I was trained in anthropology, genetics, and law. I earned my J.D. from the University of North Carolina and Ph.D. from Penn State University, and I completed post-doctoral research appointments at Duke University's Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (Duke IGSP) and the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Integration of Genetic Healthcare Technologies (Penn CIGHT). I have a boutique law practice in PA and recently served as a AAAS Congressional Fellow in Washington, DC. I now am Associate Director of Bioethics Research at Geisinger Health System.
I use participant observation as a major research methodology and am guided by the following human rights principles (among others):
--The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 27 (1) “Everyone has the right to participate in…and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.”
--The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 7: “…[N]o one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation” and Article 19(2):“Everyone shall have the right …to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers…through any other media of his choice.”
--The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Article 15. 1: “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone… (b) To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications…” and Article 15. 2: “The steps to be taken…to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and culture.”
--Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (UDHGHR), “The human genome underlies the fundamental unity of all members of the human family, as well as the recognition of their inherent dignity and diversity…”
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American Gut Project
Harvard Personal Genome Project
Wild Life of Our Homes