The Science of DNA Profiling: A National Expert Forum

Speaker Biographies (in alphabetical order):

Jason A. Eshleman, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Director and co-founder of Trace Genetics as well as a research associate with the Department of Anthropology at UC-Davis. Dr. Eshleman received his doctorate in Biological Anthropology from the University of California, Davis in 2002. His research has focused on the analysis of mtDNA extracted from burial remains to track migrations and population dynamics in prehistory. He continues to work on methods to improve extraction protocols for ancient DNA from specimens ranging from several hundred to several thousand years old as well as examining global human population genetics. jason@tracegenetics.com

Simon Ford, Ph.D., Trained primarily in molecular biology and biochemistry, Dr. Ford is the Founder and President of Lexigen Science and Law Consultants, a firm that specializes in providing advice to lawyers about genetic evidence since 1988. He has personally reviewed the DNA evidence from thousands of criminal investigations and has conducted numerous workshops for agencies on the analysis of STR test results. ford@bioforensics.com

Christine Funk is a criminal defense attorney and adjunct professor at William Mitchell College of Law. She has been a criminal defense attorney for over 12 years, has been dealing with forensic DNA issues in the courtroom for almost as long. Funk has been with the public defender's office her entire career. Her current job with the State of Minnesota's Public Defender's Office is to handle and/or assist other attorneys with complex litigation. She also focuses on forensic issues for the office, including DNA evidence as well as other scientific disciplines in the courtroom. Christine Funk has presented DNA education to lawyers and lay persons across the country. Christine.Funk@state.mn.us

Jason Gilder, Ph.D. is a Systems Engineer at Forensic Bioinformatics, Inc. His dissertation work involved developing new objective standards for forensic DNA analysis. His master's thesis involved developing the Genophiler® software system for the automated evaluation of forensic DNA testing results. He has used Genophiler® to analyze the electronic data in more than 500 cases over the past five years. gilder@bioforensics.com

Mitch Holland, Ph.D. Prior to joining the Forensic Science Program at Penn State, Dr. Holland was the Senior Vice President, Operations and Laboratory Director of The Bode Technology Group (Bode). Dr. Holland is a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and is a former member of the American Society of Human Genetics. He has served as an associate professorial lecturer in the Forensic Science Department at the George Washington University, and has been an adjunct faculty member at other colleges and universities. Dr. Holland is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences, and has been a member of the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Legal Medicine. mmh20@psu.edu

Frederika Kaestle, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Biology and a Fellow of the Molecular Biology Institute of Indiana University. During her academic career, Dr. Kaestle has specialized in molecular genetic techniques that can be utilized to address anthropological questions. Over the past decade, she has concentrated on the new techniques and protocols that make ancient DNA available for study, and has used these data to test hypotheses based on archaeological, linguistic, and ethnographic studies. kaestle@indiana.edu

Dan Krane, Ph.D., graduated with a Bachelor's degree for a double major in Biology and Chemistry from John Carroll University in 1985 and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Penn State University in 1990. From there he did post-doctoral research at Washington University and Harvard before accepting a faculty appointment at Wright State University in 1993. His research interests are primarily in the areas of molecular evolution and the way that gene frequencies change over the course of time in populations of organisms. His research group has recently developed a technique that allows quick and precise measurement of the amount of genetic diversity that a population harbors at a molecular level. Since high levels of genetic diversity better allow groups of organisms to respond to stresses they encounter in their environments it is also an excellent measure of the population's vigor and productivity. Environmental insults such as pollution can significantly diminish a naturally occurring population's genetic diversity however and this methodology is now being used to more closely examine the true impact of such events. Along with Professor Michael Raymer, he is co-author of one of the first primarily undergraduate textbooks in bioinformatics. Since 1991 he has also testified as an expert witness in more than 60 criminal trials in which DNA evidence has been presented. dan.krane@wright.edu

