Widely known and well-respected science journalist, Laurie Garrett will be on campus Tuesday to present a lecture, “Critical Issues in Global Health Care.” The free lecture will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the Pasant Theatre at the Wharton Center.
Garrett is the only writer to win each of the three big P’s of journalism; the Peabody, the Pulitzer and the Polk, which she has won twice.
Before taking her current position as science writer at Newsday in 1988, Garrett reported on science issues for National Public Radio and through freelance ventures in Africa and Europe for several wire services, including Reuters and Associated Press.
Linda Chadderdon, spokeswoman for the College of Veterinary Medicine, said the college is excited to host such an influential person.
“Laurie Garrett is clearly a very distinguished writer with knowledge of issues of importance,” she said. “She will have a timely talk of emerging infectious diseases and along with that, she demonstrates the importance of good writing.”
Garrett’s lecture will be one in a series established to recognize Dr. Samuel Pollock, a veterinarian and well-recognized alumnus of the College of Veterinary Medicine. The series is being sponsored by the Jacqua Foundation, for which Pollock served as a trustee.
After Pollock’s death, the foundation decided to sponsor at least one lecture per year that would bring a well-known personality to the university. The foundation promotes science and the performing arts, both of which Pollock was actively involved in, Chadderdon said.
Garrett’s lecture will focus on health care issues throughout the world, a research project she focused on during the past decade.
She has written two books on the subject, the first being “The Coming Plague,” a piece about threats of new diseases. The book was noted as one of the best in 1994 by The New York Times Book Review.
The second book, “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health,” was awarded the George C. Polk Award for Best Book of 2000. The book shed light on health care in the United States, Russia, Africa and Western European countries.
In addition to writing her own books, she has contributed to several publications including the Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair and Esquire. Both science and journalism scholars said they’re interested in going to Garrett’s lecture.
“I had heard about her coming and I was hoping to go and hear her speak,” journalism Professor Howard Bossen said
