This Month at LDI

News and Announcements
Community symposium on prostate cancer planned. LDI Senior Fellows Chanita Hughes Halbert, PhD and Jerry Johnson, MD, are organizing a Community Forum on Prostate Cancer. The Forum will be held on Saturday, April 23, 2005 at the Pinn Memorial Baptist Church, 2251 N. 54th Street, Philadelphia, from 10:00 am-12:00 pm. The Forum is sponsored by Penn's Center for Population Health and Health Disparities along with the Center of Excellence for Diversity in Health Education and Research. This outreach initiative will provide attendees with information about cancer in general, prostate cancer specifically, and how it is detected. The Forum will feature presentations by health experts as well as an interactive skit about prostate cancer screening and diagnosis. The Community Forum on Prostate Cancer is free, but registration is required. For more information or to register, contact Outreach Director, Benita Weathers at (215) 746-7166 or via email at weathers@mail.med.upenn.edu.

Upcoming Seminars
Health Policy: We are pleased to co-sponsor the Institute on Aging's 2nd Visiting Scholars Series as it hosts Christine K. Cassel, MD, President of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Cassel is a noted geriatrician and ethicist who will discuss "Medicare Matters: Healthcare, Aging and the Social Contract" on Thursday, April 7, 2005. Please join us from 2:00-3:30 pm at the Austrian Auditorium, Clinical Research Building.
RSVP More info

And just a day later, don't miss David J. Brailer, MD, PhD, National Health Information Technology Coordinator, US Department of Health and Human Services, who will discuss, "Scientific research on the value of health IT: Do you have to believe it to see it?" He will give the Samuel P. Martin III, MD, Memorial Lecture on Friday, April 8, 2005 from 2:00-3:30 pm at Reunion Auditorium, John Morgan Building. Dr. Brailer is a Wharton graduate, Adjunct LDI Senior Fellow, and the first "health IT czar" at the federal level.
RSVP More info

Research: Tracy Lieu, MD, MPH, Associate Professor at Harvard, will present her work on "Vaccine Economics: Diseases, Dollars, and Dilemmas" on Friday, April 1, 2005 at 12:00 pm.
More info

Issue Brief
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Personal Preference or Low-Cost Option?
by José A. Pagán, PhD and Mark V. Pauly, PhD

Government Relations Update
News about recent federal and state developments, from the University of Pennsylvania Health System's Office of Government Relations.
February 15 edition

Recent Seminars
Health Policy: Sean Tunis, MD, MSc, Chief Medical Officer of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), spoke about how the Medicare program decides to cover new medical technology.
Slides from February 11 talk

Research: Len Nichols, PhD, Vice President, Center for Studying Health System Change, presented data on the current state of employer-based health insurance and prospects for its future.
Slides from March 11 talk

Executive Education
Patient Safety Alumni Return. Health Care Management Executive Education welcomes back participants of the 2003-2004 Patient Safety Leadership Academy for a one-day program on Friday, March 18, 2005. Dr. Kathy Pearson, Academic Director, and Dr. Charles Dwyer will facilitate discussion of the six patient safety projects participants had recommended at the end of their 7-month course. They will discuss the extent to which each project has been implemented, barriers to implementation, and steps that can (or should) be taken to move these projects forward. Participants include physicians, nurses, technicians and residents from the Departments of Surgery and Anesthesia at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

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