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The
4th Annual Conference of the African Society of Human Genetics was
successfully held June 3-5 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The theme of the
conference was HUMAN GENETIC VARIATION AND DISEASE
and the conference held in conjunction with the 2006 conference of the
Ethiopian Medical Association. Keynote speakers included: Kari
Stefansson, deCODE Genetics; Sir Walter Bodmer, Weatherall Institute of
Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford; and David Bentley, Solexa,
Inc.
The conference was attended by over 120 participants from 16 countries.
The society welcomed for the first time participants from the North
African region. The conference venue, the International Livestock
Research Institute campus, provided a beautiful setting for the meeting
and participants renewed acquaintances, made new friends and
established new collaborations. Participants enjoyed a wealth of
keynote presentations, invited talks, oral abstracts and poster
presentations. Tutorial sessions were held on “Mapping Complex
Traits” (led by Joseph Beyene, Scott Wiiliams and Nicole Walley)
and “Using HapMap Data” (led by Adebowale Adeyemo, David
Bentley and Charles Rotimi). The quality of presentations was high and
the discussion lively.
As part of the conference, participants visited the National Museum at
which one of the highlights was viewing the bones of the famous
“Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis) and other early
hominids. The National Ethnographic Museum, located at the old imperial
palace of the late Emperor Haile Selassie, was also visited. The
society dinner was held on June 3rd and participants enjoyed a lively
performance by a traditional Ethiopian dance group.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the society held on June 04, 2006.
The discussion covered the current status of the society, funding
issues, progress with establishing the journal and suggestions for
improving the website. It was decided at the AGM to hold the next
conference (the 5th Annual Meeting in 2007) in Cairo, Egypt. This will
be in conjunction with the first annual meeting of the National Society
of Genetics in Egypt. We are looking towards a late October to early
November date. Special thanks to Professors Yehia Zakaria Gad and Amal
Mahmoud Mohamed of the National Research Center, Egypt, for the
presentation made at the AGM and for accepting the hosting of the 2007
meeting. The minutes of the AGM can be found here.
Other issues arising from the conference will be communicated through
this listerv and the website. If there are specific issues from the
conference (or other issues) you would like to see on the website,
email me at: aadeyemo@genomecenter.howard.edu or at aadeyemo@afshg.org.
Many people worked hard to make the conference a success. Apart from
the members of the organizing and executive committees (whom we all
know), Shirley Freeman, Ashelyn Mack and Jayne Wellington worked hard
for months to get things ready for the conference. In Addis Ababa, Gail
Davey and Endeshaw Bekele did the bulk of the on-site organization.
Dawit Dejene of TDS Travel and Tour Services provided logistic support
for travel, accommodations, city visits and conference set-up; he made
most participants’ experience in Addis Ababa as painless as
possible. Many thanks to other people who cannot be mentioned by name
here; your contributions before, during and after the conference are
appreciated.
By any standard, this was a highly successful conference. For those who
could not make this year’s meeting, here’s to hoping you
will be there next year. For those who were there, thanks for coming
and don’t forget to keep in touch with your new friends and
collaborators.
Looking forward to seeing you all in Cairo next year!
Pictures from the 2006 conference
Minutes of the 2006 Annual General Meeting (AGM).
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