Rick Antonius Kittles (born in Sylvania, Georgia, United States) is an American biologist specializing in human genetics. Tory Kittles is an American actor, writer, and director who stars opposite Queen Latifah on CBS's hit series The Equalizer. Sampson met with Lunsars 40 elders, all but one of them men, and all Muslim, save one Christian. //]]>. He is a four-time Pro Bowler and was a First-team All-Pro in 2019. This page was last edited on 8 February 2023, at 17:10. He is of African-American ancestry, and achieved renown in the 1990s for his pioneering work in tracing the ancestry of African Americans via DNA testing. While at Howard, one project in particular pushed Kittles into business. Kittles is well known for his research of prostate cancer and health disparities among African Americans. 23 Feb. 2023 . His work on tracing the genetic ancestry of African Americans has brought to focus many issues, new and old, which relate to race, ancestry, identity, and group membership. So when Rick Kittles, a young and ambitious geneticist at Howard University, proposed using DNA testing to pinpoint the exact region or tribe of their forebears, hundreds of African Americans . He also investigated interactions between melanin and prescription drugs, and between melanin and illicit drugs such as cocaine. . Where, he wondered, did he and his ancestors fit in? Ebony selected the nation's top 100 African-American "power players . George Krieger Kittle (born October 9, 1993) is an American football tight end for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). Boston was selected because its African-American population was relatively self-contained; many black Boston families could trace their roots to the American Revolution or even earlier. Dr. Call a family reunion and have everybody put in $10., Kittles takes the criticism seriously, but in stride. Morehouse College is reportedly in talks to read more company news. Culture? This project involved setting up national network of mostly African-American medical scientists who would enroll 100 families with at least four members who were afflicted with prostate cancer; blood samples were subjected to genetic research, with the intent of finding a genetic marker that might explain the high incidence of the disease among African-American men. Richmond Times-Dispatch, January 31, 1994, p. C1. Kittless own Y-chromosome test turned up a result in Germany. Beginning in 2004, he served as an associate professor in the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology & Medical Genetics at the Tzagournis Medical Research Facility of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. But there the trail ended. South Africa? Rick Kittles, Ph.D. Scientific Director, African Ancestry, Inc. These races were not conceived as being related with each other, but Wikipedia, African American Lives is a PBS television miniseries hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. focusing on African American genealogical research. He is of African-American ancestry, and achieved renown in the 1990s for his pioneering work in tracing the ancestry of African Americans via DNA testing. Currently, he is a professor and founding director of the Division of . African Ancestry determines specific countries and Some surnames, like Smith or Jackson or Brown, are common. In the age of DNA screening, centuries-old rumors about plantation owners siring children with their female slaves have become, he says, verifiable fact. Currently, he is Professor and Founding Director of the Division of Health Equities within the Department of Population Sciences at City of Hope. As a Wikipedia, Archaeogenetics of the Near East The archaeogenetics of the Near East involves the study of aDNA or ancient DNA, identifying haplogroups and haplotypes of ancient skeletal remains from both YDNA and mtDNA for populations of the Ancient Near East (the modern Middle East, i.e. Wikipedia, Sylvania, Georgia Infobox Settlement official name = Sylvania, Georgia other name = native name = nickname = settlement type = City motto = imagesize = image caption = flag size = image seal size = image shield = shield size = image blank emblem = blank emblem Wikipedia, Khoisan Infobox Ethnic group group=Khoisan poptime= popplace=Southern Africa rels=Animist, Muslim [http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006 06/01/02.shtml] langs=Khoisan languages related=perhaps SandaweKhoisan (increasingly commonly spelled Khoesan Wikipedia, Afrocentrism For the study of African culture and history, see African studies. Moreover, a third of paternal-lineage tests He was a nationally recognized investigator whose specialties encompassed such vital topics as prostate cancer and the role of genetics in disease. Autosomal, Mitochondrial, and Y Chromosome DNAVariation in Finland: Evidence for a Male-Specic Bottleneck RICK A. KITTLES,1,2* ANDREW W. BERGEN,3 MARGRIT URBANEK,1 MATTI VIRKKUNEN,5 MARKKU LINNOILA,4 DAVID GOLDMAN,3 AND JEFFREY C. LONG1 1Section on Population Genetics and Linkage, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, But our history didnt start with slavery; we came through slavery. Rick Kittles, PhD, received a BS in biology from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1989 and a PhD in biological sciences from George Washington University