The Moth and the World Science Festival present Eric S. Lander: Why I Teach

Two defense attorneys ask for help from an unlikely source - a scientist.

Eric S. Lander was one of the principal leaders of the Human Genome Project, which from 1990--2003 mapped the human genetic code. He serves as President and Founding Director of the Broad Institute, a research institution that brings together over 1,500 scientists to tackle important challenges in biomedicine. Lander is also a professor of biology at MIT and of systems biology at Harvard Medical School. Lander's own scientific work has spanned genome analysis, population genetics, cancer, diabetes, inflammatory diseases and evolutionary biology. A graduate of Princeton and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, he launched one of the first genome centers in the world at MIT, and in 2008 was appointed by President Obama to co-chair the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Lander has received numerous awards, including the MacArthur Prize Fellowship, Canada's Gairdner Prize and the Albany Prize in Medicine. He is particularly proud of winning MIT's award for undergraduate teaching, and continues to teach introductory biology to MIT freshmen.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• The Moth
• The Moth Radio Hour
• The Moth Podcast
• World Science Festival
• Innocence Project
• Eric
• Lander

[MrRyanGC]

I think this is my favorite story from the moth. He reminds me a lot of my biology teacher in college

[JW2501]

I learned biology from this guy!

[elLOBOTOMIS]

Wow. Great story

[MrRyanGC]

Awesome story

[dmit1703]

Eric Lander is my hero