May 1, 2014

Cutting-edge research to be showcased in May

(Vanderbilt University)

Potentially “game-changing” research at Vanderbilt University on infectious diseases, population health and health policy will be showcased during two interactive presentations May 15 and May 22.

A segment of the Flexner Discovery Lecture Series, the new “Vanderbilt Cutting-edge Discovery” discussions are highlights of recent presentations to the Vanderbilt Biomedical Science Advisory Board, a group of nationally known scientists that meets annually to help guide the direction of Vanderbilt’s Research Enterprise.

Both 90-minute sessions will begin at 4 p.m. in Light Hall. They will include three 15-minute presentations, each followed by a 15-minute discussion. Schedules for the two sessions are listed below.

May 15 (202 Light Hall): “From Populations to Policy”

Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, “Large Epidemiological Studies—Valuable Population Laboratories for Scientific Discovery;”

Marie Griffin, M.D., MPH, professor of Health Policy and Medicine, “Vaccine Preventable Diseases—Influenza and Pneumonia;” and

John Graves, Ph.D., assistant professor of Health Policy and Medicine, “Optimizing the Design and Implementation of Health Policy.”

May 22 (208 Light Hall): “From Bench to Bedside”

Borden Lacy, Ph.D., associate professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, “Structure and Function of Clostridium difficile Toxins A and B;

James Crowe Jr., M.D., Ann Scott Carell Professor and director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, “Next Generation Vaccines;” and

Simon Mallal, MBBS, Major E.B. Stahlman Professor of Infectious Diseases and director of the Center for Translational Immunology and Infectious Diseases, “Personalized Immunology.”

“The new ‘Vanderbilt Cutting-edge Discovery’ segment of the Discovery Lecture series was created from direct feedback provided by the Biomedical Science Advisory Board,” said Susan Wente, Ph.D., associate vice chancellor for Research and senior associate dean for Biomedical Sciences.

“The Board encouraged us to facilitate internal networking and intellectual exchange, for example, by presenting the same work shared with the Board to the wider Vanderbilt community,” Wente said. “We hope this series, which will be a yearly event, will ignite stimulating discussion and elevate aspirations across the research enterprise.”

For more information about the board, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/oor/biomedical-science-advisory-board/.