Candace Pert: Genius, Greed, and Madness in the World of Science

by Pamela Ryckman Narrated by Jess Nahikian, Pamela Ryckman

Overview

The story of maverick scientist Candace Pert, whose groundbreaking research introduced the world to the mind-body connection, opioid receptors, and peptide T, and her fight for recognition in a toxic healthcare system.

Candace Pert stood at the dawn of three revolutions: the women's movement, integrative health, and psychopharmacology. A scientific prodigy, she was 30 years ahead of her time, preaching a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to healthcare and medicine long before yoga hit the mainstream and “wellness” took root in our vernacular. Her bestselling book Molecules of Emotion made her the mother of the Mind/Body Revolution, launching a paradigm shift in medicine. Deepak Chopra credits her with creating his career, and he said as much in his eulogy at her funeral.
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Candace began her career as an unbridled maverick. In 1972, as a 26-year-old graduate student at Johns Hopkins, she discovered the opiate receptor, revolutionizing her field and enabling pharmacologists to design new classifications of drugs from Prozac to Viagra to Percocet and OxyContin. The tragic irony of her breakthrough, touted as the first step to end heroin addiction, is that it helped spawn a virulent epidemic of drug dependence. Facing the largest public health crisis of the 21st century, Candace was incensed that the Hippocratic oath-“first, do no harm”-would succumb to greed, and as witness to this abuse of power, she was one of few scientists courageous enough to protest.
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Later, as Chief of Brain Biochemistry at the National Institutes of Health, Candace created Peptide T, the non-toxic treatment for HIV featured in Dallas BuyersClub. As the AIDS pandemic raged, triggering panic across Reagan-era America, the U.S. government poured massive amounts of money into finding a cure, sparking a battle among scientists for funding and power. Bested by rivals with competing drugs yet desperate to help, Candace went rogue, becoming a lynchpin in the black market for Peptide T.
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After a scandalous departure from her tenured position at the NIH, Candace launched a series of private companies with Michael Ruff, her second husband and collaborator. Naïve to the world of business, she was manipulated by investors keen to wrest control of her discoveries. But Candace too became tainted, believing that her noble ends would justify devious means. Like a mythic hero, she succumbed to a fatal flaw, and her greatest strengths-singularity of purpose and blind faith in her own virtuosity-would prove to be her undoing.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

09/18/2023

In this riveting biography, journalist Ryckman (Stiletto Network) chronicles the life and career of pharmacologist and neuroscientist Candace Pert (1946–2013), who at age 26 was the first to identify the human opiate receptor. Pert had trouble getting recognition from the male-dominated scientific community and was snubbed when her lab chief won the prestigious Lasker Award for the opiate research, which he had urged Pert to abort, in 1978. Despite becoming chief of brain biochemistry at the National Institute of Mental Health in 1983, she increasingly alienated the scientific establishment by promoting controversial assertions about the mind-body connection, including her postulation that “prayer and meditation strengthen the frontal cortex.” From there, Ryckman traces Pert’s midlife transformation “from diehard scientist into mind-body guru” who profited handsomely from speaking gigs and book deals. In 2007, Pert started a pharmaceutical company that illegally raised funds on promises to monetize drug patents it didn’t own even after she had been reprimanded by NIH for infringing on those patents only a couple of years earlier, setting in motion a scandal that blew up only after her death from heart failure. Ryckman’s nuanced portrait depicts Pert as a tragic figure so desperate for recognition and wealth that she was willing to break the law to get what she felt was her due. Readers will be engrossed. (Nov.)

From the Publisher

"With exemplary research, balanced accounts and deeply evocative prose, Ms. Ryckman’s biography offers a truly insightful narrative on what it can mean to be a woman at the cutting edge of science."—The Wall Street Journal

“I have admired Candace Pert and her work for many years…There is a revolution taking form that is significantly influencing how the Western medical community views health and disease. Candace Pert’s contribution to this revolution is undeniable.”—Deepak Chopra, MD, multi-bestselling author and founder of the Chopra Foundation

“Pamela Ryckman unearths a story of a brilliant female investigator, so that she might join scientific herstory.  Ryckman’s writing is life-like, suspenseful, and creates a roller coaster ride of stakes and unexpected discovery. Hold on tight!”—Lisa Miller, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and The Awakened Brain

“Candace Pert was a scientific maverick of heroic and tragic proportion.  In gripping, moving prose, Pamela Ryckman pulls back the veil on the scientific establishment to reveal one woman’s struggle against subterfuge and sabotage — until Candace too succumbed to greed. If you are interested in mind-body medicine or just enjoy a good thriller, this book is for you!”—Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, author of How Emotions are Made and Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain

“Candace Pert was an inspiring, passionate biochemist who became a black market smuggler and committed fraud in her quest to bring Peptide T to market and treat thousands of men infected with HIV. She was also the mother of integrative medicine before the world knew what it was. Pamela Ryckman unravels the secrets and mystery of this woman in a hunt for the truth. I could not put this book down!”—Kay Koplovitz, founder of USA Networks, co-founder and chairwoman of Springboard Enterprises

"In this riveting biography, journalist Ryckman (Stiletto Network) chronicles the life and career of pharmacologist and neuroscientist Candace Pert. ... Ryckman’s nuanced portrait depicts Pert as a tragic figure so desperate for recognition and wealth that she was willing to break the law to get what she felt was her due. Readers will be engrossed."—Publisher's Weekly

Deepak Chopra

I have admired Candace Pert and her work for many years…There is a revolution taking form that is significantly influencing how the Western medical community views health and disease. Candace Pert’s contribution to this revolution is undeniable.”

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178140512
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	11/07/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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