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African Genome Project

African Genome Project

Directors:

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Fatimah Jackson

 

Project Executives:

Kelly Ciccolo
Mark Ogden

 

The African Genome Project is co-sponsored by the African African-American Foundation, whose mission is to re-establish the connections between African-Americans and their African heritages. The Project will collect DNA from various African ethnic groups whose ancestors are known to have also contributed to the ancestries of African-Americans. The Project will create the most extensive set of African DNA markers in existence relevant to African-American populations. This dataset will increase the historical and scientific accuracy of DNA analysis for use in genealogical and other reconstructions for African-Americans and related populations.

African Genome Project

Mark Ogden has been a fulltime collaborator of Mr Bert Cooper since the early 1980s, and has participated alongside Mr Cooper in high-profile efforts in the management of Liberia’s iron ore sector, the formation of Afren plc, and most recently in the leadership of mining-infrastructure projects under development in countries such as Guinea (Conakry) and Congo (Brazzaville). He holds a 1978 MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management (in Arizona) and a 1973 Bachelor’s degree in international politics from the George Washington University (in DC). He is an American national, and he has been continuously active in West and Central Africa since commencing an initial assignment as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the agricultural cooperatives sector in the French-speaking part of Cameroon in 1974.