April 24, 1995 Contact: Robert Irion (408/459-2495)

PIONEERING GENETICIST NANCY WEXLER TO DELIVER PUBLIC LECTURE AT UCSC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--For a quarter century, Nancy Wexler has chased the shadow that Huntington's disease casts upon the lives of 30,000 Americans. The hereditary disorder, which gradually robs its victims of all muscle control, puts another 150,000 people in this country at risk--including Wexler herself, whose mother, three uncles, and maternal grandfather all died from Huntington's.

Spearheaded by Wexler, the progress toward understanding Huntington's disease has been remarkable. For instance, people now can take a test to learn whether they will develop the disease, rather than face an uncertain 50-50 risk for decades. However, the rapid pace of research on Huntington's typifies a growing concern among those who study genetic diseases and their roots within our DNA: Are there ethical boundaries beyond which scientists and doctors should not use genetic information? And if so, how does society determine where those boundaries lie?

Such topics will form the heart of a public lecture by Wexler at UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday, May 2. Her talk, entitled "Genetic Prediction and Precaution Confront Human Social Values," will begin at 7:30 p.m. in lecture hall B-206 of the Earth and Marine Sciences Building. Classroom Unit 2 will serve as an overflow venue, where the audience will see the lecture via live video.

Although the event is free, advance tickets are required. Community members may obtain tickets from the UCSC Ticket Office in person or by calling 459-2159.

Wexler's lecture is part of an ongoing universitywide series known as the Tanner Lectures on Human Values. The Tanner Lectures were established by American scholar, industrialist, and philanthropist Obert Clark Tanner. Their purpose is to advance and reflect upon the scholarly and scientific learning relating to human values.

A clinical psychologist by training, Wexler is Higgins Professor of Neuropsychology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. She also is president of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, founded by her father, Milton Wexler. In 1993, she received the Albert Lasker Public Service Award--the highest honor in American medicine--for "her groundbreaking work . . . toward finding a cure for Huntington's disease and for increasing awareness of all genetic disease."

Indeed, Wexler has helped to push the ethical, legal, and philosophical issues sparked by genetic testing to the forefront of public debate. Researchers have discovered genes for many of the estimated 4,000 hereditary diseases, including cystic fibrosis and one form of breast cancer; genes that predispose people toward other ailments, such as heart disease or schizophrenia, may follow suit as the Human Genome Project churns ahead. As is the case with Huntington's, early warning tests could become available long before cures or effective treatments are known. Wexler refers to this dangerous gap as the "painful hiatus" between prediction and prevention.

"In our culture, people assume that knowledge is always good, that you can never have too much information," she told the New York Times Magazine. "But our experience with Huntington's has shown that some things may be better left unknown."

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