Basic science explored: 10/12

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Basic science explored

This year's annual Thomas A. Pitts Memorial Lectureship in Medical Ethics, titled, "Brain Science in the 21st Century: Clinical Controversies and Ethical Implications," will be held Oct. 26 – 27 in the MUSC Bioengineering Building.
The event is open to MUSC faculty, physicians, nurses, and health professionals. More than 10 hours of continuing medical education credits will be offered.

The event begins with registration and a continental breakfast from 7:30 to 8 a.m., Oct. 26, followed by a welcome address from Mark S. Sothmann, Ph.D., MUSC vice president for academic affairs and provost, and introduction by Robert Sade, M.D., Institute of Human Values in Health Care director.

Highlights from session one feature a discussion about brain trauma in sports with presentations by Jonathan Edwards, M.D., professor of neurosciences and director of MUSC's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, and Dan Larriviere, M.D., Ochsner Medical Center, who will discuss legal and ethical perspectives of sports brain injuries. The final segment features NFL Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, formerly with the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns. DeLamielleure, a spokesperson for NFL retired players, will speak from personal experience about concussion injuries in sports.

Later sessions scheduled include stroke prevention, managing stroke complications in sickle cell disease, post-traumatic stress disorder in violent crime and among combat soldiers and the controversy in using beta blockers to reduce stress. Other speakers include: Ronald Acierno, Ph.D.; Robert Adams, M.D.; Nicholas Avgeropoulos, M.D.; Michael K. Gusmano, Ph.D.; Mark Hamner, M.D.; Wally Smith, M.D.; and Peter Tuerk, Ph.D. A total of 10 speakers are scheduled to present Oct. 26 with a brain science controversy seminar
Oct. 27.

Sade, whose Institute of Human Values in Health Care office has managed the lectureship since 1999, leads a program that is dedicated to interdisciplinary biomedical ethics and ethical conduct in research and studies relating to human values in health policy, legislation and patient care delivery systems.

"This year's Pitts Lectureship features a great lineup of local, national and internationally-known experts who will lead discussions on several timely issues," Sade said.

The conference is partly supported by a bequest from former MUSC board of trustees member and chair Thomas Antley Pitts II, M.D., in support of teaching medical ethics and addressing bioethical issues through this conference. Proceedings will be published as a symposium in an issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics.

To register for the 2012 Pitts Lectureship, visit http://www.values.musc.edu. For questions, email fier@musc.edu or call 876-0177.

Friday, Oct. 12, 2012

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