Robert Pollack | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Robert_E._Pollack,_1982.jpg) Pollack in 1982 | |
| Born | September 2, 1940 New York City, US |
| Alma mater | Columbia College (BA), Brandeis University (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biology |
| Institutions | Stony Brook University, Columbia University |
| Website | https://scienceandsociety.columbia.edu/directory/robert-e-pollack |
Robert Elliot Pollack (born September 2, 1940) is an American academic, administrator, biologist, and philosopher, who served as a long-time Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University.
Born in Brooklyn, Pollack earned a Bachelor of Arts in physics at Columbia College in 1961. He received a PhD in Biological Sciences from Brandeis University in 1966, and subsequently was a postdoctoral Fellow in Pathology at NYU Langone Health and the Weizmann Institute of Science. He was a senior staff scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for nearly a decade, before becoming Associate Professor of Microbiology at Stony Brook University in 1975. He returned to Columbia University as a Professor of Biological Sciences in 1978. He served as Dean of Columbia College from 1982 to 1989. He founded the Center for the Study of Science and Religion (CSSR) in 1999, dedicated to exploring the intersection between faith and science. He served as Director of the Columbia University University Seminars from 2011 to 2019. He retired as Director of the CSSR, later renamed to the Research Cluster on Science and Subjectivity, in 2023.
Pollack has been credited as the father of reversion therapy, for his observation that cancer cells infected with different types of viruses could revert to non-oncogenic phenotypes.[1] Subsequently, he published nearly one hundred scientific articles related to reversion. He later became a philosopher, examining his faith with a scientific lens, and, at the same time, reinterpreting science through faith. Pollack has authored over 200 scientific articles, seven books, and dozens of speeches, mostly delivered at Columbia University.
As the first Jewish Dean of an Ivy League institution, Pollack faced significant fundraising challenges, the AIDS epidemic, and conflict surrounding the issue of South African divestment. Being a scientific activist, he was the first to raise concerns about recombinant DNA technology, which eventually led to the Asilomar Conference. He also decried the corrupting relationship between scientific academia and industry and promoted scientific literacy among the general public. He set the stage for the inclusion of science in the Columbia College Core Curriculum. He ultimately converted the Research Cluster on Science and Subjectivity to an institution promoting undergraduates, encouraging a legacy of student-centered innovation. He has collaborated with and mentored many prominent scientists, including Nancy Hopkins and Bettie Steinberg.
- ^ Telerman, A; Amson, R; Hendrix, MJ (August 2010). "Tumor reversion holds promise". Oncotarget. 1 (4): 233–4. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.131. PMC 3248106. PMID 21304173.