Tip Sheets
Gene therapy: From bust to boom? (James M. Wilson presentation)
Panel: Gene therapy: From bust to boom? (Health Journalism 2011)
Speaker: James M. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D. Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Director, Gene Therapy Program University of Pennsylvania
Panel description: Gene therapy was a hot area for research until the 1999 death of Jesse Gelsinger at the University of Pennsylvania. After the field seemed to languish for a decade, researchers have scored several recent successes, causing some to hype the field once again. Not so fast, says James Wilson, who led the Penn research and now lectures medical students on the case. While he sees progress, Wilson believes reporters should avoid repeating the unbridled enthusiasm of the 1990s.