Upcoming Regents’ Lectures touch on poetry, drugs, biology

Left, biologist Ruth Hubbard lectures Feb. 26 and 28 on biotechnology. Right: Edward Scolnick, president of Merck Research Laboratories, speaks March 4 and 5 on prescription drug issues.

20 February 2002 | A French-Canadian writer, a pharmaceutical executive and a biology professor emerita are among the first of the Regents’ Lecturers scheduled to visit the campus this spring.

Quebec’s Nicole Brossard, author of 30 books of poetry, nine novels and numerous dramatic works and essays, will be the first, presenting two Regents’ Lectures as a guest of the Department of Comparative Literature.

Brossard will read from her work at noon, Monday, Feb. 25, in 5125 Dwinelle Hall, and at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 26, in 4229 Dwinelle. A conversation with Brossard, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Sexual Culture, takes place at 4 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 28, in 3335 Dwinelle.

While visiting the School of Public Health, biologist Ruth Hubbard, professor emerita at Harvard University, will discuss “How the Genome Became the Book of Life,” at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 26, in 22 Warren Hall, and “Human Reproduction in the Age of Biotechnology,” at 5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 28, in 574 University Hall.

The series will continue in March with a pair of lectures by Edward Scolnick, president of Merck Research Laboratories, a well-known research-driven pharmaceutical products and services company, and executive vice president for Science and Technology at Merck & Co., Inc.

While in residency at the College of Chemistry, Scolnick will speak on “Drugs for Mental Illness: Past and Future Directions,” at 4 p.m., Monday, March 4, in 100 Lewis Hall, and “Drug Discovery: Science and Affordability,” at 4 p.m., Wednesday, March 5, in Bechtel’s Sibley Auditorium.

A Harvard-trained physician, Scholnick was previously affiliated with the National Heart and National Cancer Institutes. He serves on the boards of numerous agencies dedicated to improving the lives and treatment of the mentally ill, and has won many awards throughout his scientific career. Recently he was named Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of ’56 University Professor at Cornell University.

The Regents’ Lectureship, a prestigious honor in the UC system, provide an opportunity for each campus to invite a select group of scholars, scientists, artists, government officials and others to give public lectures during a short residency on the campus.