Author, Anthropologist to Lecture on 'Maternal Love and Ambivalence"

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, PhD, noted author, anthropologist and expert in primate sociobiology, will present the Tenth Annual Maurice Galante Lecture on Monday, Jan. 24, 3 p.m., in Cole Hall, in the Medical Sciences Building, 513 Parnassus Ave. Her talk is titled "Maternal Love and Ambivalence ... in the Pleistocene, the 18th Century and Today." The event is presented by the Office of the Dean of the School of Medicine and the Department of Surgery. Hrdy is a professor emeritus at UC Davis, and her work in primate sociobiology has led to several books. Her The Woman that Never Evolved was selected by the the New York Times as one of the Notable Books of 1981. It demonstrated the extent to which female primates were active strategists, competitive and sexually assertive. Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants and Natural Selection was chosen by both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal as one of the Best Books of 1999 and was a finalist for a Pen (West) Literary Award. It talks about natural selection and how much humans have in common with other living creatures. She was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 1987 and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. She is the mother of three children and lives with her husband on their farm in northern California. Her talk on Jan. 24 in Cole Hall is free and open to the public. It will also be videocast to the Mission Bay campus, Genentech Hall, room S261; Mount Zion, Herbst Hall; and San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, Carr Auditorium. The Maurice Galante Lecture is held in honor of the longtime UCSF surgeon. Galante received his medical degree from Ohio State University in 1944, moved to San Francisco to begin his residency in general surgery, and completed his training in 1952 after military service. Galante has been described as "one of the last generation of real 'general' surgeons" -- those surgeons who bring the same superb technical expertise to a wide variety of surgical procedures. Galante also brought a rare humanism to his 50 years as a surgeon at UCSF and trained scores of residents. His many patients expressed their gratitude through donations to support programs in the UCSF Department of Surgery and this annual lecture.