![](https://www.brocher.ch/content/images/quote-begin.png)
L’utilité de ce genre d’institutions est incontestable. Car le monde moderne est sans cesse confronté à des innovations, médicales ou autres, qui s’appliquent à l’homme ou à son environnement proche. Ce lieu est donc nécessaire pour préparer la matière intellectuelle qui sera ensuite transférée aux citoyens afin que ceux- ci puissent se prononcer quant à la légitimité de ces innovations.![](https://www.brocher.ch/content/images/quote-end.png)
![](https://www.brocher.ch/content/images/A_Kahn.jpg) | Professeur Axel Kahn, le célèbre généticien français, lors de l’inauguration de la Fondation Brocher |
| Melissa Creary Assistant Professor - University of Michigan
United States
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04.03.2019-29.03.2019
The Cultural Malleability of Biology: Constructions of Sickle Cell Disease in Brazil
I propose three objectives for my two-month stay at the Brocher Foundation.
1. Chapter Refinement: To develop and refine the central arguments of the manuscript chapter “The Cultural Malleability of Biology”.
2. Chapter Submission to Publisher: To submit the finalized chapter to Duke Press
3. European applications: To establish collaborative relationships with Swiss and other European researchers and practitioners for future collaborative research on biocultural citizenship.
Melissa Creary received her doctorate from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, USA. Prior to this she worked as a health scientist for nine years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is currently an assistant professor in the School of Public Health, Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan.
Melissa's research explores the political processes of sickle cell disease (SCD)-based health and social policy in Brazil and bridges bioethics, public health and science and technology studies (STS). Her work investigates how frameworks of biology, social determinants, and policy respond to Brazilian cultural and historical ideas about race, health, identity, and citizenship.