in 1998. But 15 years ago, when he first embarked on his database research, he says, I was interested in exploring genetic variation in Africa, where DNA diversity is broader and richer than anywhere else on the globe. Theyve got all these diamonds, but theres so much exploitation., Sampson has read the critical press about Kittless work. He is also Associate Director of Health Equities of COH Comprehensive Cancer Center. Since he first pondered the databases commercial prospects, hes been part of an intensifying public debate over geneticsrole in genealogy. Over time, the concept of race has been seen Then she learned other companies traced it elsewhere, to Senegal and Ivory Coast. From approximately 1997 until 1999, as a researcher with the New York African Burial Ground Project (NYABGP), a federally funded project in New York City, win which Howard University researchers, led by anthropologist Michael Blakey, exhumed the remains of 408 African Americans from an 18th-century graveyard; Kittles gathered DNA samples from the remains and compared them with samples from a DNA database to determine from where in Africa the individuals buried in the graveyard had come. African Ancestry continued to grow and to gain national attention; an article on the company appeared in People in the fall of 2004. And I felt that I was probably the right person to do it, he says, noting that for many African Americans, the idea of scientific testing raises the specter of the Tuskegee experiments, begun in 1932, in which 400 poor, black Alabama sharecroppers were denied treatment for syphilis over the course of 40 years. In part because its unearthing sparked controversy among African Americans, and because the find was archaeologically significant, the burial ground got plenty of press. Genetics can help us have a more nuanced understanding of how we use that word, not just in the biologial sciences, but in the social sciences and humanities, he says. It was while doing this work that Kittles and his associates had a brainstorm. For one thing, he says, his database outmeasures, by two- and threefold, any other repository of African DNA, making his results more precise than other geneticists could expect to achieve. The village elders were expecting him. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. He holds a B.S. His parentsDNA, however, revealed links to the Hausa people of northern Nigeria, the Ibo of eastern Nigeria, and the Mandinka of Senegal. Add an answer. Color?, Sampson now finds himself thinking less about race and more about ancestry. By that time, Kittles had been hired as an associate professor at the Ohio State University medical school, in the department of molecular virology, immunology, and medical genetics. Columbus Dispatch, March 18, 2004, p. B1. Education: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, BS, biology, 1989; George Washington University, PhD, biological sciences, 1998. He mounted his own research trips to the continent too, concentrating on its western territory, from which so many millions of African slaves had been captured and shipped to America. He then helped establish the National Human Genome Center at Howard University. As a pilot project, they began to gather genetic material from Boston-area school children. When they emerged, they bestowed the name Pa Sorie Kamara. Pa indicates an elder; Kamara associates Sampson with a particular house. The 25,000 samples hes collected represent 389 ethnic groups from more than 30 countries, most in west and central Africa, where the slave trade was concentrated. degree in biology from the Rochester Institute of Technology (1989), where he pledged Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, and a Ph.D. in biology from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (1998). When Kittles tested his own DNA he's the co-founder and scientific director of African Ancestry, a genealogy and DNA testing website for people of African descent he learned he was 80 percent. Dr. Rick Kittles is a geneticist and director of the division of health equities at City of Hope, a private hospital, graduate medical school and research center in Duarte, California. Kittles says DNA offers a way to reclaim identity. By this time it was the late 1990s; Kittles earned his PhD in 1998 and took a job as assistant professor of microbiology at Howard University. Shes often a go-to resource for African Diaspora communities including the Embassies of Cameroon and Ghana; The Year of Return 2019 event From Jamestown to Jamestown with the NAACP; Back2Africa Festival in Cape Coast and various African tourism authorities and leaders. Kittles says he expects the price to fall as demand rises, but Harvards Gates puts the issue into perspective this way: Many people buy shoes that cost $250 or more, he says. But he gravitated toward subjects with broad social importance, and his eventual scholarly specialties were all hot topics: prostate cancer and its underlying causes, the relationship between genetics and disease prevalence more generally, and the validity (or lack of validity) of the concept of race. Kittles took on the role of scientific director. Following public outcry over the federal governments haphazard excavationand some dismay that the graves had been disturbed at allthe remains were turned over