Today, Harold
Varmus is back in the lab (not that he ever really left). While people overall are
living longer after a cancer diagnosis than they did when his career began, cures
for most cancers are still elusive. Worldwide over 8 million people die of
cancer every year and in many U.S.
states, cancer is the #1 cause of death. As the battle against cancer rages on,
new computational and genomic technologies are making Dr. Varmus’s historic
research more relevant than ever, offering unprecedented opportunities to develop
advances in treatment.
At the next
Secret Science Club, Dr. Varmus asks: How will individualized genetic profiles—or
precision medicine—affect the future of cancer research and care? Will Big Data and new DNA
sequencing technology be the tipping point in the war on cancer? What cancer therapies, diagnostic
tools, and prevention strategies may be in our future?
The
co-winner of the Nobel Prize for pioneering research on the genetic
origins of cancer and recipient of the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research
Award, Dr. Harold Varmus joined the Meyer Cancer
Center at Weill Cornell
Medical College
as the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine in 2015. Previously, he
was Director of the National Cancer
Institute (2010 -2015), President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
(2000 – 2010), Director of the National
Institutes of Health (1993 – 1999), and Professor of Microbiology,
Biochemistry, and Biophysics at UC San Francisco (1979 –1993). The author of over 350
scientific papers and five books, he was co-chair of the President’s Council
of Advisors on Science and Technology, co-founder of the Public Library of
Science, and chair of the Scientific Board of the Gates Foundation Grand
Challenges in Global Health.
Before & After: Sample our cocktail of the night, the Scientific Method; groove to beats you can feel on a
cellular level; and stick around for the scintillating Q&A
This multicellular
edition of the Secret Science Club, the 2016 Lasker Public Lecture in honor of Al Sommer, is sponsored by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation.
The Foundation works to foster the prevention and treatment of disease and
disabilities by honoring excellence in basic and clinical science, educating
the public, and advocating for support of medical research.Yeah!
The next Secret Science Club meets Tuesday,
August 9, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St.
(between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
Subway: F or G to 4th Ave,
R to 9th St.
Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring
ID: 21+. No cover. Just bring your smart self.
