First-year premedical student Maen Abou Ziki earned an Adelphic Award from Cornell's John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, the first time a Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar student has won a prize from Cornell.

In his essay, "Consanguinity and Genetic Disorders in the Gulf: Medical Response to a Recently Discovered Problem," Abou Ziki discusses the practice of consanguinity (intrafamily marriage) in the region and its implications for health, in the context of religion, culture and tradition. Concluding that the practice is largely a matter of passive tradition, he underlines the need to raise public awareness and offer genetic counseling.

The paper was one in a sequence of assignments in the First Year Writing Seminars course "Beyond the Bones," taught by Alan Weber, assistant professor of English, in the fall semester.

The $300 Adelphic Award is presented by Cornell's John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines to selected students whose native language is not English and who have had no more than 50 percent of their previous education in the English language. It is sponsored by the Adelphic Cornell Educational Fund, with support from Susan A. and Robert N. Cunjak '96.