Olsson’s Books and Records
Sonia Shah: The Body Hunters: Testing New Drugs on the World’s Poorest Patients

On Thursday, November 16, students within the Washington Internship Program attended a discussion and book signing at Olsson’s Books and Records where Sonia Shah, author of the book The Body Hunters: Testing New Drugs on the World’s Poorest Patients, spoke on her new volume at 7 p.m. Sonia Shah was born in New York City to Indian immigrants. While growing up, she shuttled between the United States where her parents practiced medicine and both Mumbai and Bangalore, India where her extended working-class family lived. In the process, Shah developed a life-long interest in social inequality. After receiving a Bachelors degree from Oberlin College in Ohio, she became managing editor of the magazine Nuclear Times and published articles in the Boston press on race, politics, and multiculturalism. In 1993, Shah became and the editor at South End Press, an independent publisher of political books. She also wrote for Ms. Magazine and Sojourner. In 1997, Shah released her collection Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire. She subsequently published articles on corporate power and developing countries for The Nation, The Progressive, and Knight-Ridder. In 2002, Shah moved with her husband and two children to north Queensland, Australia where she wrote about aboriginal women and corporate exploitation of natural resources, followed by Crude: The Story of Oil, a book about science, politics, and the impact of Western society's dependence on the world's most lucrative natural resource. The book was later published in Australia, Japan, Greece, and Italy. To investigate her next book, The Body Hunters, dealing with drug-industry experimentation on patients in poor countries, Shah conducted research in South Africa, India, and the United States. She was awarded an investigative journalism fellowship from the Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation in 2005. Shah is currently working on a book about the history and politics of malaria. 

Issues at Internships

At the regular Thursday-evening class held in International House the week after Thanksgiving, Dr. Bayer led a discussion of the glories and hardships of internships. Students shared stories of achievement as well as problems ranging from increased responsibility to verbal abuse. Interns participated in role-playing where they practiced how to handle and report any inappropriate conduct by supervisors. Students also reviewed their successes and the strategies that led to positive recognition. Also discussed were cultural differences that affect expectations in the workplace.

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