Speakers

Spencer Wells is a leading population geneticist, author, and documentary filmmaker who has dedicated much of his career to studying humankind’s family tree and human migration. A National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, he is spearheading the Genographic Project, which is being conducted in collaboration with other scientists around the world, and will capture an invaluable genetic snapshot of humanity before modern-day influences erase it forever.  Wells has served as director of the Population Genetics Research Group of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University, and head of research for a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company.  His award-winning book, The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, was the basis for his documentary of that same name that aired on PBS in the United States and on the National Geographic Channel internationally.