- Email: [email protected]
Eva Harris
LIFELINE Eva Harris Eva Harris received her BA from Harvard University and her PhD in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley. She is on the faculty at the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, where her laboratory investigates basic and applied aspects of infectious disease research. For the past 12 years, she has worked to strengthen scientific capacity in developing countries, for which she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She founded a non-profit organisation (Sustainable Sciences Institute) to further these aims. Who was your most influential teacher, and why? Jeff Schatz, because in addition to being a world-class scientist, he is human, cares about people in his laboratory and in the world, and is a great violinist. Which event has had most effect on your work? The first time we taught PCR in Nicaragua about 10 years ago; despite the intermittent electricity and water, we were able to detect and identify medically important parasites. I realised then that sophisticated technologies could be simplified and applied successfully to address local infectious-disease problems. What would be your advice to a newly qualified researcher? Go forward in the direction of what you believe in; don’t wor ry if you don’t have all the details sorted out—after all, it is only in hindsight that your path appears clear. What is the greatest love of your life? Living, learning, teaching, sharing, discovering. I am fascinated by the beauty, efficiency, and harmony of the molecular mechanisms of the cell and by the ingenious ways by which infectious agents evade the immune system. What is your favourite book? I grew up reading books and it is my favourite past-time, so I have many favourite books. How do you relax? Dance salsa;go to the ocean. What is your greatest regret? That I can’t stop time from passing.
1570
Phountains of knowledge had a fairly good summer, managing to remain calm, reasonably composed, and even optimistic despite the relatively poor weather. Only two things have managed to get me riled.The first was a glaring design fault in my toilet bag that I was given as a present. I say that because I would never have bought this particular number myself. The inner surface is black,jet black. This drives me insane because it is impossible to find anything just by looking into it. Especially the sombre items that most men use such as a black shaving brush, brown comb, dark green t o o t h b ru s h . I have given up trying to find things now and simply close my eyes and rummage around telling myself this will help me understand what it might be like to be blind. However, the thing that really got me steamed up recently was a piece written by a well known columnist in the Saturday issue of my daily newspaper. He had just returned from his summer holiday in rural France and was banging on about how the main topic of conversation amongst the English who have settled in that part of France was how to keep their swimming pools clean.I did not think this was a particularly riveting topic since a) I don’t have one, b) I don’t think I ever shall,and c) I am not a very enthusiastic swimmer anyway. This is because I share W C Fields’ low opinion of water. When offered water to drink, he declined observing that fish copulate in water. Well, actually “copulate” wasn’t the word he used, but you get my drift. No, that was not what got me going. It was during the discussion about the different chemicals they were using to clean the pools that the columnist wrote “will ruin the Ph balance.” That did it. “Ph? Ph? Get it right! It’s pH. pH, comprenez?” Sadly, this is pretty typical of most newspapers, when they touch on any-
I
thing scientific outside the columns that are devoted to scientific topics (and pretty rare these are).And what is worse, there are lots of people out there who are actually proud that they know nothing of science (be it mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology). C P Snow used to talk about the “two cultures”, and there was a fair amount of truth in this, although most doctors and scientists I have known have a decent grasp of at least some areas of the arts, and there is a number, strangely usually physicists or mathematicians, who can play musical instruments to almost concert standard. Now I have always considered myself lucky to have gone through the Scottish education system (albeit a long time ago),and when I left school I had a decent grasp of mathematics and the physical sciences,as well as a thorough grounding in French, Latin, and Greek. I chose science as a career, figuring I could always keep the languages going in my spare time and have never regretted it. But more people, perhaps not Lancet readers,need to be convinced that science and medicine are integral parts of our cultural heritage. At my old university, physics was not called “physics” but “natural philosophy”, and I always thought this was spot on. Physics really is a branch of philosophy, and you could also argue the same case for many other fields of science, or even science as a whole. I remember once hearing someone say that no-one could consider themselves educated if they were not familiar with the second law of thermodynamics. I know what he meant (I think) but I believe he was going just a little too far. These days you could reasonably argue that a basic grasp of the importance of the structure of DNA might be a basic test. Or why not just ask for a definition of pH? David Jack
THE LANCET • Vol 354 • October 30, 1999
1570
Phountains of knowledge had a fairly good summer, managing to remain calm, reasonably composed, and even optimistic despite the relatively poor weather. Only two things have managed to get me riled.The first was a glaring design fault in my toilet bag that I was given as a present. I say that because I would never have bought this particular number myself. The inner surface is black,jet black. This drives me insane because it is impossible to find anything just by looking into it. Especially the sombre items that most men use such as a black shaving brush, brown comb, dark green t o o t h b ru s h . I have given up trying to find things now and simply close my eyes and rummage around telling myself this will help me understand what it might be like to be blind. However, the thing that really got me steamed up recently was a piece written by a well known columnist in the Saturday issue of my daily newspaper. He had just returned from his summer holiday in rural France and was banging on about how the main topic of conversation amongst the English who have settled in that part of France was how to keep their swimming pools clean.I did not think this was a particularly riveting topic since a) I don’t have one, b) I don’t think I ever shall,and c) I am not a very enthusiastic swimmer anyway. This is because I share W C Fields’ low opinion of water. When offered water to drink, he declined observing that fish copulate in water. Well, actually “copulate” wasn’t the word he used, but you get my drift. No, that was not what got me going. It was during the discussion about the different chemicals they were using to clean the pools that the columnist wrote “will ruin the Ph balance.” That did it. “Ph? Ph? Get it right! It’s pH. pH, comprenez?” Sadly, this is pretty typical of most newspapers, when they touch on any-
I
thing scientific outside the columns that are devoted to scientific topics (and pretty rare these are).And what is worse, there are lots of people out there who are actually proud that they know nothing of science (be it mathematics, physics, chemistry, or biology). C P Snow used to talk about the “two cultures”, and there was a fair amount of truth in this, although most doctors and scientists I have known have a decent grasp of at least some areas of the arts, and there is a number, strangely usually physicists or mathematicians, who can play musical instruments to almost concert standard. Now I have always considered myself lucky to have gone through the Scottish education system (albeit a long time ago),and when I left school I had a decent grasp of mathematics and the physical sciences,as well as a thorough grounding in French, Latin, and Greek. I chose science as a career, figuring I could always keep the languages going in my spare time and have never regretted it. But more people, perhaps not Lancet readers,need to be convinced that science and medicine are integral parts of our cultural heritage. At my old university, physics was not called “physics” but “natural philosophy”, and I always thought this was spot on. Physics really is a branch of philosophy, and you could also argue the same case for many other fields of science, or even science as a whole. I remember once hearing someone say that no-one could consider themselves educated if they were not familiar with the second law of thermodynamics. I know what he meant (I think) but I believe he was going just a little too far. These days you could reasonably argue that a basic grasp of the importance of the structure of DNA might be a basic test. Or why not just ask for a definition of pH? David Jack
THE LANCET • Vol 354 • October 30, 1999