“Azra Raza’s The First Cell is an elegantly conceived, powerfully written, and far-reaching book that will change the conversation around cancer for decades to come.”
—Siddhartha Mukherjee

In her profound and breathtaking new book, The First Cell: And the Human Cost of Pursuing Cancer to the Last, Azra Raza offers a searing account of how both medicine and our society (mis)treat cancer, how we can do better, and why we must. Told through the moving, true stories of patients she has treated in the past thirty-five years, this book explores cancer from every angle: medical, scientific, cultural, and personal. Join us for a conversation between two authors, colleagues, and best friends, Prof. Azra Raza and Prof. Siddhartha Mukherjee, who have devoted their lives to improving medical approaches to suffering and death and to making the unbearable easier to bear.

After the conversation there will be a book signing of Azra Raza’s The First Cell: And The Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last, as well as Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene: An Intimate History, hosted by Greenlight Bookstore. We will have stargazing with the Amateur Astronomers Association of NY in our garden.

Azra Raza is one of the leading oncologists in the world. She is the Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine, and Director at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York. In addition to publishing widely in basic and clinical cancer research, Raza is also the co-editor of the highly acclaimed website 3QuarksDaily.com.

Siddhartha Mukherjee is a Pulitzer Prize winner, an Assistant Professor of Medicine and a staff physician at Columbia University Medical Center. His books include The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer and The Gene: An Intimate History.

This project is supported by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative dedicated to engaging everyone with the process of science.