The Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center will host the first C. Everett Koop Lecture, featuring Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science, Collins is known for his discoveries of disease genes and for his leadership of the Human Genome Project.

The idea for the lecture series grew out of a celebration of Dr. Koop’s 90th birthday, which was held in Washington D.C. in 2006, says Joseph O’Donnell, professor of medicine and senior advising dean and director of community programs at Dartmouth Medical School. Many of those who took part in that event wanted to find a way to build on the momentum of the evening. “After discussing the possibilities with Dr. Koop,” O’Donnell says, “we came up with the idea of an annual lecture in his name, focusing on possibilities and positive visions for the future of medicine.” “Dr. Collins was Dr. Koop’s choice to lead off this lecture series with a talk about hopes for the future from the standpoint of scientific discovery,” O’Donnell explains.

Collins’s lecture, “Exceptional Opportunities in Biomedical Research,” is free and open to the public. It takes place on Thursday, November 4, at 12:00 p.m. The lecture will be held in Auditoria E & F in the Barbara E. Rubin Building of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The talk will also be made available online during and after the event.