Racism: An Evolutionary Biologist's Perspective

This annual Darwin Day event is being held in conjunction with the Mississauga Library.

We all hear a lot about racial groups and how people belonging to distinct races differ from each other, for example, in terms of intellectual abilities, criminal or sexual behavior. We also often accept stereotypes, and assume racial differences have genetic origin. Recent events in North America and Europe also brought the question of racism to the front page. These are highly sensitive issues, problems that are difficult to talk about, but ones we all have to face not just in theory but perhaps often directly in our everyday life. What does science tells us about racial differences? How do we define racial groups? And do they really differ from each other? Why racism is so prevalent in our society, and where does it come from? Dr. Gerlai will explore these questions from evolutionary biology and genetics viewpoints. He will review the evolution of our species, the genetic bottleneck we have faced and the genetic differences among us, and will discuss how even well established scientists may have, on occasion, misinterpreted scientific data and misled the public in the name of academic freedom.

Dr. Gerlai received his Ph.D. from the Hungarian Academy of Sceinces in 1989. He has held numerous academic (assistant prof Dept Behav Genet of Eotvos Univ, Budapest, visiting prof Dept Psych of U of Toronto, assoc scientist at Mt. Sinai Hosp Res Inst of Toronto, adjunct associate prof at Dept Psych of Indiana Univ Purdue Univ, Indianapolis, prof at Dept Psych of Univ Hawaii, Honolulu) and industry positions (assoc scientist at Neurosci Dept of Genentech Inc, San Francisco, senior res scientist at Neurosci Dept of Eli Lilly and Co, Indianapolis, vice president of research at Saegis Pharma, San Francisco) before coming to UTM. He is review editor of Genes Brain and Behaviour, regular referee of the grant review panel BRLE of NIH, chair of the Education and Training Committee of the International Behavioural Neuroscience Society (IBNS) and fellow, USA Councillor, and Executive Committee member of IBNS.

His main interests have been the genetic and biological mechanisms of learning and memory and social behaviours in mice and fish and he uses animal behavioural, quantitative genetic and molecular approaches in his research.