There are few people – perhaps only one – who have their complete genetic makeup available for public scrutiny.

That one person, Craig Venter, founder of Celera Genomics, set out to map the human genome in 1998 and succeeded in 2001, about the same time as a national team of scientists, said Valentino Stella, a distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry at Kansas University.

Stella invited Venter to come to KU, where he will deliver the second Tekeru Higuchi Memorial Lecture of 2007. Brian Druker, developer of a leukemia-fighting drug, delivered a Higuchi lecture in February.

“What we’ve tried to do in this series is bring in the highest profile speakers we can in the bio-medical arena,” Stella said. “The principal goal is to keep the memory of Tekeru Higuchi alive for the current generation.”

Stella said in addition to his genetic experience, Venter has traveled the world in order to find plants and animals to study.

“(Venter) has always been a pretty controversial fellow,” Stella said. “Craig Venter is someone who has changed the way we think about health, through the human genome.”

Stella said Venter’s experiences would make him a powerful speaker for both scientists and lay people alike.

“I think it will have broad appeal,” Stella said. “He’s a very controversial person, somebody who will put the roll of genomics in life and health fields into a perspective for everyone.

The evening lecture – 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Simons Research Labs Auditorium – will be structured in a way that will be appropriate for anyone.

Venter also will be speaking to scientists during the day.

Having two Higuchi lectures in the same year is unusual and hasn’t happened before for the lectures, which started in 1989.

Stella said it happened this year because cancellations had forced the lecture series behind. But plans already are being made for next year’s lecture.

“I want to get someone who is working on making drugs accessible to people in developing countries,” Stella said. “Tek had a real interest in public health.”