Ancestry DNA Testing: Seeking Roots and Uncovering Secrets

3260 South Street,Philadelphia PA 19104

15 September, 2022

Description

University of Pennsylvania's departments of Medical Ethics & Health Policy and Obstetrics and Gynecology are thrilled to host this symposium on DNA testing. We’re excited to announce that, in addition to the listed talks, the symposium will include a panel of genetic relatives who found each other through ancestry testing. Over the last few years, millions of people have turned to direct-to-consumer genomics companies to learn more about their genes, their health risks, their family histories, and their ancestries. With remarkable frequency, the results of these tests have uncovered secrets that no-one was looking for—secrets that have altered understandings of family relationships and ancestral backgrounds and revealed unsuspected connections among perfect strangers. This day-long symposium will feature keynote presentations by noted writer Dani Shapiro (author of the bestselling memoir Inheritance) and documentarian and genetic genealogist Nicka Sewell-Smith, along with talks by an all-star lineup of scholars. During the symposium, the speakers will explore the stories of people who have learned the secrets of their families and ancestries through DNA testing, along with the history, medicine, science, law, and ethics of this fascinating, challenging, and profoundly personal new phenomenon.