MEDIA CONTACT: Elizabeth Crown at 312-503-8928 or e-crown@northwestern.edu

August 23, 2004

Program to Address Elements of "Who Is a Jew?"

CHICAGO --- The Northwestern University Program in Medical Humanities will host a free public program, “Who Is a Jew: Genetics, Identity and Ethnicity,” from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 25, at the Norris University Center, 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston.

Internationally renowned bioethicists, rabbis, researchers and community leaders will discuss how identity, ethnicity, citizenship and family are being altered by new understandings of genetics.

Some of the issues to be examined are: After the Human Genome Project has been fully mapped, how do essential narratives change? How are claims of Jewish identity and membership reinterpreted by research science? What are the implications of gene banks for particular communities?

Presenters also will focus on research in the field of Judaism and genetics, including the Lemba tribe in Africa; the Cohen Modal Haplotype; Jewish genetic diseases; and critical ethical writings.

Rex Chisholm, professor of cell and molecular biology and director of the Center of Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, will be the program moderator. Laurie Zoloth, professor of medical humanities and bioethics at the Feinberg School, will present closing remarks.

The program is co-sponsored by the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and the Chicago Center for Jewish Genetic Disorders.

For information, contact e-levee@northwestern.edu