National Health Care Leaders Speak at Mayo Clinic Nursing Education Conference

Thursday, October 30, 2003

What: Quest for Quality 2004: Sharing Our Practice and Our Passion, a Continuing Nursing Education Conference, will highlight the current challenges and opportunities in health care and include sessions on genomics, bioterrorism threats and the national nursing shortage. The conference schedule is attached.

When: Nov. 2-4, 2003

Where: Mayo Civic Center, 30 Civic Center Drive SE, Rochester, Minn.

Who: Presenters include nationally recognized health-care leaders:

Mary Starke Harper, Ph.D., R.N., serves on the National Institute of Aging Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health. Her work at the National Institute of Mental Health includes developing the first National Minority Health Research and Development Center. She is part of the expert panel at the Office for WomenÕs Health and co-chair of the research committee, secretary of the American Association of International Aging, and consultant for the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee Institute. Dr. Starke Harper was an advisor on Mental Health and Aging to Presidents Carter, Reagan, George W. Bush and Clinton.

Elizabeth Thomson, M.S., R.N., CGC, is Program Director of Ethical, Legal and Social Implication Research at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health. She is a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is one of the first health professionals in the United States to become board certified in genetic counseling by the American Board of Medical Genetics.

Gregory Poland, M.D., is an international expert in vaccine clinical research and vaccinomics (the application of genomics to vaccines). He is frequently interviewed by the national media and asked to advise government and military officials on vaccination policies and infectious disease. In 2003 he was awarded the Secretary of Defense medal for outstanding public service for his work on the Armed Forces Epidemiology Board. Dr. Poland is president of the International Society for Vaccines, American editor of the journal Vaccine, and director of Mayo ClinicÕs Vaccine Research Group and the Outpatient General Clinical Research Center.

Note: If you wish to attend any program sessions, please contact Martha McFarland or John Murphy at 507-284-5005.

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