This event will be held in English.
Co-sponsored by Columbia Global Centers | Paris and Smith Junior Year Abroad.
To be notified of our upcoming events, we invite you to sign up for our twice monthly newsletter.
—
This event will be followed by a small reception.
Additionally, the Reid Hall Caféothèque will be open before the event with wine and snacks for sale.
—
What can—or should—life look like in the Century of Genetics? Beginning with the sequencing of the human genome in the first decade of the 21st century, promises have been made concerning the future of medicine, the extension of lifespans, and the end of human suffering.
Today, nearly a quarter of the way into this century, those exuberant (over)promises are being scrutinized more closely. What assumptions underlie these promises? What society do we envision will emerge from our ability to identify, and—more recently—to manipulate genetic information? Who decides where to place the guardrails?
Professor Rob Dorit will give a 40-minute presentation followed by a 20-minute Q&A.
Speaker
Rob Dorit is Professor of Biology at Smith College and currently the director of Smith College's JYA Program in Paris. His research lab focuses on the challenge of antibiotic resistance, the development of novel narrow-spectrum antibiotics, and, more recently, on infectious disease modelling. Some of his recent courses focus on the interface between the life sciences and the ethical and political issues raised by advancing technologies in the life sciences, and on democratic approaches to decision-making around such issues.
Organizer(s)/Sponsor
Columbia Global Centers | Paris addresses pressing global issues that are at the forefront of international education and research: agency and gender; climate and the environment; critical dialogues for just societies; encounters in the arts; and health and medical science.
Smith Junior Year Abroad welcomes Smith students from every discipline in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences. They take classes at Reid Hall with Smith, Hamilton, and/or at partner French universities (the Sorbonne Université or Université de Paris Cité).
Venue
Nestled in the Montparnasse district, Reid Hall hosts several Columbia University initiatives: Columbia Global Centers | Paris, the Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Columbia Undergraduate Programs, M.A. in History and Literature, and the GSAPP Shape of Two Cities Program. This unique combination of resources is enhanced by our global network whose mission is to expand the University's engagement the world over through educational programs, research initiatives, regional partnerships, and public events.
The views and opinions expressed by speakers and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policies or positions of Columbia Global Centers | Paris or its affiliates.
