Georgia Purdom

Georgia Purdom (née Hickman;[1] born 1972) is an American biologist and Young Earth creationist. She is the director of Educational Content at Answers in Genesis.[2]

Early life

Purdom was born in 1972, and grew up near Columbus, Ohio[3] in what she described as a "very strong Christian home".[4] She attended a Nazarene church.[3]

Education and career

Purdom studied at Cedarville University, graduating in 1994,[1] before going on to get a PhD in molecular genetics from Ohio State University.[5] She was an associate professor of biology at Mount Vernon Nazarene University before joining Answers in Genesis.[2][6] She received the Alumna of the Year award from Cedarville in 2015.[1][6]

Views

Purdom believes that whether one holds a "biblical versus secular" worldview determines how one interprets scientific data.[5] She also believes that "available evidence supports and confirms biblical creation."[7]

She is the editor of Galapagos Islands: A Different View (2013) which presents a "Bible-based analysis of the islands." Purdom claims that the Galápagos Islands were formed after the Genesis Flood.[8]

Purdom distinguishes her creationist views with that of intelligent design, which she does not regard as Christian.[9]

Purdom claimed that "mutations don’t cause the gain of novel traits—the gain of genetic information—necessary to change from one kind of organism into another" without providing any evidence for that claim.[10] In fact, there are numerous studies demonstrating exactly such changes, especially supported by phylogenetic studies and genome analyses. For instance, novel morphological features are easily selected for in dog breeding and their genetic basis has been well documented.[11] Many other examples are documented in studies on macro-evolution.

Scientific work

Purdom has published three studies that are indexed in Pubmed, all of which apparently resulted from her thesis work at Ohio State University.[12][13][14] All three investigate the role of microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF), a protein that regulates gene expression during osteoclast differentiation. None of this work is directly related to evolutionary biology, although the studies show that they are fully compatible with the evolution of gene regulatory networks.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Alumni Awards Archive". Cedarville University. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Dr. Georgia Purdom". Answers in Genesis. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b Stafford, Tim (2014). The Adam Quest: Eleven Scientists Who Held on to a Strong Faith While Wrestling with the Mystery of Human Origins. Thomas Nelson. p. 49. ISBN 9781400205653. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  4. ^ Krasnostein, Sarah (2022). The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and our Place in the Middle. Tin House Books. p. 73. ISBN 9781953534071. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b Shermer, Michael (1 May 2009). "The Contradictions between the Creationist Movements". Scientific American. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  6. ^ a b Pool, Taylor (3 October 2015). "AiG's Dr. Georgia Purdom Wins Cedarville University's Alumna of the Year Award". Answers in Genesis. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  7. ^ Hallowell, Billy (31 July 2019). "Scientist: Evidence supports creation, not evolution". Christian Post. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  8. ^ Moore, Randy (2021). Galápagos: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 161. ISBN 9781440864704. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  9. ^ Klinghoffer, David (20 February 2013). "Speaking for "Answers in Genesis," Creationist Georgia Purdom Hits a Nail on the Head". Evolution News. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Do Humans and Chimps Share a Common Ancestor?". Answers in Genesis. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
  11. ^ Meadows, Jennifer R. S.; Kidd, Jeffrey M.; Wang, Guo-Dong; Parker, Heidi G.; Schall, Peter Z.; Bianchi, Matteo; Christmas, Matthew J.; Bougiouri, Katia; Buckley, Reuben M.; Hitte, Christophe; Nguyen, Anthony K.; Wang, Chao; Jagannathan, Vidhya; Niskanen, Julia E.; Frantz, Laurent A. F. (2023-08-15). "Genome sequencing of 2000 canids by the Dog10K consortium advances the understanding of demography, genome function and architecture". Genome Biology. 24 (1): 187. doi:10.1186/s13059-023-03023-7. ISSN 1474-760X. PMC 10426128. PMID 37582787.
  12. ^ Luchin, A.; Purdom, G.; Murphy, K.; Clark, M. Y.; Angel, N.; Cassady, A. I.; Hume, D. A.; Ostrowski, M. C. (March 2000). "The microphthalmia transcription factor regulates expression of the tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase gene during terminal differentiation of osteoclasts". Journal of Bone and Mineral Research: The Official Journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. 15 (3): 451–460. doi:10.1359/jbmr.2000.15.3.451. ISSN 0884-0431. PMID 10750559.
  13. ^ Mansky, Kim C.; Sulzbacher, Sabine; Purdom, Georgia; Nelsen, Lori; Hume, David A.; Rehli, Michael; Ostrowski, Michael C. (February 2002). "The microphthalmia transcription factor and the related helix-loop-helix zipper factors TFE-3 and TFE-C collaborate to activate the tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase promoter". Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 71 (2): 304–310. doi:10.1189/jlb.71.2.304. ISSN 0741-5400. PMID 11818452.
  14. ^ Mansky, Kim C.; Marfatia, Kavita; Purdom, Georgia H.; Luchin, Alex; Hume, David A.; Ostrowski, Michael C. (February 2002). "The microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF) contains two N-terminal domains required for transactivation of osteoclast target promoters and rescue of mi mutant osteoclasts". Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 71 (2): 295–303. doi:10.1189/jlb.71.2.295. ISSN 0741-5400. PMID 11818451.