Charmaine Royal

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Charmaine Royal
Alma mater Howard University (BS, MS, PhD)
AwardsThomas Langford Lectureship Award Duke University (2013)
Greenwall Faculty Scholar in Bioethics Duke University (2009)
Scientific career
Institutions Duke University
Howard University
National Institutes of Health
Thesis [ Link] Coping strategies in families of children with Sickle Cell Disease] (1997)
Website Duke website

Charmaine DM Royal is an American geneticist and Associate Professor at the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy and the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University. She studies the intersections of race, ethnicity, ancestry genetics, and health, especially as they pertain to historically marginalized and underrepresented groups in genetic and genomic research; and genomics and global health. Her major interest is in addressing root causes and implementing sustainable solutions regarding problems of race and racism in research, healthcare, and society. Royal is a Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Independent Expert Committee (IEC) member appointed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is a 2020 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa.

Contents

Early life and education

Royal earned her bachelor's degree in microbiology, master's degree in genetic counseling in 1992, and doctorate in human genetics from Howard University in 1997. She completed her postgraduate training in bioethics and ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) research at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the NIH, as well as training in behavioral medicine and epidemiology at the Howard University Cancer Center. [1] [2]

Research and career

Royal investigates race, racism, genetics and health disparities, within the United States and globally. [1] While at the National Human Genome Center at Howard University, Royal was a member of the International HapMap Project and worked alongside Charles Rotimi of H3Africa. [3] Her research focused on the genetics and health of African Americans, and ethical implications of African American genealogical study. [4] [5]

Academic service

During her time at Duke University, Royal has served as an Associate Professor of African & African American Studies, Family Medicine & Community Health, Global Health, and Biology. In addition, she is core faculty in the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, faculty in the Social Science Research Institute where she directs the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, and the Center on Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference. [2] Royal is also a senior fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics, a 2020 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa, an ad hoc member of the Jackson Heart Study Community Ethics Advisory Board, and a contributing member of the 1000 Genomes Project Consortium. [6] [7] [8] She also serves on the Ethics Advisory Board at Illumina, Inc. [9]

Awards and honors

Select papers

Related Research Articles

Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health, including those emerging from advances in biology, medicine, and technologies. It proposes the discussion about moral discernment in society and it is often related to medical policy and practice, but also to broader questions as environment, well-being and public health. Bioethics is concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, theology and philosophy. It includes the study of values relating to primary care, other branches of medicine, ethical education in science, animal, and environmental ethics, and public health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single-nucleotide polymorphism</span> Single nucleotide in genomic DNA at which different sequence alternatives exist

In genetics and bioinformatics, a single-nucleotide polymorphism is a germline substitution of a single nucleotide at a specific position in the genome. Although certain definitions require the substitution to be present in a sufficiently large fraction of the population, many publications do not apply such a frequency threshold.

The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) is a non-profit organization founded in 1988. HUGO represents an international coordinating scientific body in response to initiatives such as the Human Genome Project. HUGO has four active committees, including the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC), and the HUGO Committee on Ethics, Law and Society (CELS).

The International HapMap Project was an organization that aimed to develop a haplotype map (HapMap) of the human genome, to describe the common patterns of human genetic variation. HapMap is used to find genetic variants affecting health, disease and responses to drugs and environmental factors. The information produced by the project is made freely available for research.

Gregory Stock is an American biophysicist, best-selling author, biotech entrepreneur, and the former director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA’s School of Medicine. His interests lie in the scientific and evolutionary as well as ethical, social and political implications of today's revolutions in the life sciences and in information technology and computers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human genetic variation</span> Genetic diversity in human populations

Human genetic variation is the genetic differences in and among populations. There may be multiple variants of any given gene in the human population (alleles), a situation called polymorphism.

Human evolutionary genetics studies how one human genome differs from another human genome, the evolutionary past that gave rise to the human genome, and its current effects. Differences between genomes have anthropological, medical, historical and forensic implications and applications. Genetic data can provide important insights into human evolution.

Public health genomics is the use of genomics information to benefit public health. This is visualized as more effective preventive care and disease treatments with better specificity, tailored to the genetic makeup of each patient. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.), Public Health genomics is an emerging field of study that assesses the impact of genes and their interaction with behavior, diet and the environment on the population's health.

