The Edward A. Dickson Emeritus/a Professorship Lecture

"The War on Cancer: Evolution and Our Modern Environment"

Leonard Nunney, PhD Distinguished UCR Professor Emeritus of the Graduate Division
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 from 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. with Reception to follow
Presentation delivered in-person at University Extension Building Room 1101 and Livestreamed via Zoom

Description
Cancer is primarily a disease of old age, so an increase in cancer risk is an unwelcome side-effect of the benefit of living longer. But beyond this trade-off, an important but largely unanswered question is how much of our cancer risk earlier in life is due to our environment, our genes, or simply bad luck. I have been looking at this problem from the perspective of an evolutionary biologist, by first arguing (and then demonstrating) that the ability of animals to reduce the risk of cancer is an evolving trait, and then using this knowledge to identify specific human cancers that appear to have become markedly more common because of our modern way of life.

Register online through the retiree and emeriti webpage at: 

The Dickson Flyer of Leonard Nunney can be viewed below.