interventions. Supporters of the position contend that genetic variants “for” common disorders, which they argue must exist based on heritability estimates (hence their “missing heritability” position) have not been found because the current state of science and technology is not adequate to the task, yet insist that this search warrants important societal investments. Professor Chaufan will argue instead that these variants have not been found because they do not exist. Indeed, this presentation will elaborate the problems with the “missing heritability” position, discuss their public health implications, and suggest future directions for a critical analysis of human genomic research and practice.