Out of Africa: Penn's Sarah Tishkoff Integrates Knowledge of Genetics and Culture

May 27, 2009

Earlier this month Penn PIK Professor Sarah Tishkoff made world history. She and her team of international scientists published the largest African genetic study ever undertaken: a genetic map of Africa that sheds new light on all of humankind -- our origins, our evolution, and our future.

It's a landmark study, 10 years in the making, that reveals Africa to be the most genetically diverse place on earth. Pinpointing the origin of modern human migration in southern Africa and the exit point out of Africa near the middle of the Red Sea, her study also shows how genetic mutations and linguistic diversity have co-evolved. And it sets the stage for future biomedical research on disease, diet and drug treatments.

Sweeping? Yes. Groundbreaking and provocative? Yes and yes. But that's what happens when you integrate knowledge from multiple academic disciplines -- in this case, genetics, biology, anthropology, and linguistics.

"This is the first time we have had the genetic data to reconstruct migration events," says Tishkoff, who has been dubbed "a molecular anthropologist." "Many of these groups have been studied by linguists and anthropologists, and we've known nothing about their genetic history. Until now."

You might say that at Penn, integrating knowledge is in our DNA. On her first day as Penn President, Amy Gutmann spelled out the critical role of integrating knowledge encoded in the Penn Compact, our commitment to propel the University from excellence to eminence. "The most challenging questions and problems of our time cannot be addressed by one discipline or profession," she wrote. "To comprehend our complex world, we must better integrate knowledge."

Since then eight PIK (Penn Integrates Knowledge) Professors have been named (Tishkoff became the sixth, in January 2008), with more to follow.

Penn's PIK Professors

"Beginning with the recruitment of eminent scholars who will hold joint appointments in two schools and departments, Penn will achieve a truly successful partnership between arts and sciences and our professional schools that will benefit our students, our society, and our world," Gutmann wrote.

And endowing professorships like Tishkoff's (she's the David and Lyn Silfen University Associate Professor) -- to attract and retain a community of world class faculty-scholars -- is one of the core priorities of Making History, the campaign for Penn.

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Out of Africa: Penn's Sarah Tishkoff Integrates Knowledge of Genetics and Culture