The Arc of the Heart: What the History of the Heart Teaches Us About the Future of Humanity

Lunch provided at NOON. Talk begins at 12:10pm.

Advances in heart disease have fundamentally changed what it means to be a human being, opening raw ethical conundrums. Technology today allows many patients to survive long after their own hearts have stopped beating. This talk will explore the implications of the commodification of artificial organs and the merger of man and machine. The science of the heart also mirrors the history of science at large, punctuated by setbacks and reversals. We live in times when the truth is increasingly challenged by those seeking to undermine it. This talk will also explore what the history of the science of the heart, and growing skepticism around it, can inform us about the future of science.

Haider Warraich is the author of the newly published book State of the Heart: Exploring the History, Science, and Future of Cardiac Disease as well as Modern Death - How Medicine Changed the End of Life. He is a regular Op Ed contributor for the New York Times, as well as the Atlantic, Guardian, Wall Street Journal and LA Times amongst others. He has also contributed to publications including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet and Circulation. He has appeared on CNN, Fox, CBS, PBS, and on NPR shows like the Diane Rehm Show, The World, Marketplace and the BBC World Service.