940-565-4972

and Making Genomics Relevant to ALL 

April 17, 2020 - April 18, 2020   

Embassy Suites Conference Center Denton TX 

[click here to book room discount]                   

​

​

​

The University of North Texas

Transdisciplinary Conference on Ancestral Genomics: Exploring Medical Paradoxes

We are pleased to announce the opening of Registration for the April 17-18, 2020 UNT Transdisciplinary Conference on Ancestral Genomics. This Inaugural two-day Conference will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel & Conference Center, Denton, TX.  It will launch an annual 5 year series, bringing together leaders in the fields of ancestral genomics & genetics, biology, medicine, evolutionary history, nutrition and other relevant fields as they relate to underrepresented populations. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

The April 2020 meeting will focus on those African-American health disparities that may be linked to clues in the medical literature described as "paradoxes".  What is, however, being referenced are maladaptations caused by the translocation of an ethnic population's ancestral gene variants from their original ecological environment to the uniquely different ecology of the United States.  New theoretical models will be developed to lend insights into what are generally labeled "paradoxes" in the medical literature, relating to six disease susceptibilities in African-Americans of slave descent: Hypertension, Kidney failure, Metastatic Prostate Cancer, Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Type II Diabetes and Obesity. 

Future meetings will use these innovative methodologies to tackle the role of ancestral genomics and disease susceptibilities in global populations as well as underrepresented demographic groups in the U.S., which include Latinos/Hispanics and Native Americans.  The upcoming forum will also bring together specialists from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation,  National Library of Medicine, the Cooperative Human Tissue Network, the Food and  Nutrition Board, Precision Medicine and the National Center for Biotechnology Information to educate our research community on industry standards for ancestral genomic approaches.  Workshops will be set up to establish collaborations for future research directed at our goal of diminishing the one-size-fits-all approach to human genomics.  These sessions will also address a range of issues. including the authentication of ancestral cell lines, improved methods in bioinformatics data-gathering, ancestral adaptations to diverse nutritional environments, and effective methods for recruiting underrepresented populations to participate in medical studies. 

​

JOIN US IN WORKING TO MAKE GENOMICS MORE RELEVANT TO ALL

I

• INVESTIGATE new, inclusive approaches to Genomics Research involving Underrepresented Groups.

•  ATTEND Workshops on cutting-edge methods led by scientists from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation & the National Library of Medicine.

​

• EXPLORE  opportunities for transdisciplinary collaborations with medical researchers, geneticists, biologists, evolutionary historians, medical anthropologists, pharmacologists and  other specialists.   ​

​

Areas of Interest

This Inaugural Conference will create a dynamic space for the intersection of transdisciplinary fields and professions, with the overarching goal of diminishing the one-size-fits-all approach to human genomics.  Included among the areas of interest are the following: 

• Bioethics​​ 

• Bioinformatics

• Biomedical Translation

• Epidemiology

• ​Ethnic Health Disparities

• Ethnic Oncology​

• Ethnopharmacology

• Evolutionary History

• Genetics & Genomics

• Medical Anthropology

• Nutrition in an Ethnically Diverse Society 

• Population Genetics 

Register Now & Sign-up for One of Our Research-in-Action 

 THINK TANKS

These THINK TANKS will be platforms for sharing ideas, finding solutions to shared research problems, networking with like-minded colleagues and forming transdisciplinary collaborations. They will meet the morning of April 17, 2020.

(If you wish to participate in a THINK TANK, register first, choose one of the THINK TANKS below, and send an email to with your name &  selection. )  

THINK TANK 1  Replacing Race with Ancestry in Medical Research 
…. 

THINK TANK 2  Diversifying vs. Stratifying the Reference Genome:

THINK TANK 3  Rethinking One-Size-Fits-All Federal Nutritional Standards

THINK TANK 4  Authenticating Cell Lines

THINK TANK 5  TRPV6 Gene Variants & Cancer Susceptibility

THINK TANK 6  Differentiating Pharmacogenomics from Racialized Medicine

​

Register Now & Sign-up for One of Our Research-in-Action 

 THINK TANKS

These THINK TANKS will be platforms for sharing ideas, finding solutions to shared research problems, networking with like-minded colleagues and forming transdisciplinary collaborations. They will meet the  afternoon of April 18, 2020.

