April 4, 2003

News Briefs

Featured Image

Diana Crawford of Kroger, left, picks up team leader packets for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's annual Great Strides Walk during a kick-off breakfast held at Vanderbilt this week. The Great Strides walk will be held May 17 at Granny White Park at 9 a.m. (photo by Dana Johnson)

Small business grants turn ideas into products

Vanderbilt’s Office of Technology Transfer will host a presentation and discussion about SBIR/STTR small business grants on Monday, April 7 at 9:30 a.m. in 512 Light Hall.

James P. Leyda, Ph.D. and James S. Green, Ph.D. of Cumberland Emerging Technologies will describe how to turn research ideas into commercial products, using small business grants to support the research and development process.

Vanderbilt Heart sponsoring Spring Mix

Vanderbilt Heart is sponsoring Spring Mix, a day of women’s health and fitness, April 12 at the Cool Springs Marriott.

Some of the activities include kickboxing, Pilates and sword training — taught by experts from Yoga Works, Premier Fitness, Nashville Ballet, and Vanderbilt’s Kim Dayani Center.

Proceeds benefit Girl Force — Vanderbilt’s health risk prevention program for preteen girls.

Registration is $50 at the door and $45 for reservations made by April 5. For more information call 936-0301.

Lecture to explore social issues of drug discovery, genetics

Drug researchers are spending millions of dollars developing a new generation of personalized medicines based on genetic variations — an area known as pharmacogenomics.

Who will benefit from this research? Who will have access to it? Who should decide how to allocate health care resources? Mark A. Rothstein, director of the Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law at the University of Louisville, will address these issues and put pharmacogenomics in the broader context of social issues in medical discovery.

The public lecture, sponsored by Vanderbilt’s Cal Turner Program in Moral Leadership for the Professions, is Monday, April 7 at 4:10 p.m. in 208 Light Hall. Vanderbilt faculty members Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton, director of the Genetics and Health Policy Center, and Dr. Alfred L. George Jr., director of Genetic Medicine, will respond to the presentation.