Colloquia Series: Ellen Velie, "Breast Cancer Incidence Rates..."

"Breast Cancer Incidence Rates in Young 'Black' and 'White' Women in the US: What Evidence is There for the Genetic Hypothesis?"

Overwhelming evidence reveals that race determines changing environmental exposures over generations, which in turn affect individual biology and health. Yet the assumption persists in medical science that race primarily affects health through fixed, inherited genetics. Recent advances in genetic technologies have identified differences in gene prevalences between populations categorized by self-reported race, but these differences have not been found to explain racial differences in rates of common complex diseases. In this presentation, the specific example of racial differences in breast cancer incidence rates in young women will be used to investigate assumptions in the medical literature about inherited genetics and health disparities.

Location:	302 International Center
Price:	free
Sponsor:	Center for Gender in Global Context
	gencen@msu.edu
	(517)353-5040