Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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lecture

Renowned Scientist Recipient of Emory’s First Annual Neuroscience and Ethics Award

Michael Gazzaniga, PhD

Michael Gazzaniga, PhD, will deliver the lecture “Determinism, Consciousness and Free Will.”

Emory University Center for Ethics, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and The Neuroscience Initiative will present the First Annual Neuroscience and Ethics Award Lecture, “Determinism, Consciousness and Free Will” on January 18 at 4 pm at Emory’s Harland Cinema at the Dobbs University Center.

The guest speaker, and first to be recognized with this award, is Michael Gazzaniga, PhD, a scientist and author considered one of the pioneers in the emerging field of cognitive neuroscience.

“Dr. Gazzaniga is a world renowned scientists who, in addition to his other accomplishments, pioneered the study of split-brained patients and so revealed how the different hemispheres of our brains function,” says Paul Root Wolpe, PhD, director of the Emory University Center for Ethics.

“He has won our First Annual Emory Neuroscience and Ethics Award because, throughout his career, he has tried to apply his scientific understandings to improve the human condition, including serving on President Bush’s Bioethics Commission and publications such as his book The Ethical Brain.  I can think of no finer choice to be the first recipient of this Award.”

Gazzaniga founded and presides over the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute and is editor-in-chief emeritus of the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, which he also founded.  In addition, he is the one of the co-founders of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, which was named in the late 1970’s.

In 1997, Gazzaniga was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.  He is the past-president of the Association for Psychological Science, served on the President’s Council on Bioethics and, in 2005, was elected to the National Academies Institute of Medicine. In 2009, he presented the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh.

Gazzaniga’s book The Ethical Brain describes in laymen’s language how the brain develops a value system, and the ethical dilemmas facing society as our comprehension of the brain expands.

For more information, contact Jamila Garrett-Bell.

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Wendy Darling in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Academic medicine at the table in health care debate

As the debate on health care reform legislation continues to move forward in Congress, Association of American Medical Colleges President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, urges leaders of the nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals to be the standard bearers for innovation in health care delivery.

Darrell G. Kirch, MD

Darrell G. Kirch, MD

Kirch says that a year ago he was asked if he believed that academic medicine would have any voice in the health care reform debate. He answered that academic medical centers do have a strong voice in ensuring that the special contributions of our members are recognized in any proposed changes in the current legislation.

Kirch, who recently presented at Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center Future Makers Lecture Series, says, “Just as we have a moral imperative to give people basic health insurance, we have an innovation imperative, as educators, researchers and clinicians, to finally make our health care system work well for everyone.”

In his presentation, Kirch pointed out that, by establishing new models of high-performance, high-value, integrated health systems, academic medical centers across the country are already undertaking clinical care innovations. Similar efforts are also occurring in research, where greater collaboration helps to address complex problems, and in medical education, where cutting-edge technologies are used to train physicians and promote lifelong learning, he noted.

AAMC-supported legislation, introduced by Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), to establish Healthcare Innovation Zones (HIZs), would promote the rapid expansion of successful pioneering efforts. These zones would empower centers to partner with local providers and hospitals to conduct large-scale experiments in health care delivery for specific patient populations.

Combining innovations in health care delivery, critically studying the effectiveness of these innovations and educating professionals to work in these new models play to the strengths of academic medicine, continues Kirch. The innovation imperative will allow academic medical centers to finally attain alignment of all three missions, while truly fulfilling their goal to improve the health of communities.

Listen to Kirch’s Emory presentation or read his recent address to the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Posted on November 20, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment