Description

Reporter Gina Kolata explores the history of the 1918 influenza pandemic. "The 1918 flu epidemic puts every other epidemic of this century to shame," she says. "It was a plague so deadly that if a similar virus were to strike today, it would kill more people in a single year than heart disease, cancer, strokes, chronic pulmonary disease, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease combined. The epidemic affected the course of history and was a terrifying presence at the end of World War I, killing more Americans in a single year than died in battle in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War." In 2018, the centennial of the 1918 influenza pandemic, the Sanger Series lectures explore the deadly pandemic, the valiant search for the virus that caused it and the ways it changed medicine and our world.

The event is free and open to all, but please register. Spaces for this event will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Parking is available for a fee in the West Broad Street, West Main Street and West Cary Streetparking decks. If special accommodations are needed, or to register offline, please contact the VCU Libraries Events Office at (804) 828-0593.

About the Speaker

Gina Kolata is a reporter at The New York Times, focusing on science and medicine. She studied molecular biology on the graduate level at M.I.T. and has a master's degree in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland. Her work at the Times has led her to be a Pulitzer finalist twice, once for investigative reporting in 2000 and again for explanatory journalism in 2010. Before joining the Times in 1987, she was a copyeditor at Science magazine and also wrote for the American Association for the Advancement of Science journal, 1974–87. She is the author of seven books on health and medical topics, the most recent of which is Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Saved Them.

Sponsors

VCU Libraries and the VCU Office of Research and Innovation present this Sanger Series lecture.

Image: Gina Kolata photo, courtesy of Gina Kolata/Sanger Series logo, by Jeff Bland