A Message from Dr. Humphrey
Holly J. Humphrey, MD
Pritzker Class of ‘83
Professor of Medicine and
Dean for Medical Education
This spring, I was invited to give the commencement address at my alma mater. Originally, I planned that my speech would focus on the life of the mind, particularly the intellectual rewards of investigation and exploration. However, as I prepared my remarks on the power of discovery, the more conscious I became of the perils and pitfalls inherent in scientific investigation and the real need to let science speak to us freely and frankly without imposing our own perspectives or preconceptions. I used as my example a discussion of the amazing history of genetics research in the 20th century. How can we reconcile a century which begins with an American eugenics movement that strongly prefigured future Nazi atrocities, and ends with the mapping of the human genome? The conflicts over such issues as human cloning, stem cell research, and other ethical, legal and moral questions rising from this research continue unabated. As we wrestle with these difficult questions, I cannot help but consider the history of the last century which gave us ample warning of the dangers that occur when social and political agendas impinge on the interpretation of scientific data or dictate what questions we want to ask and answer.
I want to call your attention to an important essay published a year ago by Dr. Janet Rowley and Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, two of the original members of the President's Council on Bioethics. Entitled “With Reason as Our Guide,” these two distinguished scientists wrote that “the public is done a disservice when science is presented incompletely; myths are then perpetuated” (Public Library of Science Biol 2(4), 2004).
As an institution priding itself on the rigor and quality of the research conducted by our faculty and our students (including the 33 fourth year students out of a graduating class of 102 who presented their work at the Senior Scientific Session in May and the 74 first year students in a class of 104 who are now participating in the NIH-sponsored Summer Research Program), I would challenge all of us to consider the important role that we play in the discovery enterprise and what contribution we might make in adding to the body of knowledge in the biological sciences.
Sincerely,
Holly J. Humphrey
Professor of Medicine and Dean for Medical Education
