A Lecture Honoring Scientific Excellence in The BSD
The Coleman R. Seskind, MD, Lecture in the Biological Sciences brings a distinguished visiting scientist to campus each year to engage with faculty and students. Honorees are drawn from across the fields represented in the Biological Sciences Division and have received recognition at the highest levels of their discipline, including the Nobel Prize, the Lasker Award, or equivalent honors.
This lectureship was established in 2021 by a generous gift from Coleman R. Seskind, AB‘55, SB‘56, SM‘59, MD‘59, a consummate University of Chicago citizen who dedicated his life in service to the University and its faculty, staff, students, and alumni for more than six decades.
Svante Pääbo, PhD, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig, Germany, gives the 5th annual Coleman R. Seskind, MD Lecture on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, from 4-5pm in BSLC Room 109.
Robert Langer, ScD, the David H. Koch Institute Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gave the 4th annual Coleman R. Seskind, MD Lecture, “From Nanotech to mRNA: Breaking Barriers in Cancer Treatments and Global Health,” Tuesday, October 14, 2025.
Richard Henderson, FRS FMedSci, Professor Emeritus at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge, gave the 3rd annual Coleman R. Seskind, MD, lecture, "“Extending the reach of Cryo-EM,” Tuesday, October 22, 2024.
William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD, Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Senior Physician-Scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, gave the 2nd annual Coleman R. Seskind, MD, lecture, "The von Hippel-Lindau Hereditary Cancer Syndrome: Insights into Oxygen Sensing and Drugging the Undruggable,” Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
Jack Szostak, PhD, University Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago, gave the inaugural Coleman R. Seskind, MD, lecture, "Why did biology begin with RNA and not something else?" Thursday, October 6, 2022. Dr. Szostak joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in late 2022.
Read more about the inaugural lecture
Jack W. Szostak, PhD
University Professor, Department of Chemistry
Nominate a Speaker
Nominations may be submitted at any point throughout the year.
- Nominations are accepted from members of the UChicago community. The stewardship of the Seskind Lecture is guided by a committee of faculty and students who will prioritize candidates nominated by the BSD community.
- Nominees external to the University of Chicago will be given priority.
- We encourage nominations from the different fields of interest to the BSD. Please nominate speakers whose scientific accomplishments are of exceptional quality, who are highly engaging and interactive, and who inspire you.
- Speakers may be from academia, industry, or other relevant institutions and we encourage you to consider speakers across all demographics. Suggested speakers should have a body of work that has had an unquestionable and measurable impact in their field.
Submit a nomination through the online form linked below. To submit more than one nomination, please submit a separate entry using the web form.
About Coleman R. Seskind, MD
Coleman R. Seskind, AB‘55, SB‘56, SM‘59, MD‘59, was a superlative University of Chicago citizen who dedicated his life in service to the University and its faculty, staff, students, and alumni for more than six decades. He received his AB from the College in 1955, his SB in Anatomy in 1956, and his SM in Pathology and MD from the Pritzker School of Medicine (PSOM) in 1959. He worked in the University’s Department of Pathology, before moving into private practice as an internist.
Dr. Seskind’s engagement extended across the University. He served on the College Advisory Council, and was as a life member of both the Division of the Biological Sciences and Pritzker School of Medicine (BSD-PSOM) Council and the Alumni Council of the UChicago Medical & Biological Sciences Alumni Association (MBSAA), where his leadership roles included president of the Alumni Council, chair of the editorial committee of the Medicine on the Midway magazine, and chair of his 1959 medical school class. In recognition of this exemplary service, he received the University of Chicago Alumni Service Award in 2010, and he was the inaugural recipient of the UChicago MBSAA Alumni Service Award in 2020.
Dr. Seskind was not only an engaged alumnus and campus leader, but also a philanthropist of remarkable generosity. Most notably, the Coleman R. Seskind, MD, Lecture in the Biological Sciences has continued to bring esteemed speakers to the University of Chicago campus since its inception in 2021, fulfilling Dr. Seskind’s intent of enhancing our research community with opportunities to learn from the world’s best and brightest in their fields. The Lecture continues to serve as a symbol of Dr. Seskind’s commitment to our students, faculty, and researchers.