Bøker av Robert Klitzman

Addressing broad debates about the nature of secrecy, morality, and silence, this book explores public policy questions in the light of the nuanced, private decisions that are shaping the course of an epidemic and have broader indications for all.

The clearest picture we have of what life is like for men and women who have been diagnosed HIV positive, based upon unique in-depth interviews and remarkable for its candor. "An unforgettable picture of what extremity looks like and how it is dealt with."-Clifford Geertz.

Studies on humans have saved countless lives, but sometimes harm participants. Research ethics committees currently monitor scientists, but have been increasingly criticized for blocking important research. How these committees work, however, is largely unknown. This book uniquely illuminates this hidden world that ultimately affects us all.

Kuru, like Mad Cow disease, is caused by a rare, infectious crystal protein that invades and colonizes human cells, destroying the nervous system of its victims. There is no known cure. It flourished in one of the remotest places on earth, Papua New Guinea, among the Fore, a people living in the Stone Age, who until recently practiced ritual cannibalism, consuming the brains of their forebears during funerary feasts. Robert Klitzman helped establish the links between these rituals and kuru. What he discovered has provided keys to understanding the mysterious Mad Cow Disease, which may become the world''s next major epidemic. Robert Klitzman was 21 years old when he was invited by the Nobel prize-winning scientist Dr. Carleton Gajdusek, then at the National Institutes of Health, to conduct original research on kuru. Seizing the chance to travel to the other end of the world, Klitzman embarked on an adventure that would change his life.