(If you wish to participate in a THINK TANK, register first, choose one of the THINK TANKS below, and send an email to with your name &  selection. )  

THINK TANK 1  - How Should Genomic Research Respond to Population-Specific Gene Variants?  
…. 

THINK TANK 2  Diversifying vs. Stratifying the Reference Genome

THINK TANK 3  Race vs. Ancestry in Genomic Medicine

​

THINK TANK 4  Rethinking One-Size-Fits-All Federal Nutritiona Standards

THINK TANK 5  TRPV6 Gene Variants & Cancer Susceptibility

THINK TANK 6  Differentiating Pharmacogenomics from Racialized Medicine

​

Conference Schedule at-a-Glance

The Conference workshops and panels will take place on Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18, 2020.  Registration fees will include dinner on Friday, April 17, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, April 18, 2020 

Friday, April 17, 2020

​

8 a.m. – 5 p.m.   REGISTRATION

​

​

​

2 p.m.                 Welcome: Mark McLellan,Ph.D.,  Vice-President for Research & Innovation, UNT.

                             Greeting from Department Host:  Professor Jennifer Wallach, Chair, UNT Department of                                                 History, author of Getting What We Need Ourselves: How Food Has Shaped  African American Life   

​

2:15                        Introduction: Professor Constance B. Hilliard, Ph.D.,

                              “Therapeutic & Other Health Applications for the Ancestral Gene Variant Theoretical Model in                                           African-Americans & Other  Underrepresented Populations ​

2:40                       KEYNOTE SPEAKER:  Patrick J. Stover, Ph.D.
                               "Population Heterogeneity and Human Nutrition – Where do we go from here?"
​

3:45                        BREAK

4:00                      WORKSHOP SESSION I:  Kim D. Pruitt, Ph.D. 

                              IRB, Consents, Cybersecurity, DATA: Digital, Sharing, Entry, Mining, Sites, Repurposing, Retrieving.                                  REPOSITORIES:                   

                              Resource Access, Building and Joining (special emphasis on human data) “Resources, and the                                        Challenges of Translating Theory into Empirical Studies & Clinical Research Protection of Human                                    Subjects throughout the Data Life Cycle”    

                                       
5:00                       WORKSHOP SESSION II: Sharon J. McCall, M.D.

                               Good Laboratory Practices (GLP), Protection Human Subjects, Required Certification, Protocols,                                       Recruiting, Consent, Confidentiality, HIPAA, Patient Safety, Tissue /Cell Repositories Biobanks,                                         Collaborations – whose IRB? “Protection of Human  Subjects Challenges in Basic, Pre-clinical and                                 Clinical Research: Responding to the Authentication Crisis”

6:00                       HEALTH EQUITIES SESSION:  Rick Kittles, Ph.D.

                               Theoretical Model Construct: Ancestral Genomics, Diversifying/expanding the Human Genome                                      (populations sciences and genetic niche populations, health disparities, informative ancestral                                         genetic markers, prostate cancer genetics)   

. 

7:00.                         DINNER
 

Saturday, April 18, 2020 [8:00 A.M.- 9:00 A.M.  GENERAL REGISTRATION-$100; SPECIAL INTEREST REGISTRATION-$20]

​​

9:30 A.M.- 11:30 A.M.      Students ONLY Special Interest Workshop NSF & NIH:  Kim E. Barrett, Ph.D. & Shauna Clark,                                               Ph.D.

                                          “Education, Training Opportunities for the Pipeline High School through Graduate School”

​

8:30.                    Opening Plenary Session: Xuexia Wang, Ph.D.  

​

8:45.                     Subject Matter Session I:  

                             Genomics, genetic niche population disease causative variants in 6 high susceptibility, risk,                                             incidence, mortality (SRIM)

                            “SRIM overlap screening, diagnosis and treatment protocol response: What can we learn?”

9:50                     Subject Matter Session III: Alice B. Popejoy, Ph.D.

