Message from the Director
Building Interdisciplinary Bridges
Huntington F. Willard, PhD
One of the transforming qualities of the Genome Revolution is that it promises to affect virtually every facet of human activity: science and health, agriculture, economic and social policy, even the arts. If we truly believe this, shouldn't our country's campuses anticipate the increasing influence of the genome sciences? Unfortunately, we know that most don't, for a variety of reasons: lack of resources, lack of interdisciplinary traditions, intransigent faculty, and probably many others.
"The IGSP exists to build these types of bridges on campus — between the natural sciences and the humanities; engineers and scholars of divinity or the environment; lawyers and business leaders; policy experts and nurses."In this month's lead article, Philip Benfey demonstrates how the Biology Department at Duke has sidestepped these pitfalls and created an environment that has embraced genomics and integrated it seamlessly into all areas of biological research. I am heartened by the knowledge that right down the hill live a myriad of potential collaborators, sounding boards and novel perspectives on the genome. If the IGSP is doing its job right, the Biology Department will feel the same way about us.
Clearly, Duke Biology is a living, breathing example of how genomics is so much more than "just medicine". And if we delve a bit deeper into Trinity College, we find that other departments — English, Psychology, Philosophy, African and African-American Studies, just to name a few — are also actively interested in the Genome Revolution and the implications of what we do. The same sense is mirrored in other schools around campus, and several novel genome-related linkages between schools will be highlighted in upcoming issues of GenomeLIFE.
I can hear some scientists and students wondering why they should care. I would contend that when an English professor like Priscilla Wald starts asking questions about public perceptions of genetics (as presented in this issue), this is cause for celebration, not consternation. It represents an opportunity to engage an entirely different set of scholars than those who think about the genome at other institutions. And while genome scientists may have quite different perspectives from some sociologists about, say, the biological significance of race, those differences will never be explored in a meaningful way without interdisciplinary discussion. The October 31 Symposium on Race, Genetics and Human Diversity (see page 6) is an example of exactly the type of forum needed to foster that dialogue.
In large part, the IGSP exists to build these types of bridges on campus — between the natural sciences and the humanities; engineers and scholars of divinity or the environment; lawyers and business leaders; policy experts and nurses. By doing so, we will also tap into a critical constituency and resource: Duke undergraduate, graduate and professional students. They will decide how the genome sciences are used and perceived in the future, and ultimately, it is they who will shape the evolution of the Genome Revolution.
Huntington F. Willard
Director