Kersten T. Hall, School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, University of Leeds

Kersten Hall graduated with an honours degree in biochemistry from St. Anne's College, University of Oxford, and completed a PhD in gene regulation in adenoviruses before working for the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds. He then hung up his lab coat and began to write about science. His book 'The Man in the Monkeynut Coat' (OUP 2014) tells the story of pioneering physicist William Astbury whose research into wool fibres led him to make the very first studies of the structure of DNA. The book was shortlisted for the 2015 British Society for the History of Science Dingle Prize and was featured on a list of 'Books of 2014' in The Guardian. He is currently a visiting fellow in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science at the University of Leeds where his research concerns the history of molecular biology but after a shocking diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes ten years ago he turned to the story of insulin.

"... comprehensive account of the modern medical history of the hormone..." -- Jerome Groopman, New York Review of Books

"The lengthy bibliography and endnotes are a testament to the extensive research that has been carried out to produce this fascinating account." -- Arpan K. Banerjee, Hektoen International

"The story of insulin over the past 100 years, as the historian of science (and former molecular biologist) Kersten Hall shows in this dense and fascinating book, is also a microcosm of developments in science more widely, and of changes in the politics and economics of healthcare. [...] The pleasures of this book lie mainly in the storytelling detail and the gossipy richness of the lives, friendships and feuds glimpsed in the hubbub of decades pursuing the improvement of human health." -- Steven Poole, Daily Telegraph