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Hello.
I'm Connie Mulligan.
I'm a professor in the
Department of Anthropology
and also Associate Director
of the Genetics Institute
at the University of Florida.
And in this lecture I'm going
to talk about biological
and cultural influences on disease.
I'm a Human Geneticist
and I'm trained in molecular and population genetics.
However, I've been in an
Anthropology Department
for the past 15 years.
And this is given me an appreciation
for the value of including
non-genetic data,
such as cultural data,
and in investigation of
human health and disease.
I work with cultural anthropologists
in our department in my research,
and I'll talk some about that
research in this lecture.
But first, I'll give some
background information
on different types of disease and
how they have different causative
and risk factors.
Then I'll talk about some of my
research that combines genetic,
biological, and
cultural data to provide
a comprehensive investigation
into specific diseases.
My research takes a
very broad perspective
in order to encompass
more of the full range
of factors that influence
particular types of disease.
In other words, diseases that have
biological and cultural influences.
These types of diseases are
called complex diseases.
I'm also interested in
racial health disparities,
because they're both biological
and cultural influences
on racial health disparities.
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What is a disease?
If we're going to talk
about what causes diseases,
we have to be sure we understand
exactly what a disease is.
Wikipedia says, "A
disease is a particular
abnormal, pathological
condition that affects
part or all of an organism."
This definition makes it
sound black and white.
You either have a
disease or you don't.
In reality, the transition from
healthy state to disease state,
at least in some cases, can
be gradual or progress slowly.
So that it's not
always apparent exactly
when someone develops a disease.
