Twenty years ago, a young oncologist started journaling to process his experience treating cancer patients. That cathartic act became the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.

Fifteen years after the book was published, how has our understanding of preventing and treating cancer changed? Host Flora Lichtman is joined by author Siddhartha Mukherjee to talk about what we now understand about screening, environmental risks, and rising cancer rates in young people.

Read an excerpt of the new chapters added to The Emperor of Maladies on the 15th anniversary of the book’s publication.

Guest: Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer physician and an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

‘A Multi-Headed Beast’: Telling The Story Of Cancer

Science Friday

‘A Multi-Headed Beast’: Telling The Story Of Cancer