Dean Hamer
Molecular biologist and author from Washington DC
Dr. Dean Hamer was born in Montclair, N.J. He received his B.A. from Trinity College, Connecticut and his Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School . He has worked at the National Institutes of Health for 24 years, where he is currently the Chief of the Section on Gene Structure and Regulation in the Laboratory of Biochemistry of the National Cancer Institute.
Dr. Hamer's research has led to contributions in a variety of areas including recombinant DNA, drug and vaccine production, and gene regulation. He was a coinventor of animal cell gene transfer, and recently has begun a program on molecular therapeutics for HIV/AIDS. For the past nine years, Dr. Hamer has studied the role of inheritance in human behavior, personality traits, and cancer risk-related behaviors such as cigarette smoking. His discovery of genetic links to sexual orientation and the temperamental traits of sensation seeking and anxiety have changed the way we think about human behavior and raise a host of important scientific, social and ethical issues.
Dr. Hamer has published over 100 scientific papers and holds three patents in the biotechnology area. His book The Science of Desire, co-authored with journalist Peter Copeland, has won widespread critical acclaim and was a 1994 New York Times "Notable Book of the Year". Their new book, Living With Our Genes, is a science best seller. Dr. Hamer's research has been described in Discover magazine and other national publications. |
Ted Peters
Professor of Systematic Theology
Graduate Theological Union
Ted Peters is a professor of Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California. He is author of GOD-The World's Future (Fortress 2000) and Science, Theology, and Ethics (Ashgate 2003). He is editor-in-chief of Dialog, A Journal of Theology. He also serves as co-editor of Theology and Science published by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley.
Degrees:
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AB.A., Michigan State University
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M.Div. Trinity Lutheran Seminary
- M.A. University of Chicago
- Ph.D., University of Chicago
Positions:
- Assistant Professor, Newberry College
- Associate Professor, Loyola University
- Pastorates in Illinois and New York
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PLTS, 1978
- Fredrik Schiotz Distinguished Presidential Fellowship, 1984
- Editor of Dialog
- Member of GTU Core Doctoral Faculty, Area 3 (Systematic and Philosophical Theology and Philosophy of Religion)
- Principle investigator for a research project with the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences on "Theological and Ethical Implications of the Human Genome Initiative"
Author, For the Love of Children: Genetic Technology and the Future of the Family (1996), Playing God? Genetic Determinism and Human Freedom (1996), Sin (1994), God as Trinity (1993), GOD - The World's Future (1992), The Cosmic Self (1990), Cosmos as Creation (1989), Fear, Faith and the Future (1980), Futures Human and Divine (1978).
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Joseph Graves, Jr.
Professor of Biology
Dean, University Studies
North Carolina A&T State University
Dr. Joseph Graves, Jr. is Professor of Biology and Dean of University Studies at North Carolina A&T State University (link). He received his Ph.D. in Environmental, Evolutionary and Systematic Biology from Wayne State University in 1988. From 1990-2004, he held appointments at the University of California, Irvine; Arizona State University - West with a joint appointment in African American Studies at ASU-Main, and as University Core Director at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
In 1994, Dr. Graves was elected a Fellow of the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his pioneering work in establishing the genetic and physiological controls of aging. In April 2002, he received the ASU-West award for Scholarly Research and Creative Activity. He has also been Secretary for the Division on Integrating and Comparative Issues in the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biologists, as well as a member of the external advisory board for the National Human Genome Center at Howard University. He has recently been added to the “The New Genetics and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade” discussion group, sponsored by the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University, which first convened in January of 2006.
Dr. Graves’ research concerns the evolutionary genetics of postponed aging and biological concepts of race in humans. He has been a Principal Investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Arizona Disease Research Commission. He has published over fifty papers and book chapters.
Dr. Graves has appeared on several television programs and in six documentary films (including ones by the KCET Public Television, PBS, and the BBC). He is also the author of two widely-read books on the biology of race: The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millenium, New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press, 2001 and 2005 (reviewed in JAMA) and The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America, Dutton Press, 2004, 2005 (study guide at U. Mass Amherst)
Dr. Graves has been a leader in addressing the under representation of minorities in science, directing successful programs in California and Arizona. Finally, he has been an active participant in the struggle to protect and improve the teaching of science in the public schools. |
Ronald Cole-Turner
Professor of Theology and Ethics
Pittsburg Theological Seminary
Ron Cole-Turner holds the H. Parker Sharp* chair of theology and ethics, a position that relates theology to developments in science and technology. His research focuses on genetics and biotechnology, particularly as they affect the meaning and the future of human life.
He is active in various science and religion organizations, having played a central role in organizing the International Society for Science and Religion, an honorary society of about 100 scholars that was chartered in 2002. He serves on the governing board of the Metanexus Institute, the reproductive genetics advisory committee of the Genetics and Public Policy Center, the editorial board of Theology & Science News, and on the advisory board of the John Templeton Foundation.
Cole-Turner has lectured on campuses across the United States and in other parts of the world. He has appeared on television, radio, and is often quoted in newspaper articles on religion and biotechnology.
His books include The New Genesis (WJK 1993), Pastoral Genetics: Theology and Care at the Beginning of Life (co-authored Pilgrim 1996), Human Cloning: Religious Responses (ed., WJK 1997), Beyond Cloning: Religion and the Remaking of Humanity (ed., Trinity 2001), and God and the Embryo: Religious Voices on Stem Cells and Cloning (co-edited, Georgetown 2003), as well as numerous articles and chapters in books.
He is currently editing a book on religious perspectives on human germ-line modification. Cole-Turner is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and has served various pastorates, including a time in campus ministry. He is a graduate of Wheaton College and Princeton Theological Seminary. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Rebecca, a psychologist. They have two grown daughters, Sarah and Rachel.
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