to Howard researchers for more systematic examination. For 85 percent of African Ancestrys clients, Kittles says, he finds an identical match to an ethnic group in his database, and he tells clients the present-day country or countries where that group resides. Another research enterprise in which Kittles became involved at the beginning of his career was the African Burial Ground Project in New York City, where Howard researchers led by anthropologist Michael Blakey exhumed the remains of 408 African Americans from an eighteenth-century graveyard. ", Brief BiographiesBiographies: Dan Jacobson Biography - Dan Jacobson comments: to Barbara Knutson (19592005) Biography - Personal, Copyright 2023 Web Solutions LLC. Many African-Americans can relate. Rick Antonius Kittles (born in Sylvania, Georgia, United States ) is an American biologist specializing in human genetics. From approximately 1995 until 1999, as a researcher with the New York African Burial Ground Project (NYABGP), a federally funded project in New York City, in which Howard University researchers, led by anthropologist Michael Blakey, exhumed the remains of 408 African Americans from an 18th-century graveyard;[7] Kittles gathered DNA samples from the remains and compared them with samples from a DNA database to determine from where in Africa the individuals buried in the graveyard had come. Customers could choose to have either the paternal line (though the Y chromosome, the genetic marker responsible for the development of male characteristics) or the maternal line (through mitochondrial DNA) investigated; a discount was available for the pair. Sampson isnt alone. Through DNA testing, he discovered he's a descendant of the Mende people of Sierra Leone. . Well known for his research in this field, Kittles has been featured in the PBS series African American Lives, in two BBC Two films, and on 60 . Born 1976(?) The way Kittles tells it, requests from African Americans swelled to a roar. He is also known for appearing in films and TV series like Malibu's Most Wanted (2003), Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), Next (2007), Miracle at St. Anna (2008) among others. For his original DNA research and analysis restoring the African ethnic and national identities of descendants of enslaved Africans living in the Diaspora, Dr. Kittles deserves honors and recognition. They know their ancestors were from Africa, but they cant get past South Carolina or Mississippi. For Sampson, this is especially true: adopted and raised by his maternal uncle, he met his mother only three times and knew nothing about his fathers family. Already, he had tried out his ancestry tests on a few subjects, among them his parents. surrounding race, genetic ancestry, and health disparities. That variation is located within a gene that plays a role in DNA repair, and a malfunction in that process could contribute to cancer development. Kittles discusses why using race in biomedical studies is problematic using examples from U.S. groups which transcend "racial" boundaries and bear the burden of health disparities. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Her work is featured in PBS Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and African American Lives 1 & 2, The Africa Channel, NBCs Who Do You Think You Are?, CNNs Black in America series and SiriusXM where she created and served as co-host on African Ancestry Radio. Van Velsen | 1 Stefanie Van Velsen Feb 21, 2019. Study guides. In February 2008 he appeared in part 4 of African American Lives 2. Encyclopedia.com. [http://www.physanth.org/positions/race.html AAPA Statement on Biological Aspects of Wikipedia, Shomarka Keita Shomarka Omar Sundiata Yahye (S.O.Y.) Ricky Kittles is 56 years old today because Ricky's birthday is on 03/16/1966. Counting backward 350 years, or about 14 generations, to the height of the African slave trade, any one person could have as many as 16,384 ancestors. Often, those matches hold surprises. The whole countryside, he says, is basically without electricity. S O Y Keita, R A Kittles, C D M Royal, G E Bonney, P Furbert-Harris, G M Dunston & C N Rotimi Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA S O Y Keita Kittles ran into trouble with the government funders who had underwritten the African Burial Ground research as he moved toward profit-making enterprises, and he parted ways with his former associate Michael Blakey in a disagreement over the new project's aims. He earned his PhD in Biological Sciences from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from Rochester Institute of Technology. It is through his years of research on genetic variation and his passion for the movements of African people throughout the world that AfricanAncestry.com was conceived. Morocco? Some of the research followed traditional anthropological models: caskets were examined in search of links to traditional African practices, and the scientists learned what they could from dry bones about how these enslaved African Americans had spent their working life. Associate Professor, The University of Chicago, Department of Medicine Kittles received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from George Washington University. I knew that if you started to get genetic samples from African Americans, it would be sensitive data, Kittles