Washington DC, February 8, 2008 - Five cutting edge Plenary Sessions will highlight the AACC’s 2008 Annual Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo to held in Washington, DC 27-31 July at the Washington Convention Center. These educational sessions provide a unique opportunity to hear from world leaders in the areas of science, medicine and technology.
Sunday, July 27, 2008, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
The opening Plenary Session will feature P. Roy Vagelos, MD who will speak on The Changing Pharmaceutical Industry. Dr. Vagelos is the former Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co, Inc. and is currently the Chairman of two biotech companies; Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Theravance. Dr. Vagelos was the lead scientist in Merck’s development of the statin drugs Lovastatin and Zocor. He was also the key advocate in Merck’s decision to make Ivermectin freely available to the peoples of Africa and Central America to treat river blindness -- a widespread, chronic and debilitating disease disseminated by black flies. Dr. Vagelos will be presented with AACC’s 2008 National Lectureship Award on July 27.
Monday, July 28, 2008, 8:45 am – 10:15 am
Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, will present the plenary address entitled Telomerase and Telomere Biology. Dr. Blackburn, the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, discovered the ribonucleoprotein enzyme telomerase. She has broad experience in many aspects of telomere function and biology and continues to be a leader in telomere and telomerase research. The Blackburn laboratory is using its knowledge of telomeres and telomerase to develop anti-cancer strategies using cancer cells from human breast, prostate and bladder cancer tissues.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 8:45 am – 10:15 am
Mark Perkins, MD, will give the plenary address entitled Diagnostics for Disease Control in Developing Countries. Dr. Perkins is the Chief Scientific Officer of FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics), Cointrin, Switzerland. FIND is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of rapid, accurate and affordable diagnostic tests for poverty-related diseases in the developing world. Prior to joining FIND, Dr. Perkins worked in Brazil to develop and co-direct a collaborative Duke University facility for research in tropical diseases and to establish a diagnostic reference laboratory. He also worked with the Global Tuberculosis Program of the World Health Organization and established a diagnostics unit in the Special Program for Research and Training in Infectious Diseases. His group focuses on the development and evaluation of new diagnostics for tuberculosis, malaria, schistosomiasis, leishmania, trypanosomiasis and sexually transmitted diseases.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008, 8:45 am – 10:15 am
Steven Bloom, MA, FRCP, MD, DSc, FRCPath, FMedSci, will deliver the plenary address Appetite, Obesity and the Limit to Human Life Span. Dr. Bloom is Professor of Medicine at the Imperial College of London, England. Dr. Bloom maintains dual roles as head of the academic Division of Investigative Science at Imperial College London and as clinical director for pathology and therapy services at Hammersmith Hospital in London. His research falls into five related categories: endocrinology clinical research, physiology and pathology of gut hormones, control of insulin release and insulin resistance, role of neuropeptides in organ control, and the role of neuropeptides in CNS regulation of appetite and related hypothalamic functions. He currently leads a research group investigating hypothalamic appetite control systems with a focus towards new treatments for obesity.
Thursday, July 31, 2008, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Lynn Jorde, PhD will present the final keynote address entitled Genetics and Race: Biomedical Implications. Dr. Jorde is Professor at the Eccles Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. His evolutionary genetic research involves the analysis of worldwide genetic variation in human mitochondrial and nuclear DNA (including the Y chromosome). Dr. Jorde’s laboratory is using its data to test a variety of evolutionary hypotheses, including the proposition that modern Homo sapiens originated in Africa and then replaced human populations in other parts of the world. His work sheds new light on the relevance of "race" in biomedical settings
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