Micheil  Cannistra.  Winner of the 2008/2009 Sparks Essay Contest, will speak on:  Indian Giver: Lynch Syndrome, The Navajo, and the Genetic Revolution.
Thursday, February 24, 2011, 5:30-6:30

  For decades Dr. Henry Lynch of Creighton University performed research among farm families in Nebraska and beyond in an effort to prove that cancer, particularly colon cancer, could be hereditary. In the 1980s his research brought him to the Navajo Reservation, where he evaluated and provided genetic counseling to several cancer-plagued Native American families. His work there helped prove his controversial hypothesis once and for all, eventually revealing an unexpected overlap between Navajo political and medical history.