NAU geneticist was first HOPI Ph.D.

Frank C Dukepoo defended rights of study subjects By DAN RICE Sun Staff Reporter Frank Charles Dukepoo, a Northen Arizona University Professor, honored geneticist and the first Hopi ever to earn a doctorate degree, was found dead of natural causes at 56 in his Flagstaff home Wednesday afternoon. While his professional career as a scientist was full of notable accomplishments, he will be equally re membered for his efforts to prevent exploitation of indigenous groups as subjects in scientific studies. For most of his career, Dukepoo walked the line between studying genetics and examining the effects of studies on various groups of people.

He was honored for his extensive studies on albinism among the Hopi and other work among indigenous people but he received just as much respect for his message of indigenous rights within studies such as these. Dukepoo did considerable work with the Human Genome Diversity project, a global effort to create a database of genes from all the world's people. He also spent much of his time helping to voice Native American opposition to scientific studies that simplify a diverse culture into just genetic entry in a database. "To us, any part of ourselves is sacred. Scientists say it, just DNA". Dukepoo said in a 1998 San Francisco Chronicle article. "For an Indian, it is not just DNA, it is part of a person, it is sacred, with deep

religious significance. It is part of the essence of a person." Dukepoo graduated with a Ph.D., in zoology from Arizona State University in 1973, and he became one of only two Native American geneticists. At NAU he was the Director of Indian Education, before becoming a faculty member of the of the Department of Biological Sciences. During his career, Dukepoo also taught at San Diego State University and held administrative executive positions with both the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. He worked to create a pamphlet for stating possible indigenous concerns in being subjects in scientific studies, specifically the HGDP. The pamphlet addressed issues such as indigenous awareness and understanding of the research in which they are being included.

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