Human genetics research has an ethically fraught past, with a legacy of discrimination featuring racism, classism, ableism, and exploitation. At the same time, the last decade has seen the rapid and unprecedented development of technologies capable of mapping, modeling, and manipulating genomes. Despite this troubled history and uncertain future, most graduate training programs do not provide students with the tools to evaluate the broader impacts of research on society. We believe the future of scientific education is to train students to look at the broader impacts of research on society and their roles within this scientific structure.
We taught our course as a 3-week pilot course in spring 2022 and expanded it to a 10-week course in
spring 2023 and spring 2024.
We provide the full curriculum for our 2024 course.
If instead you're interested in the curriculum for our shorter pilot
course or a 2023 curriculum, you can find that as
well.
For any questions, comments, or concerns, you can contact us at rpatel7[at]stanford.edu or
raungar[at]stanford.edu.
For additional resources related to education on genetics, ethics, and society, see: