U of M to Host Scientific Symposium on Imaging and Medicine

WHAT: The University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Microbiology will host a scientific symposium on imaging and medicine held in conjunction with the 44th meeting of the United States-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program. This is the first time the group has met in Minnesota.

WHEN: 1-5 p.m., Monday, June 16, 2008

WHERE: McNamara Alumni Center
A.I. Johnson Room
200 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis

WHO: The program will be composed of presenters from neuroscience, immunology, and infectious diseases.

For a full list of presenters, go to: http://www.med.umn.edu/microbiology/symposium/

BACKGROUND: United States-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program (USJCMSP) is a bilateral scientific program whose mission is to improve health of people in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim. The program was founded in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato. Prominent medical advisors from each country were selected as delegates to a Joint USJCMSP Committee. This committee meets annually to discuss the program’s objectives, operations, and accomplishments.

“The USJCMSP is paying this first historic visit because of the preeminence of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, which is a world leader in noninvasive imaging techniques,” said Ashley Haase, M.D., chair of USJCMSP and Regents Professor in the Department of Microbiology. “These techniques are playing an ever more important role in responding to the challenges Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic diseases pose in the 21st century.”

This year’s scientific symposium will focus on imaging and medicine with an emphasis on neurosciences. It will also include the traditional emphasis of infectious diseases and immunology. Presentations will be made by experts from the University of Minnesota, the National Institutes of Health, and Japan.

The symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For more information and to register, please go to: http://www.med.umn.edu/microbiology/symposium/.

The Academic Health Center is home to the University of Minnesota’s six health professional schools and colleges as well as several health-related centers and institutes. Founded in 1851, the University is one of the oldest and largest land grant institutions in the country. The AHC prepares the new health professionals who improve the health of communities, discover and deliver new treatments and cures, and strengthen the health economy.

Contact:
Melissa Ritter, Academic Health Center, 612-626-7027, ritt0114@umn.edu
Nick Hanson, Academic Health Center, 612-624-2449, hans2853@umn.edu