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"Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It"

Our guest is Dr. Ricki Lewis, a geneticist, journalist, professor, and genetic counselor. She's also the author of one of the most widely used college textbooks about genetics --- "Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications" (now in its tenth edition) --- and her latest book, just out from St. Martin's Press, is "The Forever Fix: Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It." Dr. Lewis will be a featured speaker later this week at the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society's Annual Conference, which has been happening here in Tulsa since Saturday the 26th. This book offers a fascinating and readable narrative of cutting-edge science and the people who make such science possible; it's an exploration of the next frontier in medicine and genetics that carefully and respectfully profiles the various children and families whom gene therapy has touched. As was noted of "The Forever Fix" in a starred review in Publishers Weekly: "In this impressive, meticulously researched study of the exciting new developments in gene therapy, geneticist and journalist Lewis looks closely at the history of setbacks plaguing the treatment of rare genetic diseases as well as recent breakthroughs. . . . With each success, as Lewis recounts in this rigorous, energetic work, possibilities in treating HIV infection and dozens of other diseases might be around the next corner."

Rich Fisher passed through KWGS about thirty years ago, and just never left. Today, he is the general manager of Public Radio Tulsa, and the host of KWGS’s public affairs program, StudioTulsa, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in August 2012 . As host of StudioTulsa, Rich has conducted roughly four thousand long-form interviews with local, national, and international figures in the arts, humanities, sciences, and government. Very few interviews have gone smoothly. Despite this, he has been honored for his work by several organizations including the Governor's Arts Award for Media by the State Arts Council, a Harwelden Award from the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, and was named one of the “99 Great Things About Oklahoma” in 2000 by Oklahoma Today magazine.
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