Members of York University’s health research community are invited to attend an interactive video lecture given by Nobel laureate Dr. Harold Varmus on Wednesday, Sept. 24 in Room 109, Accolade West Building from 4 to 6pm.
Dr. Varmus is the recipient of the 2008 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research in recognition of his exceptional leadership and innovative contributions to medical research and his efforts to promote science over the last four decades. Organized by the Friends of Canadian Institutes of Health Research (FCIHR), the Friesen Prize supports an annual fall lecture by an accomplished speaker of international stature on topics related to the advancement of health research and its evolving contributions to society. York University is one of the event’s sponsors.
Left: Dr. Harold Varmus
As part of his acceptance of the Friesen Prize, Varmus is giving a lecture titled, “Advancing Global Health by Encouraging Medical Science Worldwide” at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto.
Since seating at the MaRS facility is limited and prearranged, York's Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation has volunteered through its Advanced Broadband-Enabled-Learning (ABEL) project to stream the lecture at the Accolade West Building and open the event to the wider campus community.
Faculty, students, and staff are invited to watch the lecture live and participate in an interactive Q & A session with Varmus following his talk. Professor Imogen Coe, chair of the Department of Biology in York's Faculty of Science & Engineering, will moderate the Q&A session, after which coffee and cookies will be served.
Tickets to the live video lecture are free, but seating is limited and will be released on a first-come, first-served basis. To RSVP, contact Lia Novario in York's Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation at ext. 33782 or e-mail lia@yorku.ca.
Lecture also to be streamed online
For those unable to participate in the interactive live lecture, ABEL staff will stream it online here. Note that it will not be possible to pose questions to Varmus through this format. An archived version of the lecture will also be available at the same location following the event. If you use a Mac, click here to download a patch that will allow you to view the Windows Media stream. Once the download has been completed and installed, you will be able to view the stream.
About Dr. Harold Varmus
Early research on retroviruses jointly pioneered by Varmus with Professor J. Michael Bishop at the University of California, San Francisco, led to the discovery of a class of normal cellular genes that undergo mutation during the generation of human cancer; for this work, the pair received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1989. More recently, Varmus' research has focused on the development of mouse models of human cancer, with special emphasis on mutations that produce adenocarcinomas of the lung. He has published over 300 scientific papers and several textbooks, including one for the general public.