VCU news

Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., Ph.D., an oncologist at Columbia University and author of “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,” will deliver two lectures at Virginia Commonwealth University on Wednesday, May 21.  

“The Emperor of All Maladies” won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011. The Pulitzer board called the book “an elegant inquiry, at once clinical and personal, into the long history of an insidious disease that, despite treatment breakthroughs, still bedevils medical science.” Time magazine named it one of the most influential non-fiction books published since 1923, calling it “one of the best-written, most accessible, most relevant science books ever penned.”  

A map of where scientists have journeyed trying to understand cancer might show wrong turns, but Mukherjee remains hopeful about the progress that is now being made.  

“Make no mistake, treating cancer is one of the most significant human challenges we’ve ever faced,” Mukherjee said. “But now, for the first time, we are at an extraordinary moment in the history of cancer research because we finally are beginning to understand what causes cancer at a cellular, or molecular, or a genetic level in a way we just did not know 10 years ago or even five years ago.”  

Mukherjee’s visit to VCU is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to the VCU Life Sciences and Religion Initiative. For 10 years, that initiative has hosted numerous lectures and debates about the interface between science and religions. Mukherjee’s visit will be the final event in the series. Why end with an oncologist talking about cancer?  

The initiative’s director, Brian Cassel, Ph.D., a researcher at Massey Cancer Center, said, “In recent years our program has focused on the issue of certainty – how can we be sure we really know what we think we know? We have explored the status of human knowledge about issues at the intersection of science and religion, such as the origins of the universe. In this final event, we confront one of the primary causes of pain, suffering and premature death in the developed world – cancer – and the status of our knowledge about that. What do we truly know about cancer today, and how do we know that for certain? Who better to speak on this issue than the physician-scientist who wrote the biography of cancer?”  

Both lectures are free and open to the public. No reservations are necessary, but seating may be limited.  

“Beyond the Cancer Genome: New Advances in Cancer Treatment”
Wednesday May 21, 2 p.m.
Egyptian Building Auditorium
1223 E. Marshall St, Richmond

“Illness as Biography: Writing a History of Cancer”
Wednesday, May 21, 7 p.m.
W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts
922 Park Ave., Richmond

For more information, contact Brian Cassel at jbcassel@vcu.edu or (804) 628-1926.