Azure Hermes is a Gimuy Walubara Yidinji woman[1] who works at the intersection of genomics and indigenous community engagement, and the deputy director of the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics (NCIG) at Australian National University.[2]
Career
editHermes has worked with Australian First Nations communities for at least 10 years.[3]
She previously held the post of Indigenous community engagement coordinator at the NCIG,[4] and was responsible for informing communities about the existence of blood samples that had been held without consent at Australian National University.[5] She retroactively sought consent from the communities from which samples were taken.[6]
At the NCIG, she oversaw the return of blood samples taken in 1968 and 1969 after an outbreak of typhoid fever to the Galiwin'ku community on Elcho Island in 2019.[2] Subsequently, she commissioned burial poles from the island to represent those who have passed away, and installed the burial poles at ANU in 2021,[7] for National Reconciliation Week.[2] The Galiwin'ku community gave permission for hundreds of blood samples from those who are still alive to have their genomes sequenced.[2] Hermes was interviewed on Collaboratory Podcast to discuss her work on the sample return project.[8]
References
edit- ↑ Lewis, Dyani (23 December 2019). "Australian biobank repatriates hundreds of 'legacy' Indigenous blood samples". Nature. 577 (7788): 11–12. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-03906-5. PMID 31871327.
- 1 2 3 4 CityNews (2021-05-27). "Azure returns indigenous blood samples home". Canberra CityNews. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
- ↑ Jenkins, Keira (14 May 2025). "Helping Indigenous families navigate genomic health". National Indigenous Times. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ "Will Indigenous Australia lead the way in ethical genetic research?". NITV. SBS. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ↑ Isabella Higgins; Kirstie Wellauer (26 May 2021). "'Today is really monumental': How a community is reclaiming DNA that was taken more than 50 years ago". ABC News. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
- ↑ Rawat, Sachin (10 October 2024). "Diverse Genomes Make Medicine More Equitable". GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ↑ "Bloodlines and reconciliation | Australian National University". www.anu.edu.au. Australian National University. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2025.
- ↑ "Transcript – Community Engagement & Consent – A Conversation with Azure Hermes". Scaffolding Cultural CoCreativity. 1 December 2022.