David Ewing Duncan

David Ewing Duncan is an award-winning, best-selling author of six books and numerous essays, articles, and short stories; and a television, radio, and film producer and correspondent. He is a Contributing Editor and Columnist for CondeNast Portfolio, and Chief Correspondent of NPR Talk’s Biotech Nation. At UC Berkeley he is the Director of the Center for Life Science Policy and a Visiting Researcher at the Graduate School of Journalism.
 
David’s most recent book is Experimental Man: What One Man’s Body Reveals About His Future, Your Health, and Our Toxic World (John Wiley). He also authored Masterminds: Genius, DNA, and the Quest to Rewrite Life (Harper Perennial), previously titled The Geneticist Who Played Hoops with My DNA: … And Other Masterminds from the Frontiers of Biotech (William Morrow/HarperCollins). He wrote the international bestseller Calendar: Humanity’s Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year (Harper-Collins/Avon), published in 19 languages, and a bestseller in 14 countries.
 
He also has been a Contributing Editor to Wired and Discover, and is a commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition. He has been a special correspondent and producer for ABC’s Nightline and 20/20, a a correspondent for NOVA’s ScienceNow!, and a producer for Discovery Television. He is a regular contributor to National Geographic, Fortune and MIT Technology Review, and was a long-time correspondent for Life. He also writes for Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, Outside, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Washington Post Book World, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Times, among others.
 
In 2003, David won the prestigious Magazine Story of the Year Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His articles have twice been cited in nominations for National Magazine Awards, and his work has appeared twice in The Best American Science and Nature Writing.
 
David is the Founder and Editorial Director of the BioAgenda Institute, an independent, non-profit program of events and educational initiatives that discusses and analyzes crucial issues in life sciences. He is the host of the annual BioAgenda Summit.
 
His other books include the bestselling Pedaling the Ends of the Earth (Simon & Schuster), about his bicycle expedition around the world, and Hernando Soto: A Savage Quest in the Americas, called “an astonishing tour de force” by the New York Times Book Review. He wrote Residents: The Perils and Promise of Educating Young Doctors (Scribner) and Cape to Cairo: An African Odyssey (Grove Atlantic). His fiction has appeared in two anthologies. He has taught creative writing at Stanford University. He works at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, and lives in San Francisco.
 
Watch Breakthroughs in Genetic Life Extension – David Ewing Duncan, The Fight to Keep Genetic Information Private, David Ewing Duncan: The Ethics of Lifespan Pills, and GINA Legislation Prohibits Genetic Discrimination. Read David’s column Natural Selection.