Science and Society: Through the Lens of Covid-19

Instructor: Harold Varmus
Offered by Macaulay Honors College
Wednesdays, 5:00 – 7:40 pm
Classes will meet online at this link: https://weillcornell.zoom.us/j/7491787013
Belfer Research Building at Weill Cornell Medicine
413 E. 69th Street, NYC
Rm. 1301

Introduction to the Course
In the previous four years of this seminar course, we have examined the relationship of science and society from numerous perspectives, using examples from many fields of science.   In the 2021 version of the course, we will focus on an early appraisal of that relationship mainly in the context of the still on-going pandemic, Covid-19.
In general terms, skepticism about science in the current Administration has focused attention on the many roles of the scientific enterprise in human society, especially at a time when science offers defenses against climate change, disease, famine and drought, environmental loss, and other threats.  While we will continue to take a broad view in this course of the areas of science on which human societies depend, the 2021 version will focus most intensely on the ways in which our society—its governments, the public, scientific institutions, and others—have responded to the profound crisis of Covid-19.

As in the past, I will aim to engage students majoring in the sciences or in the humanities in lively discussions about a wide range of pertinent, underlying questions: Why and how does society support science?  How does the scientific enterprise evaluate, disseminate, and apply its discoveries?   How is science portrayed in the arts? What constitutes aberrant conduct and inequity in science?   How is science regulated, used in the courts, and commercialized?   We will continue to approach these issues through short readings about the current pandemic, the history and practice of science, my own experiences working in federal science agencies, current events (including the consequences of the 2020 election), novels, movies, journal articles, and other materials.   Individual mentoring and a short independent project (with oral and written presentations) are part of the fun.
It is not yet known if the course will be conducted in person (in a seminar room at my research institution on East 69th Street) or remotely.   But the experiences of holding sessions in person and by Zoom in 2020 reveal that both have their advantages.  We will aim to operate in a way that is consistent with principles of public health and effective education.
–Harold Varmus For link to my 2020 video about the course: https://macaulay.cuny.edu/academics/upper-level-courses/spring-courses/science-and-society/

The syllabi and other materials from earlier years are available at the course website:
https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/varmusspring2017/
The course will meet on Wednesdays from 5 to 7:40 PM.  If conducted in person, sessions will be held in the Belfer Research Building at Weill Cornell Medicine, a short walk from Hunter College (which also has laboratories in the Belfer building) and from stops on the Q and 6 trains.  Otherwise, it will meet via Zoom at the same time at an internet address to be provided.

Otherwise, it will meet via Zoom at the same time at an internet address to be provided.

Introduction to the Instructor
Harold Varmus, M.D., is the Lewis Thomas University Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine and a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for studies of the genetic basis of cancer. He was the Director of the National Cancer Institute from 2010 to 2015, after ten years as President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and six years as Director of the National Institutes of Health. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and involved in several initiatives to promote science and health in developing countries. The author of about 400 scientific papers and five books, including a recent memoir entitled The Art and Politics of Science, he was a co-chair of President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, was a co-founder of the Public Library of Science, and chaired the Scientific Board of the Gates Foundation Grand Challenges in Global Health.