Dr. Terence Keel: Social Justice
Social justice and race-in-science expert Dr. Terence Keel helps organizations and institutions understand how race, genetics, and history shape inequality, ethics, and decision making today.
Quick Facts:
- Highlights:
- Full Professor at UCLA with joint appointments in African American Studies and Society and Genetics
- Founding Director of the Lab for BioCritical Studies
- Leading scholar on race, genetics, and the history of science
- Author of Divine Variations
- Formats: Academic keynote speaker, social justice expert, interdisciplinary scholar
- Audiences: Universities, healthcare organizations, research institutions, policy leaders, and organizations addressing equity, ethics, and systemic inequality
- Outcomes:
- Deeper understanding of how race shapes science and medicine
- Insight into historical roots of modern inequality
- Practical perspective for advancing ethical, anti-racist institutional practices
- Travels from: Los Angeles, CA
- **Fee range: On Request
Talent Services
Keynote Topics:
HOW KNOWING SCIENCE CAN HELP US BECOME ANTI-RACIST
Racism haunts nearly every aspect of our society—but it doesn’t have to. Scientists since the 1950s have proven that humans cannot be classified into biological races.
- Did you know that sickle cell anemia can be found in Spain, Malta, and Greece among people who do not have African ancestry?
- Or that race has nothing to do with why some of us can enjoy milk and ice cream?
- Or that living near a freeway can tell us more about your chances for having asthma than your so-called racial identity?
Drawing on the last 70 years of scientific research and discovery, Terence explains all you need to know about why race is an illusion, why you are nearly identical to people who look different than you, and how understanding science can help us become anti-racist.
WHY RACISM IS A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE:
FROM HEART DISEASE TO POLICE PROFILING
Humans are not created by nature; we are made in the image of the societies we design. This is what director of the CDC meant when she recently declared that structural racism is a public health issue.
If we continue to live in a world where practices like police profiling, residential segregation, and industrial contamination unequally impact where people of color live then we should expect the consequences of these racist practices to appear in our bodies.
In this talk, Terence explains why our ability to live with dignity and health is not a matter of chance or fate, but is a result of planning and design. With rising health disparities in the U.S. and a healthcare system on the verge of collapse, the possibility of anyone living well is becoming increasingly unlikely.
Reflecting on cutting edge research within the field of public health, this talk gives you tools to understand how humans embody the society we inherit and how we can literally create health through more equitable designs.
FAITH AND DIVISION:
HOW OUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS SHAPE HOW WE TREAT THE OTHER
Is it possible that our religious beliefs are responsible for the racism and discrimination troubling our society today?
There is ample evidence to suggest this might be true: from Christian merchants who purchased Black people during the transatlantic slave trade, to the persecution of European Jews during the Holocaust, and the recent support of white evangelicals of the rioters who stormed the Capitol.
In this talk Terence takes an unflinching look at the religious past of Europe and America to help explain the sources of present-day social and political discrimination.
He explains that while our religious beliefs have clearly divided us there are resources within the traditions of American thought—from the work of Frederick Douglass to Octavia Butler—that can help us design better beliefs about the world and others within it.
Talent Short Bio
Terence Keel is a Full Professor at University of California, Los Angeles, holding a split appointment in the Department of African American Studies and the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. He is the founding director of the Lab for BioCritical Studies, an interdisciplinary research hub examining how race, science, and power intersect within modern institutions.
Dr. Keel is widely recognized for his scholarship on race, social justice, and the biomedical sciences. His work investigates how racial concepts were historically constructed and how they continue to shape scientific knowledge, medical practice, and public health outcomes today. His research bridges the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences, offering rare depth and clarity on issues of inequality and ethics.
He earned his PhD in Religious Studies from Harvard University, where he examined the relationship between religion, science, and race in American history. He is the author of Divine Variations, a critically acclaimed work revealing how Christian theology influenced the development of racial science.
Beyond academia, Dr. Keel’s research informs public policy, healthcare reform, and anti-racism education. As a speaker, he brings rigorous scholarship together with accessible insight, helping audiences confront how deeply embedded assumptions about race shape science, medicine, and society.
Read Full Bio
Terence Keel is more than a professor; he is a trailblazer in the realms of academia and social justice. As a Full Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he holds a prestigious split appointment in the Department of African American Studies and the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics. With an unwavering commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration, Keel has carved out a unique space for himself as the Founding Director of the Lab for Bio Critical Studies.
This innovative laboratory serves as a hub for exploring the complex interplay between discrimination, inequality, and resilience as manifested within vulnerable communities. Through his groundbreaking research and engaging speaking engagements, Keel has emerged as a leading voice in navigating the intersections of race, genetics, and society.
Dr. Terence Keel is a recognized expert in race, social justice, and the biomedical sciences. His expertise is grounded in extensive research that examines the historical and contemporary roles race has played in shaping scientific practices.
His academic background includes a PhD in Religious Studies from Harvard University, where he explored the relationship between science, religion, and race in American society. He has published widely on topics related to the history of science and race, most notably in his critically acclaimed book Divine Variations: How Christian Thought Became Racial Science, which reveals how Christian theology influenced the development of racial categories in science. His research has been featured in numerous high-profile academic journals, and he has delivered keynote speeches at universities and conferences across the globe.
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