Program on Science, Technology and Society at Harvard

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Deleterious Me: Whole Genome Sequencing, 23andMe, and the Crowd-Sourced Health Care Revolution

Anne Wojcicki

CEO and Co-Founder, 23andMe

April 17, 2012, 5:00pm–7:00pm
Emerson Hall, Room 105

Abstract

Video of this lecture is located here.

With Commentary From

Archon Fung

Harvard Kennedy School

Jeremy Greene

Harvard Medical School and History of Science

Sanford Kwinter

Harvard Graduate School of Design

Jonathan Zittrain

Harvard Law School

Moderated by

Sheila Jasanoff

Harvard Kennedy School

About the speaker

Anne Wojcicki is the CEO and co-founder of 23andMe, a privately-held personal genomics and biotechnology company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Since its founding in 2006, 23andMe has offered a number of packages for consumers to sequence hundreds of thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from their DNA and compare them with known sequences for diseases, conditions, and traits, at increasingly low costs. Some of the data is also shared with several academic research initiatives. 23andMe has built one of the world’s largest databases of individual genetic information. Wojcicki graduated from Yale University with a BS in Biology in 1996, and prior to 23andMe, she spent a decade in healthcare investing. Getting access to and understanding her own genetic information had always been one of her ambitions.

Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Workshop

This lecture is followed by an STS Workshop, Architectures for Life, on April 18, 2012.

Science & Democracy with Anne Wojcicki from HUCEnvironment on Vimeo.