New Speaker Rina Bliss asks what genomic science reveals about our social lives!

If there is one thing this global moment of isolation has taught us as a species is that human beings are social beings. Isolated to our homes, provided with no-contact delivery services, and forced to limit milestone celebrations to small in-person groups, a year after the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, we are craving social interaction. Not only does the current global outcry for social interaction confirm our leaning toward sociality, but centuries-old science examines how humans are predisposed—our bodies hardwired—to engage with and respond to others and our surrounding environments. Sociality is not only in our hearts in this present moment of isolation, but social genomic science investigates how it has always been in our genes! New Outspoken keynote speaker and science, tech, and policy analyst, Catherine “Rina” Bliss, is one of the leading experts in this latest revolution of DNA that investigates the relationship between genes and environments.

Social genomic science is a marriage of social, economic and natural sciences that considers the genetic component of educational attainment and wealth, political leanings, eating behaviors and more. It examines how our genes reveal we are genetically predisposed to be liberal or conservative, allergic to peanuts or lactose intolerant, a responsible spender or someone drowning in debt. As a social justice advocate, Rina takes the work a step further by exploring how genetic science affects inequalities and inequities in health and medicine, education and criminal justice.

In her award-winning book, Race Decoded: The Genomic Fight for Social Justice, Rina chronicles the histories of the global human genome projects and explains how genomics became today’s new science of race.

Her latest research explores how emerging innovations, such as neurosculpting, can enhance our brains, thereby, improving our lives at home, at school, in the boardroom, and beyond. In Hacking Intelligence, she introduces the burgeoning science of genetic neurosculpting to academic and nonacademic audiences.

Rina is a professor of Sociology at Rutgers University. She is a member of the Human Genome Synthesis Project known as “GP-Write” and Finding Your Roots Genetics and Genealogy Project; an affiliate of UCSF and the UC Berkeley Center for Social Medicine; and a consultant to public institutions like the California Academy of Sciences, Exploratorium, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Rina Bliss is now available to book for virtual events and speaking engagements.