To celebrate the launch of MIT’s new Center for Gynepathology Research, Padma Lakshmi, host of Bravo’s “Top Chef” program, will speak at MIT on Friday afternoon. Lakshmi, co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, will talk about her own struggles with endometriosis, a disease caused when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus builds up outside the uterus. Her talk will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 32-123. About a dozen MIT researchers will participate in the new Center for Gynepathology Research, which will be directed by Linda Griffith, MIT professor of biological engineering and mechanical engineering. Griffith and surgeon Tamer Seckin, who co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America, will also speak at Friday’s event. For more information about the MIT center, please visit http://web.mit.edu/cgr/.