Plenary speakers through the years
It's always interesting to see who BIO gets to deliver the plenary speeches during breakfast and lunch at the convention. This year we have Michael J. Fox and Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan (who has, incidentally, banned the media from her speech). Over the years, it's been pretty impressive. Christopher Reeve spoke at the 2000 conference. Professional basketball player Jerry Stackhouse talked about his sisters' struggles with diabetes in 2003. Singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge was onstage, guitar in hand, in 2005. For a while, you could trace an increase in name-power for speakers that neatly paralleled the rise of the biotech industry in the public eye, culminating with President Bush's appearance in 2003. There have been great speakers since then, of course -- former president Bill Clinton in 2006 comes to mind -- but it's hard to top the reigning commander in chief as a draw (regardless of Bush's stance on stem cells). For my money, though, my favorite speaker was Benjamin Carson in 2002. He doesn't have the name recognition of some of the other speakers at BIO, but I don't recall anyone else getting as many laughs, or engaging the audience, as he did while discussing the importance of healthcare and medicine. Who is he? A leading pediatric surgeon, gaining attention in 1987 for separating "Siamese twins" babies who were joined at the head. Here's some information from PBS on the man and his history. But that leads me to this: While flying back to the US from France, I sat through the 2003 movie, "Stuck On You," starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear. It's a Farrelly Brothers film about conjoined brothers. As the movie draws to its conclusion, the dual protagonists decide to be separated. I stared at the tiny airplane screen in front of me, at the surgeon who emerged from the operating room to comment on the health of his patients. He sure looked familiar. When I got home, I looked him up: Dr. Benjamin Carson, playing himself. He's listed in the credits, which you can find here. You sure can learn a lot at BIO.