says. The company was sort of an afterthought, he says. The path that led to the founding of African Ancestry was complicated and not without controversy, but Kittles found that his research often fed into the deep interest in African-American genealogy that had been awakened by the publication of Alex Haley's book Roots in the 1970s. Ph.D. dissertation. Already, he had tried out his ancestry tests on a few subjects, among them his parents. Waldo Johnson, associate professor at the School of Social Service Administration and director of the Universitys Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, disagrees. In July 2007 he told Englands Observer Magazine, There is a cultural feeling that DNA evidence is sacrosanct. Under Kittles leadership, African Ancestry has grown into the leading provider of at-home genetic ancestry tests for people of African descent across the world. Says Sampson: That resonated., At first sight, Lunsars cinderblock shacks and dirt roads reminded Sampson of the rural Southern towns hed seen as a civil-rights organizer during the 1960sthe kind of place where townspeople gather around a single television in the main store. The test was simple and painlessthe customer took a cell sample from the inside of the cheek with a swaband could be handled entirely by mail, with a guarantee of confidentiality. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/kittles-rick. Any criticism Kittles encountered was overshadowed by the enthusiastic response he immediately received from African Americans interested in learning more about their backgrounds. Born in Sylvania, Georgia, and raised near Long Island, New York, a great deal of his academic interest was sparked . He took on a partner, Washington businesswoman Gina Paige, to handle the financial side of African Ancestry, taking the title of Scientific Director for himself. [1] Hn on afrikkalais-amerikkalainen , ja hn saavutti 1990-luvulla mainetta uraauurtavasta tystn afroamerikkalaisten syntypern jljittmisess DNA-testauksen . Kittles does this using tests that examine two components of the genome that remain essentially unchanged from one generation to the next: mitochondrial DNA, a maternally inherited genetic strand found outside the cell nucleus and separate from other genes; and the Y-chromosome, which passes from father to son. Using the companys proprietary African Lineage Database along with close collaboration with historians, anthropologists and linguists, Dr. Kittles safeguards accuracy and integrity in determining African countries of origin and Tribes. ", By the time he reached his teenage years, Kittles found his curiosity intensifying as his white classmates began to identify more strongly with European ethnic groups. Share to Facebook. He is also Associate Director of Health Equities of COH Comprehensive Cancer Center. Geneticist Rick Kittles, a professor at Ohio State University, became one of the hottest young scientific researchers in the country in the early 2000s. (February 23, 2023). Wiki User. Rick Antonius Kittles is an American biologist specializing in human genetics and a Senior Vice President for Research at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Rick Antonius Kittles (syntynyt Sylvaniassa , Georgiassa , Yhdysvalloissa ) on yhdysvaltalainen biologi, joka on erikoistunut ihmisen genetiikkaan ja tutkimuksesta vastaava johtaja Morehouse School of Medicine -koulussa . When he was hired by Ohio State in 2004, the Columbus Dispatch reported that he would bring to the university more than $1 million in research grants in addition to his teaching expertise. Horace Cayton spent his lifetime attempting to reconcile his two halves. He was born in Orangeburg, SC to Johnnie Lee Walker, father and Jessie Dorman Walker, mother. Prior to forming AfricanAncestry.com, Paige was the founder and president of GPG Strategic Marketing Resources. Contemporary Black Biography. Co-founder and Scientific Director African Ancestry Feb 2003 - Present20 years 1 month Professor and Associate Director for Health Equity City of Hope May 2017 - Aug 20225 years 4 months Duarte, CA. [10], Kittles was one of the earliest geneticists to trace the ancestry of Africans through DNA testing. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Biography submission guide. On December 15, 2010, the Center for Genetic Medicine and Science in Society, the University's office for science outreach and public engagement, hosted th. He also serves as an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Illinois, Chicago.[8]. Afrocentrism has a long and often misunderstood history. A single mitochondrial DNA or Y-chromosome test from African Ancestry costs $350; other companies charge between $200 and $900 for genetic screenings. African Ancestrys African DNA database remains the largest and most comprehensive ever collected, making its lineage matching the most reliable in the marketplace. [14] Nowadays, Kittles and his team have been busy conducting genetic sequencing trials to try and find variations in genes that affect a person's response to drugs.