Main content

Siddhartha Mukherjee

Kirsty Young interviews Siddhartha Mukherjee, oncologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer.

Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer specialist. His biography of the disease, The Emperor of All Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010. A haematologist and oncologist by training, his research focuses on cancer therapy and gene functions related to blood cells. His latest book, The Gene, goes in search of normality, identity, variation and heredity.

Born in India in 1970 he grew up with his extended family in Delhi. In his youth he trained as an Indian classical singer before travelling to the US to study biology at Stanford. At Oxford he was a Rhodes scholar before enrolling at Harvard to study medicine. He is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Centre.

Presenter: Kirsty Young
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Available now

37 minutes

Last on

Fri 6 Oct 2017 09:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Professor Dame Jane Francis

Next

Sir James MacMillan

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Clips

See all clips from Siddhartha Mukherjee (2)

Music Played

  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • Billie Holiday

      All of Me

      • Collections.
      • Mercury Records.

  • Amir Khan

    Raga Malkauns

    • Rare Gems Of Classical Vocal Music.
    • Saregama.

  • Shahid Parvez Khan & Enayet Hossain

    Raga Bihag (Gat in Drut Teental) (Live)

    • Live in Concert.
    • Aimrec.

  • Thelonious Monk

    Round Midnight

    • Fifties Jazz.
    • Jasnet Records.

  • Vijay Iyer Trio

    Galang (Trio Riot Version)

    • Historicity.
    • ACT Music.

  • Juan Moneo

    Debajo de esta farola

    • Luna Mora.
    • DRO/EastWest Spain.

  • Philip Glass

    Metamorphosis Five

    • Solo Piano.
    • Sony.

  • Aretha Franklin

    Respect

    • I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You.
    • Warner.

  • BOOK CHOICE

    The Complete Works of George Orwell

  • LUXURY ITEM

    A microscope

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Siddhartha Mukherjee
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 1 Oct 2017 11:15
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 6 Oct 2017 09:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast