Gregory Stock keynote speaker

Gregory Stock is a biophysicist, best-selling author, biotech entrepreneur, and the former director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA’s School of Medicine.

He explores critical technologies poised to have large impacts on humanity’s future and the shape of medical science. His goal has been to bring about a broad public debate on these technologies and their implications, leading to wise public policies surrounding their realization. Of his particular interest to the program are the implications for society, medicine, and business of the human genome project and associated developments emerging from today’s revolution in molecular genetics and bioinformatics. The symposium he convened on the possibilities of manipulating the genetics of human embryos drew international attention as the first major public discussion of this issue among distinguished scientists and opened a global debate on this hitherto taboo topic.

A prolific author and recognized authority on the impact of new technologies on human society, Dr. Stock edited “Engineering The Human Germline: An Exploration of the Science and Ethics of Altering the Genes We Pass to Our Children”. His other book “Redesigning Humans: How Technology Will Redefine the Human Form and Character” was published in 2002. His Book of Questions series, which consists of four eclectic collections of provocative situational dilemmas, was designed to generate discussion and thought about value-laden issues. The series has sold more than three million copies in total, been translated into 17 languages. The original Book of Questions was number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller's list for 8 weeks.

Dr. Stock has been an invited speaker to numerous academic, government, and business conferences, and was asked to submit an Advisory Memo to President William Clinton on the challenges of the next century. He makes regular appearances on television and radio, including CNN, PBS, and the BBC, and will be hosting a television series next year on the implications of recent research to retard human aging.

Stock currently serves on the editorial Board of Rejuvination Science, the International Journal of Bioethics, the Journal of Evolution and Technology and the American Journal of Bioethics.