California Here We Come!

In early June Denise and I will embark on what has become an annual trip to California. The timing for this is anchored to include the conference of the Southern California Genealogical Society: 
For the last four years this conference has been enhanced by including an all day pre-conference that is focused solely on genetic genealogy. For full details click here:

On that DNA Thursday I will be making two presentations and taking part in another event.

Family History Plus Health History Leads to Personalized Healthcare
Genealogy records family relationships. Health history reveals causes of death, disabilities, chronic diseases, or known genetic disorders within families. How can you build an accurate family health/medical history? Should you? Can genealogists lead the way to personalized healthcare/medicine? Level: Beg., Int., Adv. (David R. Dowell, PhD)

Was Henderson Dowell's Father of African or European Descent?
At Emancipation Henderson Dowell of Wilkes County, North Carolina, was 20 years old and enslaved by Pricilla Dowell. His living descendants are mixed African-American and European-American. Did his paternal ancestors come to America from Europe or from Africa? Level: Beg., Int. (David R. Dowell, PhD)

Meet the DNA Authors
Get acquainted with the authors of recent DNA books. Learn what is covered in each book.
(Emily D. Aulicino, MA); (Blaine T. Bettinger, PhD, JD); (David R. Dowell, PhD)

Friday I get to go from presenter mode to learner mode in an all morning workshop.

Autosomal DNA Chromosome Mapping and Phasing Workshop
This workshop will review ways in which autosomal DNA can be mapped so that DNA segments may be attributed to individual ancestors. Participants will be shown how to begin or continue the process of mapping their DNA. In addition, techniques for phasing their DNA will be demonstrated. Level: Adv. (Tim P. Janzen, MD) Participants need to bring laptops to the workshop loaded with Excel or other spreadsheet program.

Later Friday I get back on the other side of the mike for a panel discussion.

DNA and Genealogy: Experts Discuss Latest Developments
DNA testing experts will discuss the connection between DNA testing and genealogy, what tests are available, and which companies provide which tests. Advances being made in the field of Genetic Genealogy will be examined. Audience questions will be answered in the second half of the program.
Level: Beg., Int., Adv. Moderator: Alice M. Fairhurst, MS, Panelists: Angie Bush, MS; David R. Dowell, PhD; Debbie A. Kennett; Drew Smith, MLS; Diahan Southard

The Family part of the trip

While I am conferring, Denise will be visiting her sister and brother who live nearby. Also on Friday our non-biological grandson, Cameron Adams, will be graduating from San Luis Obispo High School. He also happens to be my 10th cousin -- twice removed. We will also help him celebrate his birthday on Sunday. 

On Monday, in what is becoming an annual tradition, we will meet a group of our former neighbors and friends for lunch at the Great American Fish Company at the T-pier in Morro Bay where the sea otters have been in great abundance this Spring.

Tuesday we plan to have a late lunch with two newly discovered 4th cousins. One of them is a former colleague I have known for years but had no idea we were related until last Fall. The other will be flying in from Texas for the occasion. They are half-sisters who met for the first time in November. For their story see here.

The following morning we will fly back to Nashville exhausted but with many memories to cherish.
 

2017 SCGS Webinar Series

Want to continue your genealogical education throughout the year but have a limited travel budget? The 2017 Jamboree Webinar Extension Series of the Southern California Genealogical Society offers some of the best offerings from its Jamboree conference presentations throughout the year and makes them accessible to you in your home. 

My presentation partner Beth Balkite and I make an appearance next October 18th as we present Family History + Health History Lead to Personalized Healthcare:

Genealogies record family relationships. Health histories reveal causes of death, disabilities, chronic diseases, or known genetic disorders within families. How can you build an accurate family health/medical history? Should you? Can genealogists lead the way to personalized healthcare/medicine?

For those of you who are not familiar with Beth's background, here is a summary of why I am delighted to partner with her:  Beth Balkite was a certified genetic counselor for over 30 years. She is an alum of the Graduate Program in Human Genetics at Sarah Lawrence College. She worked as a genetic counselor in Connecticut at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Yale University, and Norwalk Hospital prior to joining Genzyme Genetics as manager of Clinical Genetics Services in 1993. In 1998 she was hired as Genetics Education Strategy Advisor for GlaxoSmithKline. She has continued as a genetics educator in several capacities before retiring in 2012. She has studied her own family history for years and is now one of just two genetic counselors to practice and teach genetic genealogy. She is an instructor at the Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI) at Duke University in Durham, NC, where she teaches a course “Applying DNA to Your Family Tree.” In the summer of 2016 she taught a session in the Advanced Genetic Genealogy course at GRIP (Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh). 

Hope you will join us for this presentation and discussion.

A full description of the 2017 offerings is now available for this rich and diverse series.

Family Health History: TapGenes

When the possibility of DNA testing for identifying possible health issues is raised, a sizable segment of the medical community responds that such testing is unnecessary because a family health history is more useful. Fortunately, I believe the number of practitioners espousing this belief is diminishing. Actually, it’s not either/or. Genetic testing should be part of a comprehensive family health history.

Those of us who have been serious family historians for a while, recognize that we rarely have a complete health history of three or more generations of our family. Even if we have been able to collect death certificates for our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents (along with their siblings), really don’t have detailed information upon which medical diagnoses can be based. Some of our relatives died in wars, childbirth, epidemics or other causes before their underlying health conditions manifested themselves. In addition, many the causes of demise listed on many death certificates are too vague to add much guidance to present day diagnoses. Most patients, when asked to fill out family health histories in a clinician’s office, have far less reliable information than those of us who are genealogists.

DNA testing, even if is of whole genomes, also represents other challenges. Many medical practitioners are not knowledgeable about DNA and may feel threatened to admit this to their patients. This avenue to information within our bodies was not available when most of them received their professional training. Much as we might wish it were the case, DNA testing cannot provide information on all the causes of our current or future states of health. Environmental factors still contribute significantly.  The long running “nature” versus “nurture” debate rages on.

Part of RootsTech 2016, which I attended earlier this month, was an Innovator Showdown competition for a prize pot of $100,000. An international field of 46 competitors was narrowed to 12 prior to the conference. At the Media Dinner on Wednesday, that group was narrowed to 6 finalists. On Friday these remaining competitors were interviewed before thousands of attendees. The panel of judges then selected the winners with participation of the audience who voted on their smartphones. First place went to TapGenes. The winners received $20,000 in cash and additional in kind awards that more than doubled that amount.   

Yes, the eagle eyes of some readers have identified Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, seated in the lower left background, who was a member of the distinguished panel of judges.

TapGenes offers you the convenience of keeping all your family health history in one safe and secure place.

A visit to the TapGenes website will explain what this prizewinning app has to offer you and your family. If you wish to signup right away please use this link.