ROLE OF GENETICS IN HEALTH-CARE

The first time I met Spyros Doxiadis was in Athens on the occasion of an international conference on cerebral palsy. During this meeting and especially at the dinner speeches it became clear to me that Spyros w as a remarkable man. Eminent pediatricians from various countries had come to assist him during a difficult period in the Greek political hi story. Dr. Doxiadis appeared to be a grateful friend and very modest a bout his own contributions. The second time we mel was even more memor able. Dr, Doxiadis, intrigued by the various influences shaping the in dividual, invited in 1988 some twenty experts in different disciplines such as genetics, sociology, pediatrics, developmental psychology and psychiatry. I will remember this meeting as one of the most interesti ng in my professional career because it indeed gave an impression of t he complexity of the process shaping the individual and at the same ti me provided new perspectives and a better mutual understanding. At the end of this meeting and after twenty or so lectures, Spyros Doxiadis in summarizing them he put the most important results and statements o f the conference in the context of Greek mythology. Everybody was not only deeply impressed by this accomplishment and the beautiful slides. It also generated the sobering feeling that most of what we thought a nd said had been said and written over 2000 years earlier. Spyros: an erudite, kind and modest man whose book ''Early influences shaping the individual'' (1) I cherish as a memory to him and his ideals. It is b oth an honour and a pleasure to write this contribution where I will t ry to summarize new developments in genetics and put them in a wider p sychosocial context, as Dr. Doxiadis at the end of his life asked me t o do.