Dr. Ricki Lewis to talk about book, "Stem Cell Symphony"
What: Dr. Ricki Lewis, Geneticist and science writer/textbook author, will be at Trinity to talk about her book, Stem Cell Symphony. Though a novel, the book includes accurate science and is based on the real experience of a hospice volunteer caring for a young man with Huntington disease. The event, sponsored by Alan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric, Neuroscience, and Psychology Departments at Trinity, is free and open to the Trinity community as part of the common hour events. A light lunch will be provided for pre-registered participants only.
When: Thursday, March 12, 2008 ~ 12:15 p.m.
Where: Washington Room, Mather Hall
Background: Dr. Ricki Lewis is an accomplished genetic counselor and science writer, educator and public speaker with 25 years of experience in the field. She has built a multifaceted career around writing, teaching and communicating about the exciting world of the life sciences, especially genetics and biotechnology, to a wide variety of audiences.
Lewis earned a PhD in genetics from Indiana University in 1980, where she worked with homeotic mutations in Drosophila melanogaster (i.e., flies that had legs growing out of their heads due to mixed up stem-like cells). She has been a genetic counselor at an OB/GYN practice since 1984, and has taught various biology courses at SUNY Albany, Empire State College, and Miami University. Lewis is also a contributing editor for the American Journal of Bioethics.
Lewis has published thousands of articles in a range of different places – from magazines and medical journals, to encyclopedias, annual reports for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, technical reports, women's health pamphlets, book reviews, a bioethics blog, and a screenplay. Her articles have appeared in Discover, Nature, Science, The Scientist, Genetic Engineering News, The FDA Consumer, Applied Neurology, and various consumer and business magazines.
Lewis is author or co-author of four life science university-level textbooks published by McGraw-Hill Higher Education, and an essay collection published by Blackwell Science. Her college textbook, Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, is in its eighth edition and widely used throughout the U.S. by non-science majors.
Lewis' goal in writing and speaking is to engage and educate people who fear science in a way that enables them to makes sense of what is happening in their world so that they can make informed decisions. Lewis claims that she uses her journalism experience to keep her science writing “interesting and very up-to-date, even futuristic.”
This event is free and open to the Trinity community. A light lunch will be provided for pre-registered participants only. To reserve a spot, please email common-hour@trincoll.edu.