Le Moyne College, University College host Intelligent Conversation Series ‘The Future of Medicine’

The 2012 Intelligent Conversation lecture series, co-sponsored by University College of Syracuse University and Le Moyne College, invites citizens to explore topics surrounding the future of medicine. The events are free and take place at Grewen Auditorium on the Le Moyne College campus. Parking is available in lot C off Springfield Road (visit www.lemoyne.edu/resources/campusinfo.htm). For more information, call 315-443-4846 or e-mail cmkarlho@syr.edu.

The first conversation, to be held Wednesday, April 25, at 7 p.m., explores “Personalized Medicine: Tailoring Health Care in the Information Age.” Robert West and Robert Olick will lead a conversation on how genotyping, plus the use of the Internet, is creating personalized medicine—a new age of medicine in which genetic testing allows care to be tailored to a specific patient’s genetic code.

West is an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Upstate Medical University. Olick is an associate professor and chair of the University Hospital Ethics Committee, Center for Bioethics and Humanities at Upstate. SUNY Upstate Medical University was among the first in the nation to offer training to medical students that incorporates genomic and personalized medicine in the curriculum.

The second conversation, to be held Wednesday, May 2, at 7 p.m., is titled “Narrative Medicine: Using Literature and Patients’ Stories to Improve Health Care.”

Rebecca Garden and Joel Potash will discuss the relationship between doctor and patient and how it can literally mean the difference between life and death. Garden is an associate professor at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Potash is a professor emeritus at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities. He sits on the University Hospital Ethics Committee. The pair will examine the increasing use of technology in medicine and growing patient loads, which are making medicine increasingly depersonalized.