Speakers
January 17 - “The Science Behind Cancer Screening Guidelines”
Associate Dean for Development
Director, General Preventive Medicine Residency Program
Each year, around 350,000 people are diagnosed with breast, cervical, or colorectal cancer in the U.S., and nearly 100,000 die from these diseases. Trials show that early detection can reduce mortality rates. What could be wrong with screening, especially if it can detect a life threatening condition at an earlier stage? Why recommend against screening unless the concern is cost? Are lives lost to save money? What are the real reasons that guidelines set limits on screening? We’ll discuss how cancer screening guidelines are developed in the U.S., why there is disagreement on some of them, and their impact on healthcare delivery.
January 24 - “Stem Cell Derived Tools for Repair of Challenging Bone Defects”
Assistant Professor
Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The use of stem cells in medicine is becoming a common yet controversial subject of the mainstream media. But you might be surprised to read that the most promising types of stem cells for clinical use are prepared from the tissue of living, adult donors. In this talk Dr. Gregory will address the nature and origin of a variety of adult stem cells, with examples of potential applications, such as the use of adult human bone marrow derived stem cells for the treatment of traumatic bone injury.
January 31 - “The Biggest Losers' Secrets”
Assistant Professor, Family Medicine Residency
Director of Sports Medicine and Team Physician, Texas A&M University
Skip the fads and get the facts. All too often, people make weight loss more difficult with extreme diets that leave you unhappy and starving, along with unhealthy lifestyle choices that undermine dieting efforts, and emotional eating habits that stop you before you even get started. But you can lose weight without feeling miserable. We’ll talk about how to avoid common dieting pitfalls, develop healthier habits and achieve lasting weight loss.
February 7 - “Pain Management”
David Lindzey, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Regional Chair of Internal Medicine-B/CS Campus
Interim Chief of Internal Medical Officer, Texas A&M Physicians
Advances in modern medicine are curing diseases and improving outcomes for patients at all stages of life. But many conditions doctors can’t cure are accompanied by ongoing pain that a patient must learn to deal with and address. In this talk we’ll discuss the different types of pain and the various approaches to dealing acute pain and chronic pain syndromes.
February 14 - “Psychotherapy: An Underutilized Treatment in Psychiatry”
Joseph Sokal, M.D.
Regional Chair of Psychology - B/CS Campus
Over the past three decades, psychiatry has moved away from psychological models of mental illness to biomedical ones. This is due in part to real progress in understanding how genetic, infectious, autoimmune, vascular and biochemical processes affect our emotional and cognitive functioning. But this shift in models has also led psychiatry away from valuable psychological treatments like psychotherapy, despite increasing evidence of its benefits as a treatment tool. In this talk Dr. Sokal will discuss psychotherapy in general and then focus on how Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy can be used in treating mental illness.
February 21 - “From Drosophila with Love: What We Can Learn about Our Cravings for Sugars and Sex from a Tiny Little Fly”
Professor and Associate Chair
Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine
Perceiving external cues, such chemicals, light and sound, and responding appropriately to them, are critical to the success of any animal. Chemosensory signals are the most basic kind of cues available, and are used by bacteria, humans, and everything in between.
By identifying the receptors behind these chemosensory signals, we now know more than ever about how animals use chemical information to find food, to secure mates, to avoid harmful chemicals and to evade natural predators. This talk will provide an overview of how a tiny insect, the fruit fly Drosophila, employs chemoreceptors to survive and thrive in our human world.
