Events

Venus: Royal College of Physicians, London, UK

This new conference will provide a forum for the dissemination of results in the nutrition and cancer field and will examine how this knowledge can be utilised by policy-makers to inform thinking and help develop ways of preventing cancer.

Venue: Edinburgh

Workshop hosted by ESRC Genomics Forum.

Venue: St Hugh's College Oxford

The International Data Sharing Conference 2010, which will bring together key figures from academia, research ethics committees and clinical practice to discuss how the increase in biobanks, data storage and access are changing scientific practice, as well as raising a number of technological, legal, ethical and social challenges for people working in the field of medical research.

The conference will seek to address some of the challenges of data sharing - such as: How should data-generators be rewarded for their efforts to the scientific community? Can we promise anonymity of research participants when medical records, whole sequences and phenotypic data are being used for research purposes? What is the best way to harmonise different datasets collected for different purposes? Should participants be fed back individual findings? Are our national research governance systems adequate to cope with global data sharing? What new IT mechanisms exist to share data and samples that address some of these issues? What projects provide examples of good practice?

The conference will use a conversation format, using panels focussed on specific questions to generate insights into these issues. Our plenary sessions will focus on feedback, new technologies for data sharing, governance structures for research and safeguarding identifiability. Speakers and facilitators confirmed so far are: Anthony Brookes, Tim Caulfield, Ellen Wright Clayton, David Cox, Donna Dickenson, Kelly Fryer-Edwards, Jane Gitschier, Jennifer Harris, Nils Hoppe, Tim Hubbard, Barbara Koenig, Bartha Maria Knoppers, Amy McGuire, Moshe Pritsker, Brad Malin, Raj Ramesar, Paul Burton, Eric M. Meslin, Christine Wasunna and Jerome Singh. In addition to the plenary panel sessions, there will be break out sessions. Applications for abstracts for talks and posters are currently open and will close on the 11th of June 2010 (or 9am BST Monday the 14th of June)!!! http://helex.medsci.ox.ac.uk/events/data-sharing-international-conference-1/call-for-applications

 

Workshop 3: Explanation and Intervention

24 September 2010, 10.30–17.30

Registration is not yet open.

The currency of contemporary epidemiology is the risk factor. But what is a risk factor? The term arises in part from the focus of epidemiology, unusually (but not uniquely) among sciences, on intervention. This suggests interesting questions about the relation between explanation and successful intervention. How much do we need to understand before we can fruitfully intervene? Risk factors seem to offer a way to design interventions in circumstances of incomplete knowledge, either about the circumstances or the nature of the cases of illness in question. But (to put a modern spin on Jacob Henle) a physicist might identify as risk factors for falling the removal of boards and beams, the cutting of ropes, the opening up of holes, and so forth – and without coming any nearer to a theory of gravity. This objection appears to be born out by history: the most dramatically successful interventions have tended to be closely linked to improvements in our understanding. Is that historical claim correct? If so, it would seem that our ability to explain why illness occurs is linked to our ability to cure and prevent it. But how? Do risk factors encourage epidemiologists, and their colleagues studying functional genomics, knock-out models, and similar, to seek explanations? Or do they allow potentially dangerous misunderstandings about the scientific and practical import of the results they represent? Is it a naïve mistake to suggest that public health interventions might be best served by seeking general explanations on the model of the physical sciences? The answers to these questions bear directly on the future direction of epidemiology and how it can appropriately employ its conceptual tools.

Venue: Manchester

Venue: TRINITY HALL, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
This interactive event will explore key philosophical arguments about the nature, scope, and permissibility of private intellectual property. The case of biomedical patents will provide a focal point for the discussion. The issues addressed will include:
- What are the main considerations underlying the intuition that private intellectual property in biomedicine is morally problematic?

- How does this intuition relate to alternative justifications of intellectual property?

- What are its implications for clarifying the significance of property rights claims as opposed to other normative claims, e.g. based on needs or different sets of rights?

There is no attendance fee, however, places are limited and prior registration essential. For RSVP and further queries please e-mail the organiser,

 

Venue: RSM

Venue: London

This conference is aimed at clinical and practicing physicians and scientists in stem cell research, genetics, cell biology, virology, infectology, epidemiology, bacteriology and immunology.

Topics covered will include:
• Factors regulating stem cell behavior
• proliferation and stemness
• Differentiation
• Molecular mechanisms in proliferation and differentiation
• Tumor Stem Cells
• Pluripotency and stem cell plasticity
• Regenerative medicine
• Ethical aspects

Location: University of Lübeck, Lübeck

The Barbican, London, 30th September 2010

This Event is CPD Certified

The challenge to improve and maintain the health and wellbeing of the population is a difficult undertaking. The phrase ‘prevention is better than cure’ is often quoted; however, with the UK on the verge of an obesity epidemic, over 100,000 people dying each year from smoking related illnesses, and deaths from illegal drug use far too frequent, clearly we are not sufficiently successful in the area of ‘prevention’.

Public Health: Promoting Health and the Challenges Ahead

will explore the way forward to safeguarding a healthier nation and will debate policies that can make a real impact. Professionals from the public health and health promotion sectors can hear from leading experts on the current and emerging challenges and how to overcome them.

Keynote addresses from:

Anne Milton, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health
“The New Way Forward”
What plans does the new government have in tackling public health issues? 

John Ashton, Chair, UK Public Health Association Council
“Health and Wealth Inequalities”
In the 21st century the link between those that are economically disadvantaged and poor health still exists. How can this be eradicated?

Location: BMA House, London

Expert speakers will give you relevant, practical advice to help you get to grips with GP commissioning and the changing primary care landscape, as proposed in the recent health White Paper.
Topics include: