Journalist and Academy Award nominee Sebastian Junger is known for his intimate looks at dramatic and sometimes terrifying events. He has reported on conflicts around the globe, from Sierra Leone to the Niger Delta. His first book, The Perfect Storm (1997), told the story of a commercial fishing boat trapped at the mercy of the storm of the century.

Due to a scheduling conflict, the Dr. Cox lecture orignally scheduled for January 26th has been moved to February 24th. Original tickets will be honored.

Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology enable exploration of the genetic basis of a broad range of clinically important outcomes. Examples where a positive clinical outcome is associated with a significantly increased frequency of DNA sequence variants are particularly informative.

The OHSU Brain Institute presents the 2012 Brain Awareness Lecture Series: Big Issues and the Brain - The Brain and Society.

What if everybody read the same book? We'd talk to each other about issues that matter and we'd celebrate the power of books in creating a stronger community.

Named as one of Time Magazine’s "100 most influential persons in the world," Amartya Sen won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on famine, human development theory, and welfare economics. Widely praised as “the conscience of his profession,” the Indian-born Sen provoked controversy by challenging the traditional economic model of self-interest as the prime motivating factor of human activity.

The OHSU Brain Institute presents the 2012 Brain Awareness Lecture Series: Big Issues and the Brain - The Brain and Society.

Inflammation is part of the body’s natural immune response to tissue damage. However, chronic inflammation is associated with many diseases. Why does the brain “turn on itself?” What is neuroinflammation? In the brain, it’s thought to play a role in aging and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. 

As director of Berkeley Lab, Alivisatos has launched two major scientific initiatives, “Carbon Cycle 2.0,” a multidisciplinary approach to developing ways to help restore the balance in Earth’s carbon cycle, which has been adversely affected by human activity, and the “Next Generation Light Source,” the world’s first facility capable of producing x-ray pulses measured in attoseconds, the timescale needed to capture the movement of electrons. Alivisatos has also proactively invigorated Berkeley Lab’s safety culture and elevated the Lab’s community outreach efforts.

The OHSU Brain Institute presents the 2012 Brain Awareness Lecture Series: Big Issues and the Brain - The Brain and Society.

Inflammation is part of the body’s natural immune response to tissue damage. However, chronic inflammation is associated with many diseases. Why does the brain “turn on itself?” What is neuroinflammation? In the brain, it’s thought to play a role in aging and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. 

Acclaimed New York Times columnist and NPR commentator David Brooks (a self-professed “New York conservative”) is one of our shrewdest analysts of politics and culture. A protégé of William F. Buckley, Brooks has written for the National Review, Atlantic Monthly, and Wall Street Journal, among many others. His most recent book, The Social Animal, debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Verghese is the senior associate chairman for the theory and practice of medicine at Stanford University.