Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Jack Szostak, PhD, will deliver the inaugural Coleman R. Seskind, MD, Lecture in the Biological Sciences, a new annual lecture featuring a visiting lecturer who is a Nobel Laureate, Lasker Award winner, or other prominent figure working in a field relevant to the Biological Sciences Division. The lectureship was established by a generous gift from Coleman R. Seskind, MD, a retired private practice physician who previously worked in the Department of Pathology. He has a long history with UChicago, receiving an AB from the College in 1955, a BS in Anatomy in 1956, and an MS in Pathology and MD from the Pritzker School of Medicine (PSOM) in 1959. He is also a member of the BSD-PSOM Council, the UCMC Editorial Committee, and the Alumni Association.
The first Seskind Lecture will be held on campus Thursday, October 6th, 2022, at 4:00pm. Szostak recently joined the faculty of the University of Chicago as University Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the College. A pioneering scholar of genetics who examines the biochemical origins of life, Szostak shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. He will lead a new interdisciplinary program at UChicago called the Origins of Life Initiative, which will seek to understand the earliest processes governing the origin of life on Earth and elsewhere in the universe.
The stewardship of the Seskind Lecture is guided by a committee of faculty and students who will prioritize candidates nominated by the BSD community. Members of the UChicago community can submit suggestions for future Seskind Lecture speakers by filling out this quick online survey.
