Cancer researcher, Pulitzer Prize winner will deliver Hall Center lecture

LAWRENCE – Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, oncologist, cancer researcher and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer, will deliver the Hall Center’s Humanities Lecture Series presentation “The Gene: An Intimate History” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26, in the Lied Center Auditorium. The lecture is supported by the Hall Family Foundation. This event is free and open to the public. A book signing and reception will follow.

University of Kansas Chancellor Douglas A. Girod notes: “Siddhartha Mukherjee is a groundbreaking physician, researcher and author whose work has changed the way we think about cancer, genetics and other important topics in medicine. We are delighted to have such a distinguished scientist and storyteller visit the University of Kansas to share his thoughts with our community of scholars.”

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning first book, "The Emperor of All Maladies," Mukherjee gave the reader a fascinating look into the origins and causes of cancer, its deadly effect on the human body, how it has virtually enveloped modern civilization and the epic battles that are taking place to control, cure and conquer it. As he notes, the disease now touches in some way the lives of every man, woman and child in the world, while scientists and physicians work tirelessly to bring new treatments and hope to its victims.

Mukherjee’s new book, "The Gene: An Intimate History," debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list. It is a magnificent history of the gene and a response to the defining question of the future: What becomes of being human when we learn to “read” and “write” our own genetic information?

Mukherjee has been published in Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Neuron, Journal of Clinical Investigation, The New York Times and The New Republic. His work was nominated for inclusion in Best American Science Writing, 2000. 

Founded in 1947, the Humanities Lecture Series is the oldest continuing series at KU. More than 150 eminent scholars from around the world have participated in the program, including authors Salman Rushdie and Junot Diaz, actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, poets Nikky Finney and Mary Oliver, and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.