UMN: Bio-Med Library - Public Health

Registration is open for our next Public Health Grand Rounds: "Pandemic Flu Preparedness: What Every Community Should Know", to be presented on September 29, 2006 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm E.T. Join us as we examine the case of California's Santa Clara County, where the community is preparing for a pandemic that will challenge their public health system and affect every aspect of their daily life.

To register, go to our website at http://publichealthgrandrounds.unc.edu

This program may be viewed at a satellite downlink site near you or as a webcast. Online registration, program information, and a list of currently available sites are located at our web site. Registration is very important! It helps us to measure the impact of these programs and continue to provide them FREE to all participants.

If you don't find a site near you on our website, please contact us by emailing grandrounds@unc.edu or phone 919.843.9261.

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IBM is sponsoring two initiatives intended to bolster global public health efforts to avoid pandemics. In fall 2005, IBM hosted an event for leadersof the health community to share ideas about what contribution a technology company could make to support their efforts. The results are the Interoperable Health Care Information Infrastructure (IHII) and the Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeller (STEM).

IHII mines health data and looks for patterns in symptoms, forexample, that might anticipate the spread of a particular illness. Then the STEM applies that information to data about such topics as human travel patterns to help formulate efficient plans to limit the spread of the illness. A committee representing the World Health Organization, the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Scripps Research Institute, and the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Biodiversity oversees these programs. Scripps and IBM will construct a facility in Florida to support the initiatives.

CNET, 14 May 2006

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Joseph Leiter NLM/MLA Lectureship

The Joseph Leiter NLM/MLA Lectureship was established in 1983 to stimulate intellectual liaison between Medical Library Association (MLA) and the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

This year’s lecture is particularly poignant due to the death of Joseph Leiter on May 27, 2005. He was a major contributor in cancer research at the National Cancer Institute and then a leader at NLM as a champion of medical librarians and an informatics pioneer. Through this annual lecturership named in recognition of his excellence, his memory and spirit will remain alive.

2006 Joseph Leiter Lecture - May 10, 2006 - 1:30 ­ 3:00 pm
Lister Hill Auditorium/ Building 38A - National Library of Medicine/NIH - Bethesda, MD

Webcast available on day of lecture at http://videocast.nih.gov

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Pandemic Influenza and Other

Emerging Infectious Diseases: Public Health Threat and the Research Agenda

Since 1984, Dr. Anthony Fauci has been the Director of NIAID, where he oversees an extensive research portfolio of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat infectious diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also supports research on transplantation and immune-related illnesses, including autoimmune disorders, asthma and allergies.

Dr. Fauci’s lecture will provide an overview and status of the pandemic influenza and our nation’s ability to detect and counter bioterrorism based on information generated by biomedical research on disease-causing microorganisms and the immune system’s response to them.

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