History of Human Genetics: Aspects of Its Development and Global Perspectives

Heike I. Petermann studied history and German literature at the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen. Her two main fields of interests are the history of anaesthesiology and the history human genetics. Since 2000 she has been secretary of the DGAI’s Arbeitskreis für Geschichte der Anästhesie. She was also member of editorial office of 55 years German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine. Tradition and Innovation. In 2011 she started her own research project on the history of human genetics, funded by the DFG.  She has also been involved in organising international conferences.

Peter S. Harper was born in Barnstaple, UK, and was educated at Oxford University, with medical training in London. After clinical posts in neurology and paediatrics he entered the field of medical genetics and worked first in Liverpool with Cyril Clarke and then as research fellow with Victor McKusick at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. After completing his doctoral thesis, in 1971 he founded and developed a medical genetics institute at the School of Medicine in Cardiff, Wales, where he continued his research on myotonic dystrophy, together with research on Huntington's disease and other neurogenetic disorders.His work has made a major contribution to our understanding of these and other disorders; he also developed a comprehensive medical genetics service for Wales. His many publications include Practical Genetic Counselling, which is now in its 7th edition and has been translated into numerous languages.In the past 15 years he has focused on documenting and preserving the history of human and medical genetics, founding the “Genetics and Medicine Historical Network” and publishing a number of books with a historical theme, including A Short History of Medical Genetics(2008).

Susanne Doetz studied medicine at the Humboldt Universität/Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin. She is a visiting scientist at the Institute of History of Medicineand Ethics in Medicine at the Charité in Berlin. Her research interests include the history of medicine during the time of National Socialism, and the history of eugenics and human genetics. Her current research project is titled “Establishing genetic counselling in the GDR in the area of conflict between science, politics and the public”, and is supported by the DFG (German Research Foundation).