An Immense New Power to Heal
June 14, 2012
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust continues to support the development of personalized medicine. As such, Piper Trust thought it would be important to invest in helping the public understand this new individualized approach to prevention, early detection, and treatment of disease—what the future of medicine holds for society. An Immense New Power to Heal is the result. The book is authored by Dr. Lee Gutkind, Professor with the Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes at Arizona State University and leading scholar in the art of “creative nonfiction” and Pagan Kennedy, Knight Fellow in Science Journalism, MIT.
In Fact Books Press Release June 14, 2012 — There is no denying that new technology, which has triggered an explosion of scientific information, is ushering in a revolution in medicine. Anyone can spit in a cup, and for a small fee, learn about his or her individual genetic make-up. But how useful is this information, really, to us or to our doctors? What’s more, how much do we truly want to know – and have others know – about our possible destiny? There is more than we can imagine at stake.
Through intimate patient stories as well as profiles of leading-edge doctors and scientists, this cleareyed, lively, and highly engaging book explores one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of our time: the sequencing of the human genome and the subsequent development of personalized medicine. An Immense New Power to Heal captures the current landscape and examines the psychological, moral and ethical questions confronting physicians and the general public. What responsibility do we bear for our own health? And do we really want to know what information is coded in our genes – especially if medicine and technology offer no cure?
Lee Gutkind has explored the world of medicine, technology and science through writing for more than 25 years. He is the author of 15 books, including Many Sleepless Nights: The World of Organ Transplantation, and the editor of five anthologies about health and medicine, including At the End of Life: True Stories About How We Die.
Pagan Kennedy is the author of 10 novels and nonfiction books, including The First Man-Made Man, which earned a Booklist starred review, and The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex and Other True Stories.
In Fact Books titles are published by the Creative Nonfiction Foundation, which pursues educational and publishing initiatives in the genre of literary nonfiction. CNF publishes the quarterly magazine Creative Nonfiction, “the voice of the genre.” For more information, please visit www.infactbooks.com.
For media inquiries or to request a review copy of An Immense New Power to Heal, please contact:
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Karen Leland
Director of Communications
Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
480-556-7125
kleland@pipertrust.org
Ginny Levy
Publicity Manager
Creative Nonfiction
412-688-0304
levy@creativenonfiction.org