Sheldon Krimsky, Ph.D. is professor of Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning in the School of Arts & Sciences and Adjunct Professor in Public Health and Family Medicine in the School of Medicine at Tufts University. He received his bachelors and masters degrees in physics from Brooklyn College, CUNY and Purdue University respectively, and a masters and doctorate in philosophy at Boston University. Professor Krimsky's research has focused on the linkages between science/technology, ethics/values and public policy. He is the author of eight books: Genetic Alchemy: The Social History of the Recombinant DNA Controversy (MIT Press) 1982, Biotechnics and Society: The Rise of Industrial Genetics (Praeger) 1991, Hormonal Chaos:The Scientific and Social Origins of the Environmental Endocrine Hypothesis(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), Science in the Private Interest: Has the lure of profits corrupted biomedical research? (Rowman & Littlefield Pub.) 2003. He is co-author of Environmental Hazards: Communicating Risks as a Social Process (Auburn House) 1988 and Agricultural Biotechnology and the Environment: Science, Policy and Social Values (University of llinois), 1996 and co-editor of a collection of papers titled Social Theories of Risk (Praeger) 1992. Professor Krimsky has published over 160 essays and reviews that have appeared in many books and journals. His current book is a co-edited volume titled Rights and Liberties in the Biotech Age: Why We Need a Genetic Bill of Rights (Rowman & Littlefield Pub.) 2005. sheldon.krimsky@tufts.edu

Larry Mueller, Ph.D., Dr. Mueller is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. He has testified in nearly five hundred criminal cases, primarily on issues pertaining to population genetics and the statistics associated with forensic DNA profiling. ldmuelle@uci.edu

Dale Nance, J.D. is Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University. Mr. Nance is internationally recognized for his twenty-five years of scholarship, having published doctrinal, theoretical, and empirical work related to the admission and assessment of evidence. Between 1999 and 2002, he conducted an unusually large jury experiment, using over 2,000 mock jurors to study various methods of presenting the random match probability associated with DNA evidence. His first report on that study received the Loevinger Prize for 2002. His current project is an analysis of the concept of "weight" of evidence, as that idea is understood by philosophers of science, and how that concept applies to common-law trials. Mr. Nance holds a B.A. from Rice University, a J.D. from Stanford University, and an M.A. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from U.C. Berkeley. dan10@case.edu

Robert Pyatt, Ph.D. is a Molecular Genetics Fellow in the Department of Pathology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Nationwide Childrens Hospital. He has previously taught at Emory University, Clark Atlanta University, and Morris Brown College. pyatt.7@osu.edu

D. Michael Risinger, J.D. is a professor of law at Seton Hall Law School. He holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He clerked for the Honorable Clarence C. Newcomer of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Civil Procedure, the chair-elect of the AALS Section on Evidence, and a life member of the American Law Institute. He is also a member of the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Evidence, which was responsible for the current version of the New Jersey Rules of Evidence. Professor Risinger came to Seton Hall Law School in 1973. He served as a visiting senior fellow on the law faculty of the National University of Singapore from 1985-1986. Professor Risinger has published in the areas of evidence and civil procedure. He is the co-author of Trial Evidence, A Continuing Legal Education Casebook and the author of two chapters in Faigman, Kaye, Saks and Sanders, Modern Scientific Evidence (“Handwriting Identification” and “A Proposed Taxonomy of Expertise”). Professor Risinger was selected as one of Seton Hall’s two inaugural Dean’s Research Fellows (2002-2004). His scholarship has recently concentrated on wrongful convictions as well as expert evidence issues. risingmi@shu.edu

Marc Taylor, As President and Senior Forensic Scientist at Technical Associates, Mr. Taylor performs trace evidence analysis on hundreds of samples each year both for prosecutors and defense attorneys. A former criminalist at the Los Angeles Medical Examiner's Office, he also served as the principal technical advisor for the Quincy television series. marc.taylor@tai-labs.com

William Thompson, J.D., Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the Department of Criminology, Law & Society at the University of California, Irvine. He has a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He is well known for his research on the way people interpret (and sometimes misinterpret) scientific and statistical data and has written extensively about the use and misuse of DNA evidence. Although primarily an academic, he occasionally represents clients in cases involving novel scientific and statistical issues. He argued the first case concerning the admissibility of DNA evidence before the New Mexico Court of Appeals and Supreme Court, and was the first attorney in California to successfully challenge the admissibility of an FBI DNA test. He was a member of the "dream team" that represented O.J. Simpson during his criminal trial. He has consulted with police departments, coroners and lawyers on a variety of cases involving scientific evidence in the US, the UK, and Australia. He served as Reporter for the American Bar Association Standards Committee Study Group on DNA Evidence and was a member of the ABA Task Force on Biological Evidence. He currently co-chairs the Forensic Evidence Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). thompson@bioforensics.com

Mary Terrell White, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor and Director, Division of Medical Humanities at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University. Her research interests include ethical issues in genetic testing and counseling, research ethics, decision-making, and global health.

Last modified: 01/15/09