Richard Kessin, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of pathology and cell biology at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. For more than 30 years he taught doctoral and medical students the basics of tissue and cell structure. During those years his laboratory did basic research on problems of cell biology and development that was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. For five years, he was an associate dean in charge of 450 graduate students at Columbia’s medical center. Prior to Columbia, he taught genetics at Harvard.
His research resulted in many scientific publications and a book on a fascinating group of organisms called the social amebae, about which he will be happy to tell you if you ask. Just for fun, he wrote a novel about a young scientist who discovers a virus that makes men lose their ability to make testosterone. This discovery turns out to be a bigger adventure than she bargained for. The novel is called “The Famine of Men” and, among other things, it explains how the world of basic research functions.
Since retiring, Rich Kessin has been writing articles for the Lakeville Journal and the Millerton News that explain the details about various topic, including, recently, measles, coronavirus, and the juncture of politics and science. He also gives occasional talks and discussions on immunology, vaccines and infectious disease. He lives in Norfolk, Connecticut.
