Genomic Insights: Opportunities & Risks of Statistical Genetics
Statistical genetics is influencing how we approach healthcare by connecting genetic data with individualized treatment strategies. This course looks at both the medical possibilities and the ethical challenges, including privacy, data use, and equitable access.
What you will learn
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Learn the fundamentals of how statistical genetic research is conducted and the persistent challenges that render this technology inherently risky.
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Examine the ethical considerations surrounding statistical genetics, including issues such as genetic privacy, and discrimination.
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Uncover the potential of statistical genetics to tackle critical health and public health issues facing society today.
Course content
Introduction to Statistical Genetics
Learn how statistical genetic research is conducted, and the opportunities it presents for medical, psychiatric, and behavioral sciences.
Applications & Commercial Implications
Explore potential applications and implications of statistical genetics within the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
Methodological & Ethical Challenges
Examine the challenges surrounding the current practices of statistical genetic research and the ethical dilemmas inherent in this quickly advancing field.
Your Course Director
Dr. Robbee Wedow
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Data Science, Purdue University Department of Sociology
Dr. Wedow's main research interest is in Sociogenomics, which lies at the intersection of sociology, demography, and statistical & computational genetics. He is interested in how social forces and environments interact with genetics (gene-by-environment interactions). Using recent advances in genetic data collection and methodological developments in statistical genetics, he leverages large-scale genetic data to explore how sociological outcomes change across context, across time, and across outcome measurement. He is deeply dedicated to clearly and sensitively communicating the findings from his work in an ethically-engaged and community-based fashion. He has written and taught widely on the ethical considerations and societal impacts of modern-day genomics research. He is helping lead NSF-funded work to restructure genetics curriculum in high school to be less deterministic and instead to accurately reflect complex human variation.
Dr. Wedow completed his Ph.D. in sociology and statistical/behavioral genetics at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2018. He completed his postdoc in the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the Department of Sociology at Harvard University, the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2022. His work outside of social science genetics focuses on population health, health disparities, and quasi-experimental designs and methodologies.