# David Fulker > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/David_Fulker > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/David_Fulker.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fulker > Source revision: 1339314065 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) British behavioural geneticist (1937–1998) This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "David Fulker" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) David William Fulker In IBG library, c. 1995 Born (1937-03-08)8 March 1937 Wales, United Kingdom Died 9 July 1998(1998-07-09) (aged 61) Boulder, Colorado, U.S Citizenship British Alma mater University of Birmingham Scientific career Fields Behavioural genetics Doctoral advisor John L. Jinks Doctoral students John K. Hewitt Michael C. Neale Lon R. Cardon **David William Fulker** (8 March 1937 – 9 July 1998) was a British [behavioural geneticist](/source/Behavioural_genetics) at the [University of Colorado](/source/University_of_Colorado)'s [Institute for Behavioral Genetics](/source/Institute_for_Behavioral_Genetics). Among positions of esteem, he was elected president of the [Behavior Genetics Association](/source/Behavior_Genetics_Association) (1982), and was [executive editor](/source/Editor-in-chief) of the society's journal *[Behavior Genetics](/source/Behavior_Genetics_(journal))*. In honour of this role, the society maintains an annual Fulker Award, for the best paper in the journal each year, and for which the award is "$1000 and a *decent* bottle of wine".[1] ## Contributions to behaviour genetics In 1970, Fulker and [John L. Jinks](/source/John_L._Jinks) published a proposal that the [biometric](/source/Biometrics) genetic approach should be applied to human behaviour.[2] Seemingly a commonplace idea today, this was a landmark paper, and became a citation classic.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] At the [Institute of Psychiatry](/source/Institute_of_Psychiatry), Fulker's research established that many behaviours, not only in rodents but also in humans and in such "higher" mental traits as [personality](/source/Personality_type) and also psychiatric diseases show genetic influences. Producing these results entailed the development of novel analytical approaches, on which Fulker collaborated with [John DeFries](/source/John_DeFries). Fulker worked on combining quantitative and molecular genetic approaches, adapting the [DeFries–Fulker regression](/source/DeFries%E2%80%93Fulker_regression) approach to this purpose. With a former PhD student [Lon R. Cardon](/source/Lon_R._Cardon) (who went on to discover linkage for dyslexia on chromosome 6 and to work in the human [International HapMap Project](/source/International_HapMap_Project)) and [Stacey S. Cherny](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stacey_S._Cherny&action=edit&redlink=1), Fulker worked on methods for [linkage](/source/Genetic_linkage) and association analysis of quantitative traits. ## Career Fulker's father had been a miner in Wales, but moved the family to London, where Fulker grew up. He was initially trained as a teacher, and working in this profession (teaching chemistry) and as a photographer. Fulker subsequently obtained a [BSc](/source/Bachelor_of_Science) in [psychology](/source/Psychology) at [Birkbeck College](/source/Birkbeck%2C_University_of_London), [London University](/source/University_of_London), graduating with first class honours, and deciding to work in [genetics](/source/Genetics). Fulker pursued this interest, obtaining both a Masters and a [PhD](/source/Doctor_of_Philosophy) at [Birmingham University](/source/University_of_Birmingham) supervised by John Jinks. Exceptionally for a post-graduate student, his first publication (on fruit fly mating) was published in *[Science](/source/Science_(journal))* in 1966. Fulker joined the staff at Birmingham as a [lecturer](/source/Lecturer) where he remained until moving in 1975 to a senior lectureship at the [Institute of Psychiatry](/source/Institute_of_Psychiatry) in London, where he also directed its animal laboratories at the [Bethlem Royal Hospital](/source/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital). In 1985 Fulker moved to a professorship at the [University of Colorado](/source/University_of_Colorado_at_Boulder)'s [Institute for Behavioral Genetics](/source/Institute_for_Behavioral_Genetics) at [Boulder](/source/Boulder%2C_Colorado). In 1996, he was recruited back to the [Institute of Psychiatry](/source/Institute_of_Psychiatry) to the new [Medical Research Council](/source/Medical_Research_Council_(UK)) funded [Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre](/source/Institute_of_Psychiatry#Social_Genetic_and_Developmental_Psychiatry). Fulker was married to Angela Elliott with whom he had one child, Rosanna, born in 1985 and a stepdaughter, Katherine. ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Hewitt, John K. (2005). "Announcement of the Fulker Award for a Paper Published in Behavior Genetics, Volume 34, 2004". *Behavior Genetics*. **35** (6): 791–792. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1007/s10519-005-7286-x](https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10519-005-7286-x). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [189842943](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:189842943). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Fulker1970_2-0)** Jinks JL & Fulker DW. (1970). A comparison of the biometrical-genetical, MAVA and classical approaches to the analysis of human behavior. *Psychological Bulletin*, **73**, 311–349. ## Further reading - Hewitt, John (2012). ["David William Fulker (1937–1998) Executive Editor of Behavior Genetics"](https://doi.org/10.1375%2Ftwin.1.3.165). *Twin Research*. **1** (3): 165–166. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1375/twin.1.3.165](https://doi.org/10.1375%2Ftwin.1.3.165). - Hewitt, John (1998). "In memoriam: David William Fulker, Ph.D. (1937–1998) member of the editorial board of Neuropsychiatric Genetics". *American Journal of Medical Genetics*. **81** (5): 353–354. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19980907)81:5<353::AID-AJMG1>3.0.CO;2-U](https://doi.org/10.1002%2F%28SICI%291096-8628%2819980907%2981%3A5%3C353%3A%3AAID-AJMG1%3E3.0.CO%3B2-U). - Hewitt, John (1998). ["David William Fulker (1937–1998)"](https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1021663112157). *Behavior Genetics*. **28** (4): 239–242. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1023/A:1021663112157](https://doi.org/10.1023%2FA%3A1021663112157). Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF WorldCat National United States France BnF data Netherlands Israel Academics CiNii Mathematics Genealogy Project Other IdRef Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [David Fulker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fulker) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Fulker?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.