[12]. Anthropologists pored over the caskets, finding signs of ancient African rituals in the toys and tools buried with the dead, the coins placed in their hands. Its a jump-off point., Some jumps land further than others; African Ancestrys analysis transcends individual families, raising questions about the meaning of race itself. It is most often used to, Pan-Africanism is an internationalist philosophy that is based on the idea that Africans and people of African descent share a common bond. Washington, D.C.: George Washington University. Defining "race" continues to be a nemesis. African descent having helped more than 1,000,000 people re-connect with the roots of their family tree. He has published on the prostate cancer genetics of African Americans. Terms of Use, Jo S(usenbach) Kittinger (1955-) Biography - Writings, Sidelights - Personal, Addresses, Career, Member, Work in Progress, Rick Kittles - Concocted African Ancestry, Rick Kittles - Directed Prostate Cancer Study, Rick Kittles - Callers Jammed Howard Switchboard, Rick Kittles - Attracted Celebrity Customers. Some of the coverage discussed Kittless genetic analysis of the remains. The idea gained support from a group of Boston ministers who helped organize the program. Rick A. Kittles, PhD Section of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine and Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics School of Public Health, University of Illinois, Chicago. Kittles launched African Ancestry in February 2003 with Paige, a Washington, D.C., entrepreneur who, as president, oversees the company's marketing and finances. When he was hired by Ohio State in 2004, the Columbus Dispatch reported that he would bring to the university more than $1 million in research grants in addition to his teaching expertise. "This finding emphasizes the importance of ancestry in studying genetics," said study author Rick Kittles, Associate Professor in Medicine. Kittles also starred opposite Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies in the action-drama series, "Colony", and was seen in Dee Rees' HBO Emmy-winning film, "Bessie", with Queen Latifah. As an Assistant Professor at Howard University in 1997, Dr. Kittles helped establish a national cooperative network to study the genetics of hereditary prostate cancer in African Americans. Most clients, though, come to Kittles knowing little about their African forebears and expecting nothing in particular. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. Kittles also co-directed the molecular genetics unit of Howard University's National Human Genome Center. specific ethnic groups of origin with an unrivaled level of detail, Al Sampsons DNA led him to Sierra Leone. I saw it as a way of trying to put water on our flame, Sampson says. He started with scientific literature, compiling African DNA sequences that had already been decoded and digitized. In 1990 he began his career as a teacher in several New York and Washington, D.C. area high schools. Some people come to African Ancestry, Paige says, hoping to confirm oral histories about American Indians in the family, but the tests rarely bear them out. Founded in 2003 by Dr. Rick Kittles and Gina Paige, African Ancestry is the world leader in tracing maternal and paternal lineages of "I used to always wonder in school why everybody looks different," Kittles told Alice Thomas of the Columbus Dispatch. "The Finnish Population Bottlenecks: Exploiting the Evolutionary History of Genes for Population and Genetic Disease Studies." Rick Kittles, Ph.D., is Professor and founding director of the Division of Health Equities within the Department of Population Sciences at the City of Hope (COH). For African Americans, its hard to make that African connection, says Reverend Sampson. By 2005 Rick Kittles was on his way to prominence in both academic and public spheres. In February 2008 he appeared in part 4 of "African American Lives 2". [11]Kittles is known for his work on prostate cancer but he devotes part of his time to study and research other diseases such as colon and breast cancer, sickle cell anemia, red blood cell immune response, and pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Kittles co-founded African Ancestry, Inc., a private company that provides DNA testing services for tracing African genetic lineages to genealogists and the general public around the world. When he was hired by Ohio State in 2004, the Columbus Dispatch reported that he would bring to the university more than $1 million in research grants in addition to his teaching expertise. As of this past October, more than 260,000 Americans had paid for genealogical genetic testing. He is of African-American ancestry, and achieved renown in the 1990s for his pioneering work in tracing the ancestry of African Americans via DNA testing. Between 1991 and 2003, the New York Times covered the story more than 100 times. As a second-year graduate student in biology at George Washington University, he began collecting data on mitochondrial DNA, the maternally inherited part of the genome, which passes unchanged from generation to generation. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Compiling data gathered by other researchers, he amassed a large enough sample of African DNA to pass muster with other scientists. Afrocentricity redirects here. And increasingly theyre using genetics to do so. Oral history traced the family from New York, where Kittles grew up, to Georgia, where he was born and his grandparents lived. //
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