Evolutionary Medicine: Contributions to the Study of Disease and Immunity
25-26 February 2011 at Florida State University
Conference Abstract: Evolutionary medicine is a growing discipline that applies evolutionary reasoning to medical problems including the nature of disease and the ways that an individual responds to disease. Evolution has informed medical science about such diverse issues as the way the interaction between disease organisms and host response shape the nature of symptoms, and the causes of disease resistance and virulence and how to manage medical care to minimize them. This symposium will feature Dr. Randolph Nesse and Dr. Peter Gluckman, authors of the leading books on the topic. A wide range of speakers will consider how best to incorporate evolutionary thinking into medical school curricula, and the everyday thought process of medical practitioners.
Registration is free and open to all. For more information, and to register for the conference, visit http://www.bio.fsu.edu/FowlerII/
Keynote Speakers:
Randolph Nesse, M.D.
- Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Psychology, Director, Evolution and Human Adaptation Program. University of Michigan. Co-founder of the discipline of Evolutionary Medicine. Author of Why We Get Sick (1996) with George Williams.
- Website: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nesse/
Sir Peter Gluckman, FRS, FRSNZ, FMedSc
- Centre for Human Evolution, Adaptation and Disease, Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand. Author of first textbook in evolutionary medicine, Principles of Evolutionary Medicine (2009) with Beedle and Hanson.
- Website: http://evomedicine.org/
Speakers:
Bill Aird, M.D.
- Director, Center for Vascular Biology Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. Studying evolution of the endothelium (the lining of the gut), including roles in disease and immunity.
- Website: http://www.bidmc.org/Research/Departments/Medicine/CenterforVascularBiology/AboutUs/Faculty/WilliamCAirdMD.aspx
Kathleen C Barnes
- Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health. Genetics of asthma, respiratory disease.
- Website: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/allergy/faculty/barnes.html
Paul Ewald
- Director of the Evolutionary Medicine Program at the Biology Department of the University of Louisville. Pioneer in the evolution of infectious disease. Author of Evolution of Infectious Disease (1993) and Plague Time: How Stealth Infections Cause Cancer, Heart Disease, and Other Deadly Ailments (2000).
David Houle
- Florida State University. Human phenomics and Evolutionary biology.
- Website: http://bio.fsu.edu/~dhoule/
Jacob C. Koella
- Imperial College London. The evolution of malaria-mosquito interactions. And the use of evolutionary ideas to better control disease.
- Website: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/j.koella
Howard Kushner
- Nat C. Robertson Dist. Prof of Science and Society, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Rollins School of Public Health Emory University. Value of Interdisciplinary research to medicine.
- Website: http://www.sph.emory.edu/faculty/HKUSHNE
Michael Ruse
- Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University.
Mark Schwartz
- NYU Langone Medical Center, VA NY Harbor Healthcare System. Currently Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, Institute of Medicine. M.D. specializing in medical education who has been thinking about getting more evolution into Med School curricula.
Michael Worobey
- University of Arizona. Origin, emergence and control of viral pathogens including HIV and influenza.
- Website: http://eebweb.arizona.edu/Faculty/Bios/worobey.html
Fabio Zampieri
- University of Padua, History of evolutionary thinking in medicine. Author of Zampieri, F. 2009. Medicine, Evolution, and Natural Selection: An Historical Overview. The Quarterly Review of Biology 84:333-355.
Organizing Committee
- David Houle, Department of Biological Science
- Joseph Gabriel, College of Medicine
- Michael Ruse, Department of Philosophy
- Sarah Whylly, Department of Philosophy
Registration is free and open to all. For more information, and to register for the conference, visit http://www.bio.fsu.edu/FowlerII/
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