Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fertility of people and groups they considered inferior, or promoting that of those considered superior.
Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, eugenicist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who almost single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science" and "the single most important figure in 20th century statistics". In genetics, Fisher was the one to most comprehensively combine the ideas of Gregor Mendel and Charles Darwin, as his work used mathematics to combine Mendelian genetics and natural selection; this contributed to the revival of Darwinism in the early 20th-century revision of the theory of evolution known as the modern synthesis. For his contributions to biology, Richard Dawkins declared Fisher to be the greatest of Darwin's successors. He is also considered one of the founding fathers of Neo-Darwinism. According to statistician Jeffrey T. Leek, Fisher is the most influential scientist of all time based off the number of citations of his contributions.
Genetic counseling is the process of investigating individuals and families affected by or at risk of genetic disorders to help them understand and adapt to the medical, psychological and familial implications of genetic contributions to disease. This field is considered necessary for the implementation of genomic medicine. The process integrates:
Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or through biochemical analysis to measure specific protein output. In a medical setting, genetic testing can be used to diagnose or rule out suspected genetic disorders, predict risks for specific conditions, or gain information that can be used to customize medical treatments based on an individual's genetic makeup. Genetic testing can also be used to determine biological relatives, such as a child's biological parentage through DNA paternity testing, or be used to broadly predict an individual's ancestry. Genetic testing of plants and animals can be used for similar reasons as in humans, to gain information used for selective breeding, or for efforts to boost genetic diversity in endangered populations.
Couples therapy attempts to improve romantic relationships and resolve interpersonal conflicts.
A school counselor is a certified/licensed professional that provides academic, career, college readiness, and social-emotional support for all students. There are school counselor positions within each level of schooling. By developing and following a school counseling program, school counselors are able to provide students of all ages with the appropriate support and guidance needed for overall success.
Ernst Rüdin was a Swiss-born German psychiatrist, geneticist, eugenicist and Nazi, rising to prominence under Emil Kraepelin and assuming the directorship at the German Institute for Psychiatric Research in Munich. While he has been credited as a pioneer of psychiatric inheritance studies, he also argued for, designed, justified and funded the mass sterilization and clinical killing of adults and children.
Medical genetics is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics differs from human genetics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the causes and inheritance of genetic disorders would be considered within both human genetics and medical genetics, while the diagnosis, management, and counselling people with genetic disorders would be considered part of medical genetics.
American Journal of Medical Genetics is a peer-reviewed medical journal dealing with human genetics published in three separate sections (parts) by Wiley-Liss:
Bruce Richard Korf is a medical geneticist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In April 2009, he began a two-year term as president of the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG), a professional organization.
Reflective listening is a communication strategy used to better understand a speaker's idea by offering your understanding of their idea back to the speaker in order to confirm that the idea has been understood correctly. It is a more specific strategy than general methods of active listening.
The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), founded in 1948, is a professional membership organization for specialists in human genetics. As of 2009, the organization had approximately 8,000 members. The society's members include researchers, academicians, clinicians, laboratory practice professionals, genetic counselors, nurses, and others who have a special interest in the field of human genetics.
Genomic counseling is the process by which a person gets informed about his or her genome often in the setting of elective genetic and genomic testing. In contrast to genetic counseling, which focuses on Mendelian diseases and typically involves person-to-person communication with a genetic counselor or other medical genetics expert, genomic counseling is not limited to currently clinically relevant information. It is often based on genomic information that is of interest for the informed person, such as increased risk for common complex disease that has actionable components, genetically determined non-disease related traits, or recreational forms of information and genetic genealogy data. An individual's response to certain medications/drugs based on their pharmacogenomic profile may be provided.
The National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC), founded and incorporated in 1979, is the largest association of genetic counselors with over 3,600 members. Its membership includes genetic counselors and other healthcare professionals working in the field of medical genetics from the United States, Canada, and around the world.
Aurelio José Figueredo is an American evolutionary psychologist. He is a professor of psychology, Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona, where he is also the director of the Ethology and Evolutionary Psychology Laboratory. He is also a member of the interdisciplinary Center for Insect Science at the University of Arizona. His major areas of research interest are the evolutionary psychology and behavioral development of life history strategy, cognition, sex, and violence in human and nonhuman animals, and the quantitative ethology and social development of insects, birds, and primates. He is known for his research on personality, such as a 1997 study in which he and James E. King developed the Chimpanzee Personality Questionnaire to measure the Big Five personality traits in chimpanzees.
Claude Nash Herndon Jr. was an American human geneticist who taught and conducted research at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC. He was the school's senior associate dean for research and development for many years.
Impute.me was an open-source non-profit web application that allowed members of the public to use their data from direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests to calculate polygenic risk scores (PRS) for complex diseases and cognitive and personality traits. In July 2022, Lasse Folkerson, initiator and operator of impute.me, took the website offline.
Margaret Anne Wilson Thompson C.M. Ph.D. LL.D B.A., was a prominent researcher in the field of genetics in Canada. She was a member of the Alberta Eugenics Board from 1960 to 1963, before joining the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto to complete research on genetics and pediatrics. Thompson's work earned her the Order of Canada in 1988, although her appointment remains controversial due to her role in the eugenics movement. Thompson testified about her involvement in the Eugenics Board during the Muir v. Alberta case in 1996 and was also interviewed in a documentary about the lawsuit.
Jehannine Claire Austin is a British and Canadian neuropsychiatric geneticist and a genetic counselor. They are a professor at the University of British Columbia and Executive Director of the Provincial Health Services Authority's BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services Research Institute. In 2012, Austin founded the world’s first specialist psychiatric genetic counselling service.
Sally M. Hage is an American professor of psychology at Springfield College who is known for her work on preventing and coping with trauma, mindfulness, and multicultural training. She is the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion. She is the author of two books, including Best Practices in Prevention and An Ounce of Prevention: Evidence-Based Prevention for Counseling and Psychology.
