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transcript_precision medicine in China_March 24.docx
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I feel very glad to gather you all here in this familiar classroom, also the home of the SKAT workshop concluded just now, for the first event of CRiL. Before we dive into our first formal event, please allow me a few minutes to share a bit of the short history of CRiL, the China Reading & innovation Lab.
The idea itself is a congealed network of expertise, plus a momentary sparkling of insight. It came after I had been immersed in the relational thinking that penetrates Prof. Peter Bearman's Research Design and Prof. Diane Vaughan’s SKAT seminar as well, and after I became the youngest member at Prof. David Stark’s Center on Organizational Innovation to enjoy its 25th anniversary last November.
Always struggling with the seemingly quite fragmented representation of the institution of Columbia, as many of you know; and, drawing a comparative lens on my past experience at the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, and, pretty much influenced by the legacy of the passing away of Prof. Xiaohong Xu at umich sociology. The thought crystalized for me one day: here we have so many Chinese scholars, amazing faculty and grad students, resources and funding, yet there is few active academic student organization specifically focused on Chinese studies, why not I create something as a network hub?
Above all, I feel incredibly fortunate to have Gil’s unwavering support behind me, especially during these trying times. Thanks to him, I can launch CRiL with the scholarly network on which I’ve built. My vision for CRiL is to create a community for anyone interested in Chinese studies, and foster collaborative relations not only among researchers, but also academics and industry. who knows? We may even have fellows from big pharma joining us in the future. We not only read and discuss, we innovate as a lab.
I’ve decided to start with Science, knowledge and technology with a medical focus in China. This is not only because it aligns with my personal academic interests at the moment, but also because SKAT embodies the ethos of CRiL. Just as we have: spaces-this classroom that carries decades of the SKAT workshop’s history; networks-the trust built between our speaker, discussants, sponsor and myself, along with Ms. Manybodies, allowing us to enjoy these enriching manuscripts and free drinks; devices-the zoom platform that enables some of our hundreds of overseas audience able to join us in real-time, and digital conversations continuing on Notion... That’s what makes us CRiL/krill—the little shrimp, the tiny oceanic creature, without which the entire marine ecosystem would not sustain. Alone, it is powerless, but krills always move as a group. And this is how CRiL envisions becoming a THRiL, the Transnational Heuristic Reading & innovation Lab across the Pacific in the many years to come!
We are thrilled to have Larry back as our first guest speaker to share his soon-to-be-finished book manuscript on precision medicine in China. Graduated in 2022, Larry is an alumnus of Columbia Sociology and is now an assistant professor at The City College of New York, CUNY.
His research examines the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in the production of biomedical knowledge, and asks how clinicians and scientists can better serve their patients and the public. Part of this work examines the globalization of precision medicine—or the use of genomics and other forms of big data to improve diagnosis and treatment—as a policy idea and scientific project, focusing primarily on its rise in China. Another part of this research looks at the politics of expertise around Long Covid, in particular, the experience of patients as they navigate uncertainties around their condition.