TALK: Friends of the UWA Library Speaker

Presentation Synopsis

Although quite common in past centuries, currently in the Western world even the thought of marriage with a biological relative usually evokes widespread suspicion and distaste. Yet some 1,100 million people live in countries where 20% to over 50% of marriages are between first cousins or other close kin. The reasons for these very different approaches to partner choice and their supposed influence on health and wellbeing will be presented and discussed, based on ongoing studies across four continents.

About the Speaker

Professor Alan Bittles was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and educated in Trinity College, University of Dublin (MA, 1972, ScD, 2004) and Queen’s University, Belfast (PhD, 1973). He currently is Adjunct Professor and Research Leader in the Centre for Comparative Genomics, Murdoch University, and Adjunct Professor of Community Genetics in the School of Medical Sciences, Edith Cowan University, where he was Foundation Professor of Human Biology and Director of the Centre for Human Genetics from 1993-2005. His present research centres on rare diseases, intellectual and developmental disability, and the impact of consanguinity and genetic sub-structure on disease gene expression, with projects in Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Iran, Pakistan and the UK.