October 18, 2012

NPR correspondent Palca to deliver Discovery Lecture

National Public Radio Science Correspondent Joe Palca, Ph.D., will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 25.

His talk, entitled “News and Science: A Marriage of Convenience,” will begin at 4 p.m. in 208 Light Hall.

Palca earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz and has been a journalist since 1982. He has worked as a health producer for the CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C., as Washington news editor for the journal Nature, and as senior correspondent for Science.

Since joining NPR in 1992, Palca has covered everything from biomedical research to astronomy. With Flora Lichtman, he is co-author of “Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us,” published last year.

His work has been honored by several scientific organizations, including the National Academies, the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Palca’s lecture is sponsored by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs.

For a complete schedule of the Flexner Discovery Lecture series and archived video of previous lectures, go to www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/discoveryseries.