Victor McKusick, professor at the John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, Maryland (USA) is considered one of the fathers of the modern medical genetics.  Now in his 80s, the cardiologist performed pioneering work in the field as early as the 1950s.  He was largely responsible for the recognition of genetic medicine as a specialised field of its own, rather than a subset of traditional medicine.

On 2 April 2003, McKusick took part in a EURAC panel discussion for local high school students, speaking about his early genetic studies of the Amish population in the Eastern United States. He was the first scientist to recognize the importance of isolated populations in researching genetically caused diseases.

Participants in the discussion included Giovanni Romeo from the University of Bologna and Peter P. Pramstaller.

Press Review
Il Mattino: "Padre della genetica" (download pdf)
Alto Adige: "Così si spiega la ricerca genetica agli studenti (download pdf)
Dolomiten:  "Vater der Genetik zu Gast" (download pdf)
Il Mattino: "Il genoma umano spiegato ai giovani" (download pdf)
FF "Genmedizin" (download pdf)