Patrick Radden Keefe, a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine and author of “Empire of Pain,” will speak at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences on April 26 about the opioid crisis.
Entitled “The Secret History of the Sackler Family and OxyContin,” the lecture will examine the history and use of oxycodone and promote awareness and understanding of the opioid crisis, UAMS said.
Admission is free and open to the general public. Continuing education credit will be available.
The lecture, which will begin at 5 p.m., will be on the 12th floor of the Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, 501 Jack Stephens Drive on the UAMS campus. Parking is available in UAMS Parking Deck 3 at 4000 W. Capitol Ave.
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A book signing will follow, and books will be available for purchase at the event, UAMS said.
A Zoom option is available, too.
Registration is required for both the in-person event and the virtual option. To register, visit: medicine.uams.edu/neurosurgery/events/history-of-medicine.
Rex Nelson has been senior editor and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2017, and he has a biweekly podcast called “Southern Fried.”
After graduating from Ouachita Baptist University in 1981, he was a sportswriter for the Arkansas Democrat for a year before becoming editor of Arkadelphia’s Daily Siftings Herald. He was the youngest editor of a daily in Arkansas at age 23. Rex was then news and sports director at KVRC-KDEL from 1983-1985.
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He returned to the Democrat as assistant sports editor in 1985. From 1986-1989, he was its Washington correspondent. He left to be Jackson T. Stephens’ consultant.
Rex became the Democrat-Gazette’s first political editor in 1992, but left in 1996 to join then-Gov. Mike Huckabee’s office. He also served from 2005-09 in the administration of President George W. Bush.
From 2009-2018, he worked stints at the Communications Group, Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities, and Simmons First National Corp.
Dylan Sherman is a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He is based in Northwest Arkansas and focuses on Tyson Foods Inc. and the transportation industry. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he has been with the newspaper since 2023.
