One in a Billion: The Story of Nic Volker and the Dawn of Genomic Medicine

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· Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Jonathan Yen
Audiobook
7 hr 27 min
Unabridged
Eligible
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About this audiobook

In this landmark medical narrative, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher chronicle the story of Nic Volker, the Wisconsin boy at the center of a daring breakthrough in medicine—a complete gene sequencing to discover the cure for an otherwise undiagnosable illness.


At just two years old, Nic experiences a searing pain that signals the awakening of a new and deadly disease. For years, through false starts and failed cures, he holds on to life, buoyed up by his mother's fierce drive to get him the care he needs. But when even the world's experts are stumped by Nic's illness, his doctors come up with a radical, long-shot plan: a step into the unknown.



The next major scientific frontier, following the completion of the Human Genome Project, was to figure out how to use our new knowledge to save lives—to bring genomic or personalized medicine into reality. It's a quest that is undertaken by researchers around the world. But it is only when geneticist Howard Jacob hears about young Nic that the finish line finally comes into sight: It's no longer a race to make history. It's a race to save this boy's life.
In this landmark medical narrative, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher chronicle the story of Nic Volker, the Wisconsin boy at the center of a daring breakthrough in medicine—a complete gene sequencing to discover the cure for an otherwise undiagnosable illness...

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About the author

Mark Johnson, a senior journalist specializing in science and medicine, has worked at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for over ten years. In 2009, he won the prestigious National Academies' Communication Award for his newspaper series "Targeting the Good Cell."

Kathleen Gallagher is a business reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. An alumna of the University of Illinois at Chicago, she was a communications consultant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a writing instructor at the American Institute of Banking in Chicago before joining the Sentinel in 1993.

Jonathan Yen was inspired by the Golden Age of Radio, and while the gold was gone by the time he got there, he's carried that inspiration through to commercial work, voice acting, and stage productions. From vintage Howard Fast science fiction to naturalist Paul Rosolie's true adventures in the Amazon, Jonathan loves to tell a good story.

Mark Johnson, a senior journalist specializing in science and medicine, has worked at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for over ten years. In 2009, he won the prestigious National Academies' Communication Award for his newspaper series "Targeting the Good Cell." Kathleen Gallagher is a business rep...

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