Professor David Goldstein will hold online office hours Friday, Aug. 21, at 1 p.m.

Potentially controversial issues emerging at the frontiers of genetics -- such as whether physicians should prescribe different medicines for white and black patients -- will be the focus when Duke University professor David Goldstein appears on Duke's new "online office hours" series Friday, Aug. 21, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

Goldstein, whose latest discoveries were in the medical headlines again this week, will take questions from the public on Duke's Ustream channel. Viewers can submit questions in advance or during the session by email to live@duke.edu, on the Duke University Live Ustream page on Facebook or via Twitter with the tag #dukelive.

Goldstein has developed a reputation both for pioneering research and a willingness to challenge the scholarly status quo in genetics. A New York Times article last year called him "a leading young population geneticist" who "does not shy away from unpopular positions or research."

His most recent paper, published in the journal Nature with colleagues including Dr. John McHutchison of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, may explain why some people are less likely to respond to a common treatment for hepatitis C infection.

Goldstein's 2008 book Jacob's Legacy: A Genetic View of Jewish History used genetic tools to examine Jewish history and culture. In one chapter he said genetic evidence is consistent with, although not conclusive of, a claim that a group of people in southern Africa are descendents of ancient Israel.

Goldstein is the director of the Center for Human Genome Variation at Duke's Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy. He is a professor of biology and molecular genetics and microbiology.

Duke's Office of News and Communications launched its Online Office Hours series on July 31 with economist Dan Ariely, the best-selling author of "Predictably Irrational."