                            “Tracking-down African American Disease-causative Variants with Historical, Anthropological and                                  Ecological Data”

​

10:45                    Subject Matter Session IV: Bertha A. Hidalgo, Ph.D., MPH  

                            “Coronary Disease, Diabetes and Multi-factor in Ecological Niche Population-associated Variants in                                Hispanic/Latino Health”

11:45                    Subject Matter Session V: Alexander Sobolevsky, Ph.D.

                           “Ancestral TRPV6 Calcium Ion Channel: Is There a Link to African Americans Higher Susceptibility                                    TRPV6 Expressing Triple Negative Breast  Cancer as well as Metastatic Prostate Cancer”

​

12:45                            LUNCH

1:45        Think Tank Session: Denise Perry Simmons, Ph.D.

               Research Concepts: Empirical Investigations Causative Variants, Proof of Concept Ancestral Genomics                         Variant Model;      Translation 6 SRIM target diseases bench to clinic; Funding Opportunities: Developing                       subject matter collaborative research

3:15        Subject Matter Session VI: Patricia A. Francis-Lyons, Ph.D.

               “Bioinformatics, Ancestral Databases and Delineations in Ancestral Populations: A look at Health/Bio-                            informatics and cancer disparities in under-represented populations”

4:15       Subject Matter Session VII: Rafiki Cai

               “Best Practices: Challenges and Approaches to Recruiting Under-represented Populations to Medical                           Studies”                           

5:15       Closing Session: Pudur Jagadeeswaran, Ph.D

Our Speakers, Panel Moderators  & Workshop Leaders 

Dr. Patrick Stover   

Texas A&M University AgriLife Research Director,  leads the Institutes for Precision Nutrition, Responsive Agriculture and Health

Dr. Shauna Clark  

 Director of the Academy at Office of Intramural Training and Education at the National Institutes of Health 

Dr. Alexander Sobolevsky

Columbia University

Professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and specialist in ion channel signaling of ancestral and derived gene variants, using cryo-electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, electrophysiology and biophysical techniques.

Rafiki Cai

Chief Technology Officer of Friends of The Congo, community leader and specialist on the recruitment of minorities to clinical trials   

University of North Texas (UNT) Conference Planning Committee

Prof. Dorothy Bland, MBA

 Communications Specialist and Journalism Professor 

​

Dr. Chandra Carey

Chair of Department of Rehabilitation & Health Services

​

Dr. Constance Hilliard, CHAIR

Evolutionary Historian and Ancestral Genomics Theorist

​

Dr. Kate Imy

Historian and Managing editor of the British Journal for Military History

​

Dr. Pudur Jagadeeswaran

Medical geneticist and specialist in laboratory use of zebra fish for prostate cancer diagnosis

​

Dr. Denise Perry Simmons

Cancer Biologist & Translational Biomedical Researcher - TAGUP Scientific Research Program Director  

​

Dr. Nancy Stockdale

Historian of the Middle East & Gender Studies

Dr. Xuexia Wang

Mathematical Geneticist and Cancer Research Statistican

​

Constance Hilliard, Ph.D.

University of North Texas

Author of Ancestral Gene Variants (AGV) Model of Ethnic Disease Susceptibility and Professor of African Evolutionary History

Dr. Shannon McCall

Director of the Duke BioRepository & Precision Pathology Center (Duke BRPC), and Principal Investigator for the National Cancer Institute's Cooperative Human Tissue Network Southern Division

Dr. Rick Kittles

City of Hope National Medical Center

Geneticist and founding director of the Division of Health Equities at the City of Hope National Medical Center.

Dr. Alice Popejoy

Stanford University

Public health geneticist and computational biologist, working at the intersections of evolutionary genomics, statistical genetics, and the ethical, legal, social implications (ELSI) of genomics research.

Dr. Patricia Francis-Lyon

University of San Francisco

Bioinformatics researcher and specialist in cancer disparities in underrepresented populations

Dr. Kim Pruitt

Dr. Pruitt is a staff scientist at the National Center for Biotechnology Information at NIH and heads the Reference Sequence Database

Blog

Contact

Constance Hilliard, Ph.D.

1155 Union Cir    Denton, Denton County 76203
 

940-565-4972