Course Director
Carol Fox, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Public Affairs
Course Host and Interviewer
Michael Krasny, PhD, host and senior editor of KQED’s award-winning Forum, a news and public affairs program that concentrates on the arts, culture, health, business and technology. Krasny will interview UCSF authors about their latest books – from scientists’ attempts to fine tune the human mind with a new generation of drugs to a piano tuner’s fictional journey into the jungles of Southeast Asia.
Oct. 8: “Better Than Prozac: Creating the Next Generation of Psychiatric Drugs” Samuel Barondes, MD, Robertson professor of psychiatry and director of the UCSF Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry, will describe the origins, benefits and limitations of widely used psychiatric drugs such as Prozac. He will discuss how the discovery of the genetic variations that predispose certain people to severe mental disorders will change the way that psychiatric drugs are made and prescribed, and will guide the development of better treatments.
Oct. 15: “The Piano Tuner” Daniel Mason, UCSF medical student. A best-selling debut novel, “The Piano Tuner” tells the story of Edgar Drake, who travels to a civil war-torn Burma in 1886 on a mysterious mission to repair a rare grand piano.
Oct. 22: “The Pathway: Follow the Road to Health and Happiness” Laurel Mellin, MA, RD, UCSF associate clinical professor of family and community medicine and pediatrics. Given the stresses of life, most of us find ourselves going to excess in one or more ways. Mellin’s books discuss how to find the way out of our tendency toward excess and toward health and happiness by mastering two skills – self-nurturing and effective limits.
Oct. 29: “My Grandfather’s Blessings: Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging” Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, UCSF clinical professor of family and community medicine, is also the author of “Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal.” Sharing stories is the oldest way that we share our wisdom. Drawing on her best-selling books of true stories, Remen will discuss how we may find meaning in the second half of life and the role of altruism, generosity and service in establishing a sense of worth and personal power.
Nov. 5: “Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life” Paul Ekman, PhD, UCSF professor of psychiatry. CDs that improve sensitivity to emotional communication will be demonstrated.
Nov. 12: “Triplet Code” Frances M. Brodsky, DPhil, UCSF professor of biopharmaceutical sciences, pharmaceutical chemistry and microbiology & immunology. Brodsky’s mysteries, written under the pen name B.B. Jordan, are meant to describe the workings of academic science, as well as to entertain. They illustrate that the process of scientific enquiry is not dissimilar to criminal investigation.
