A New Annual Lecture in the BSD
The Coleman R. Seskind, M.D., Lecture in the Biological Sciences features a visiting lecturer working in any field represented in the Biological Sciences Division (BSD) who is a Nobel Laureate, Lasker Award winner, or other prominent scientist, and who will engage with faculty and students. The lectureship was established in 2021 by a generous gift from Coleman R. Seskind, M.D., a retired private practice physician and alumnus of the College and The Pritzker School of Medicine who previously worked in the Department of Pathology at the University of Chicago.
Past Lectures
Richard Henderson, FRS FMedSci, Professor Emeritus at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge, gave the 3rd annual Coleman R. Seskind, MD, lecture, "“Extending the reach of Cryo-EM,” Tuesday, October 22, 2024.
William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD, Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Senior Physician-Scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, gave the 2nd annual Coleman R. Seskind, MD, lecture, "The von Hippel-Lindau Hereditary Cancer Syndrome: Insights into Oxygen Sensing and Drugging the Undruggable,” Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
Read more about the 2023 lecture
Jack Szostak, PhD, University Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Chicago, gave the inaugural Coleman R. Seskind, MD, lecture, "Why did biology begin with RNA and not something else?" Thursday, October 6, 2022. Dr. Szostak joined the faculty of the University of Chicago in late 2022.
Read more about the inaugural lecture
Jack W. Szostak, PhD
University Professor, Department of Chemistry
Nominate a Speaker
Nominations may be submitted at any point throughout the year.
- Nominations are accepted from members of the UChicago community. The stewardship of the Seskind Lecture is guided by a committee of faculty and students who will prioritize candidates nominated by the BSD community.
- Nominees external to the University of Chicago will be given priority.
- We encourage nominations from the different fields of interest to the BSD. Please nominate speakers whose scientific accomplishments are of exceptional quality, who are highly engaging and interactive, and who inspire you.
- Speakers may be from academia, industry, or other relevant institutions and we encourage you to consider speakers across all demographics. Suggested speakers should have a body of work that has had an unquestionable and measurable impact in their field.
Submit a nomination through the online form linked below. To submit more than one nomination, please submit a separate entry using the web form.
About Coleman R. Seskind, MD
Coleman R. Seskind, MD’59, is a retired internist in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Seskind has a long history with the University of Chicago, receiving his AB from the College in 1955, his SB in Anatomy in 1956, and his SM in Pathology and MD from the Pritzker School of Medicine (PSOM) in 1959. He previously worked in the University’s Department of Pathology.
Dr. Seskind has dedicated his time and expertise to the University of Chicago Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Association (UChicago MBSAA) and UChicago Medicine in numerous ways, including as a former president and now current life member of the Alumni Council, a life member of the Biological Sciences Division and Pritzker School Medicine Council (BSD-PSOM), a longstanding leader and chair of the 1959 medical school class, and with three decades of volunteerism on the editorial committee of Medicine on the Midway magazine. He is also a member of the College Advisory Council and the Oriental Institute Council.
In addition, Dr. Seskind has been a generous philanthropic supporter for over 50 years and continues to make a significant impact on students and the University of Chicago as a whole. Dr. Seskind received the University of Chicago Alumni Service Award in 2010, and he was the inaugural recipient of the UChicago MBSAA’s Alumni Service Award in 2020.