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NIH Officials Visit MORE Program Institutions and Navajo Reservation
BY SUSAN ATHEY, NIGMS

When Dr. Glenn Kuehn, director of the Bridges to the Baccalaureate program at New Mexico State University (NMSU), learned that the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) would accept an invitation to visit NMSU if the trip included interaction with Native Americans, he turned to his friends and colleagues at Bridges partner school Diné College for assistance.

Dr. Don Denetdeal, a professor of Navajo studies at Diné's Tsaile campus, arranged for NHGRI director Dr. Francis Collins, NIGMS MORE division director Dr. Clifton Poodry, and other NIH representatives to visit Diné College in the center of the Navajo Reservation to meet with students of the Shiprock and Tsaile campuses of Diné College and have an open discussion with Navajo community members, including some from the society of Navajo medicine men and women.

Various advisors to NIH--especially the late Dr. Frank Dukepoo, a Hopi geneticist--have urged Federal administrators to get out among the Native American people and listen to their concerns about genetic studies that involve Native American participants. Collins told his audiences that he was there to listen and learn.

"I come with deep respect for you and your community," Collins said.

"I hope to in some small way engage in dialog and to explore means to keep the dialog going."

In his meetings at NMSU, Collins spoke about the Human Genome Project and its implications for future improvements in understanding and treating hereditary diseases. He also entertained questions that ranged from the impact of genetic testing and privacy issues to the future of the Human Genome Project.

Following the meetings at NMSU, the group visited Diné College and the nearby Navajo Reservation. Since travel by car to the heart of the reservation would have taken longer than schedules would allow, a charter flight was arranged to take Collins and one of his staff members, Dr. Monique Mansoura; Poodry; Kuehn; Kuehn's Bridges assistant, Priscilla Marquez; and Kuehn's graduate student, Don Benn, from Las Cruces, NM, to Chinle, AZ (the location of the reservation). There, the group was met by Dr. Mark Bauer, an investigator on Diné's MBRS grant, staff members, and students. The party traveled past the historic Canyon de Chelly to the campus at Tsaile, where they met with Native American students and community members.

Kuehn said the visit served as a powerful reminder of "how large the knowledge gap is between those who conduct genomic research and the general nonscientific population.

"Scientists have an enormous task in the future to bring the general population to a higher level of understanding of the benefits that will come from the Human Genome Project."

According to Poodry, the visits to NMSU, Diné College, and the Navajo Reservation were a good start. "We are pleased how well the visits went," he said. "The two medicine people who spoke to us indicated the importance of community understanding of important topics such as genetics and their desire to learn more. The MORE Division will continue to work with the National Human Genome Research Institute to follow up on this historic outreach activity."

Dr. Francis Collins presented Dr. Don Denetdeal with a framed CD containing the human genome sequence that was published last February.

The day had added adventure when a wheel of the chartered plane went off the narrow airstrip and became bogged in mud. A group of eight industrious Diné students and faculty came up with a shovel and a board and together helped push the plane out of the mud and back onto the paved runway.