[LESS INFO] 7 VIEWS | ADDED 20:53:16 07/26/11
Vivian Ota Wang (M.Phil, ?94, Ph.D., '95) was working as a genetic counselor in an oncology laboratory at Denver General Hospital back in the 1980s when she noticed that many Latino and Asian children were being identified for genetics consultations to rule out Down Syndrome. The reason? Ota Wang says physicians were 'over-interpreting' the normal shape of Asian people's eyes, confusing it with the so-called 'almond' eye-shape associated with individuals with Down Syndrome. That experience was a turning point for Ota Wang and, as it turned out, for the field of genetics itself.