Physician to the gene pool

About this book

A founding father of human medical genetics, and a self-described geneticist of the "old school," James Neel has worked the "genetic trenches" in some of the most far-flung regions of the globe in pursuit of clues to genetic riddles. In Physician to the Gene Pool, we accompany him on his early groundbreaking research into the origins of sickle cell anemia. We witness the full horror of the nuclear devastation wreaked upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where he went as part of the first team to study the genetic effects of exposure to radiation. And we journey with him as, with wife Priscilla by his side, he travels deep into the Amazon basin to conduct his classic population studies of the Yanomama. . But Physician to the Gene Pool is more than just a scientific travelogue. A firm believer in the social contract that binds the scientist to the interests of the commonweal, Dr. Neel pauses often in his narrative to consider the broader implications of genetic research. He addresses the role of human genetics in a world careening toward a population explosion of Malthusian proportions, and levels scathing criticisms at hypocritical leaders who practice the politics of piety in place of common sense. Challenging the received genetic wisdom of the day, he takes colleagues to task for skewing professional judgement to the politics of "big science," and he admonishes them of the dangers of relying too heavily on fashionable scientific enterprise such as the Human Genome Project and the drive for genetic engineering. And finally, in the closing chapters, he offers his provocative "genetic prescriptions" for some of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century.