FROM PHARAOHS’ CLUTCHES TO PICASSO’S BRUSHES
Art and genetics as records of our humanity
Bassem A. Bejjani, MD
In this fascinating presentation, Bassem A. Bejjani, MD, Vice President of CARAVAN, focuses our attention on artistic depictions of genetic conditions through history and across the world. He highlights artists as astute observers, with their keen eyes often detecting both significant and subtle events in society. Throughout human history, artists have used their work to address issues that are often taboo, or that society at large finds uncomfortable to address directly. One of these important issues that has appeared in art over time is genetics, and more specifically the physical manifestations of genetic conditions.
Dr. Bejjani has written and lectured extensively on the intersection of art and science as a commentary on the human condition and as a thread that unifies and binds all peoples across the world and through the ages. In this presentation, he takes the listener on a visual journey throughout history, reminding us how disability through genetic (or other) disorders is part of the human condition and what makes us human and “imperfect” beings. These are conditions that do not differentiate between class, race, wealth or social status. They are equal opportunity conditions. Additionally, families that selfishly hoarded wealth and privilege down through the ages (like the intermarriage of the royal families of Europe to concentrate wealth and power), at times carried a heavier burden of these conditions. In this unique presentation, Dr. Bejjani shows how over the millennia, artists from all over the world, have documented this aspect of the human condition.
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El Greco, Portrait of St. Sebastian, 1610-1614 - showing classic features of Marfan syndrome
About Bassem A. Bejjani, MD
Bassem A. Bejjani, MD, Vice President of CARAVAN, is the Chief Medical Officer of Metis Genetics, a telegenetics counseling service company. He is also the Chair of Creative West, a US Regional Art Organization (USRAO) that supports creativity in the West and beyond. An art advocate, Dr. Bejjani has served on the boards of many art organizations including, the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA), the Spokane Symphony, the Henry Art Gallery and Northwest Folklife among others.
A graduate of the American University of Beirut, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston, he is a pediatrician and medical geneticist by training. Dr. Bejjani had a long career in academia, research, teaching and entrepreneurship. As an academic physician-scientist and a specialist in genetic medicine and genomic science, he mentored dozens of medical and graduate students. He received many teaching awards and has lectured extensively in the US and abroad. He holds many patents for inventions in genomics, diagnostics and software analysis of DNA abnormalities. He is co-founder of Signature Genomics, a genomics laboratory that was acquired by PerkinElmer, Inc. in 2010. His work in basic research inspired his interest in arts and science education and in the role of art in enhancing creativity, learning and critical thinking. He writes and lectures on this intersection of art and science as a commentary on the human condition and as a unifying force across the world and through the ages.