Dr. Olga Tymofiyeva authors “Just City” science-fiction novel

About ten years ago, soon after she had moved to the United States, Olga Tymofiyeva, PhD,  associate professor in the UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, watched a lecture by Michael Sandel, professor of government at Harvard, speaking on the nature of justice. Not only did Sandel’s passionate and interactive lecture inform Dr. Tymofiyeva’s own teaching style to this day, but it also inspired her science fiction novel, Just City. Tymofiyeva recalls that “Sandel spoke of the ‘veil of ignorance’ that innately clouds our understanding, formed by our preferences and preconceptions. This is true even in scientists who strive to be without bias. As humans we do not see all the factors that predetermine our path in life, and often are instinctively resentful when they are pointed out.”
 
This aversion to the invisible rails of nature and nurture that…