Dr. Lasker honored by Italian university

Gabriel Ward Lasker, PhD, Wayne State University School of Medicine professor emeritus of anatomy, was honored with an honorary degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences from the University of Turin, Italy.

For more than 50 years, Dr. Lasker has studied the relationship between genetic factors and the physical and social environments in all aspects of human biology. He has been a pioneer in his field.

“In a period in which some of our technically more advanced colleagues are involved in research in molecular biology, I sometimes find that they talk as if a person’s DNA were the person himself,” Dr. Lasker said. “I’ve always been more interested in a balanced vision that embraces both cultural and ecological influences.”

Dr. Lasker’s work, which has included almost 250 scientific publications, has centered around five specific themes: biological variation, development, genetics, migration and biodemography. He was one of the first anthropologists to understand that biological variation in human populations could be explained through the law of genetics.

However, some of his most significant studies have explained the role the environment plays in changing living human populations. He proved that the physical structure of a population is not immutable, but instead a changeable element determined by the interaction between genes and the environment.

“The work of many anthropologists has shown that, with ever-improving means of travel, the forces accelerating breeding between populations have increased, making for a single human race throughout our species,” Dr. Lasker said.