Race and health refers to how being identified with a specific race influences health. Race is a complex concept that has changed across chronological eras and depends on both self-identification and social recognition. In the study of race and health, scientists organize people in racial categories depending on different factors such as: phenotype, ancestry, social identity, genetic makeup and lived experience. "Race" and ethnicity often remain undifferentiated in health research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1000 Genomes Project</span> International research effort on genetic variation

The 1000 Genomes Project (1KGP), taken place from January 2008 to 2015, was an international research effort to establish the most detailed catalogue of human genetic variation at the time. Scientists planned to sequence the genomes of at least one thousand anonymous healthy participants from a number of different ethnic groups within the following three years, using advancements in newly developed technologies. In 2010, the project finished its pilot phase, which was described in detail in a publication in the journal Nature. In 2012, the sequencing of 1092 genomes was announced in a Nature publication. In 2015, two papers in Nature reported results and the completion of the project and opportunities for future research.

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Return of results is a concept in research ethics which describes the extent of the duty of a researcher to reveal and explain the results of research to a research participant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Rotimi</span> Nigerian geneticist

Charles Nohuoma Rotimi is the Scientific Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). He joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2008 as the inaugural Director of the Trans-NIH Center for Research in Genomics and Global Health and was also the chief of the NHGRI's Metabolic, Cardiovascular, and Inflammatory Disease Genomics Branch. He works to ensure that population genetics include genomes from African populations and founded the African Society of Human Genetics in 2003 and was elected its first president. Rotimi was instrumental in the launch of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) with the NIH and the Wellcome Trust. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2018.

Human Heredity and Health in Africa, or H3Africa, is an initiative to study the genomics and medical genetics of African people. Its goals are to build the continent's research infrastructure, train researchers and clinicians, and to study questions of scientific and medical interest to Africans. The H3Africa Consortium was formally launched in 2012 in Addis Ababa and has grown to include research projects across 32 countries, a pan-contintental bioinformatics network, and the first whole genome sequencing of many African ethnolinguistic groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vardit Ravitsky</span> Bioethicist, researcher, and author

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Hanchard</span> Jamaican physician and scientist

Neil Hanchard is a Jamaican physician and scientist who is clinical investigator in the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), where he leads the Childhood Complex Disease Genomics section. Prior to joining NHGRI, he was an associate professor of molecular and human genetics at the Baylor College of Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics,. Hanchard's research focuses on the genetics of childhood disease, with an emphasis on diseases impacting global health.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Happi</span> Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wylie Burke</span> American geneticist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adebowale A. Adeyemo</span> Nigerian physician and genetic epidemiologist

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Charmaine DM Royal". Duke University African & African American Studies Department. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Charmaine DM Royal". Duke University Global Health Institute. 23 December 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. International HapMap Consortium (2003). "The International HapMap Project" (PDF). Nature. 426 (6968): 789–796. Bibcode:2003Natur.426..789G. doi:10.1038/nature02168. hdl: 2027.42/62838 . PMID   14685227. S2CID   4387110.
  4. Kittles, R; Royal, C (2003). "The genetics of African Americans: Implications for disease gene mapping and identity". Genetic Nature/Culture: Anthropology and Science beyond the Two-Culture Divide. University of California Press. pp. 219–233.
  5. Dula, A; Royal, C; Secundy, M (2003). The ethical and social implications of exploring African American genealogies. Developing World Bioethics. Vol. 3. University of Minnesota. pp. 133–141. doi:10.1046/j.1471-8731.2003.00069.x.
  6. "Charmaine Royal – Race, Genetics and Health: Coloring Outside the Lines". The University of Iowa College of Law. Retrieved 17 August 2020.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. "Jackson Heart Study Community Ethics Advisory Board". Jackson State University. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  8. Auton, Adam; et al. (2015). "A global reference for human genetic variation". Nature. 526 (7571): 68–74. Bibcode:2015Natur.526...68T. doi:10.1038/nature15393. PMC   4750478 . PMID   26432245.
  9. "Ethics Advisory Board". www.illumina.com. Retrieved 21 February 2021.