LEE WITTERS

BIOCHEMISTRY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

FAVORITE BOOK TO TEACH:

The Discovery of Insulin, by Michael Bliss

MUST-READ BOOKS IN YOUR FIELD:

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Child Who Never Grew, by Pearl Buck

FAVORITE PLEASURE READ:

The Age of Wonder: The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science, by Richard Holmes

CURRENTLY READING:

Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, by Robin Kelley

Bliss tells the historical tale of one of the most important discoveries in 20th-century medicine that opened the door to molecular medicine and literally transformed the lives of diabetics. As he writes: "With the discovery of insulin, the stone was rolled away and diabetes became a matter of life and not death."

Middlesex, a Pulitzerwinning novel, details the life of an individual with a common enzymatic deficiency that causes anatomic gender confusion. It explores the fundamental question of what is a man and what is a woman. It's not an easy answer.

Buck's book tells the poignant tale of her daughter, who had an intellectual disability due to phenylketonuria, a disease unknown at the time of her birth. Written after Buck had for years hidden her daughter from public view, this book helped to lift a veil of secrecy around a disability that was not spoken of.