Please Note:

The May 17th Lyceum Society meeting will be held at:
University Settlement at the Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery (at Houston), New York, NY 10002

The Lyceum Society comprises the Academy's retired and semi-retired members. Talks cover various scientific fields. All Academy members are welcome.

All Lyceum meetings (except December) are Brown Bag lunches.

Brown Bag: 11:30 AM
Brief-Brief: 12:45 PM
Lecture & Discussion: 1:00–3:00 PM

Brief-Brief Presentation

Photographs of the Polar Bears of Hudson Bay
Speaker: Suzanne Vlamis

Our own Suzanne puts you in the middle of nature, up close and personal.

Main Presentation

Up in smoke. Biomedical research on smoking related diseases — a unique agency perspective
Speaker: Harmon McAllister

Some 60 years ago, the statistical association between smoking and cancer was increasingly in the news. The major tobacco companies collectively decided to create and fund an independent organization to study the relationship between tobacco use and health. They called it the Tobacco Industry Research Committee, later The Council for Tobacco Research, CTR. Promising freedom from company influence or involvement, they invited seven highly regarded scientists and physicians to be their Scientific Advisory Board. By the late 1980's, a virtual sea of product liability lawsuits were filed against the tobacco companies and even CTR itself. Their legal argument: CTR had been created to convince the American public that smoking wasn't harmful. But, surprisingly to many, a close examination of over 6000 articles known to be published by CTR grantees revealed not one had asserted smoking was not harmful. As of 2011, 10 CTR grantees have gone on to receive Nobel prizes for work partly supported by CTR. Almost half have been been elected to NAS (National Academy of Sciences) or NIM (National Institute of Medicine).

As the last Scientific Director of CTR, Harmon will take us behind the scenes in CTR's colorful history and talk of the amazing personalities and events there, "probably the most stellar study section in the annals of biomedical research."

Dr. McAllister receive his BS (Chemistry) from UNC, Chapel Hill, 1954, PhD (Biochemistry) and post doc from UNC Medical School, 1963. Faculty Biochem Division, Wayne State University, MI, from 1967, becoming Director of Institutional Research.

Registration Pricing

Travel & Lodging

Event Location

University Settlement at the Houston Street Center

273 Bowery (at Houston)
New York, NY 10002
212.475.5008

Map for 273 Bowery