MADRID, SPAIN – Throughout my work as a professor of medicine and public health, I have often found myself returning to one fundamental question: How much of our health is determined by biology and how much by the society and culture in which we live?

That question has taken me to communities whose histories, traditions and genetic backgrounds have shaped their health in distinctive ways. In my writing, I have explored the relationship between genetics and disease among the Druze of the Middle East and the Karaite community of Eastern Europe. In both cases, I found that understanding disease requires looking beyond the laboratory and into the history, family structures, traditions and social environments that shape people’s lives.

It was with this perspective in mind that meeting Queen Sofía of Spain was particularly meaningful to me.

Queen Sofía has devoted many years to raising awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and supporting research into neurodegenerative disorders. Her interest is not simply institutional. The Queen Sofía Foundation’s work has developed into a sustained commitment to Alzheimer’s research, patient care, education and support for families. The Foundation’s Alzheimer’s Center in........

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