For nearly a century, the Dunham Lecture Series has brought leaders in biomedicine, including 28 Nobel laureates, to the HMS campus. Established in 1923, the purpose of the lecture series is to advance medical sciences by “strengthening the bonds of fellowship and understanding between students and investigators in this and foreign countries.”
This year’s lecturer is Thomas Jessell, Claire Tow Professor in the Departments of Neuroscience and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University.
Jessell’s research seeks to provide a better understanding of how the nervous system is constructed, with the hope of learning how to repair damaged or diseased neurons. His research focuses on how neurons in the developing embryonic spinal cord form into functional circuits that control sensory perception and movement.
Since 1985, Jessell has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He is a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a member of the Institute of Medicine, and a co-recipient of the inaugural Kavli Prize in Neuroscience.
Jessell will deliver two lectures at the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center:
“Motor Circuits and the Sense of Place,” on May 1, 11 a.m. – noon;
and
“From Fate Specification to Motor Neuron Disease,” on May 2, 4 – 5 p.m.
The lectures are given annually and are open to HMS faculty, staff and students.
