The future of medicine begins with a series of lectures that will be presented by Banner University Medical Center and the UA. Doc Talks will consist of four physicians talking about the future of medicine.
“Basically it’s a free event where community members can come and listen to one of our physicians give a talk on what they know best and afterwards there will be a Q&A where the audience and get more into the event,” said Christina Geare, the director of community health at Banner UMC.
The first lecture on Feb. 7 will be on the topic of Alzheimer’s and will be presented by Eric Reiman, director of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute. The lecture, titled “Preserving Memories: What it Will Take to End Alzheimer’s,” will shed light on his research that surrounds Alzheimer’s.
“I think it’s a really great opportunity for students like me who may not be attending the UA to get the opportunity to attend an event like this to help us better understand medicine and health,” said Joalba Yrigoyen a student at Carrington College who hopes to attend the lectures.
The following lecture on Feb. 14. will be “Precision Medicine: Turning Sick Care into Health Care” presented by Charles Cairns, dean of the College of Medicine here in Tucson. Alongside Cairns will be Kenneth Ramos, interim dean of the College of Medicine in Phoenix.
Fayez Ghishan’s lecture, “Gut Microbes: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” will follow on Feb. 21. Ghishan is a professor at the College of Medicine and a chair of the UA Department of Pediatrics and the director of the UA Steele Children’s Research Center.
Ghishan’s lecture will consist of gut microbiota in the regards to health and disease. Ghishan is a widely recognized pediatric gastroenterologist in his field and has had his research funded by the National Institute of Health for over 30 years.
The pair will discuss their new approaches to old challenges that they are facing in medicine now. Some of their new research includes new methods in diagnosing and treating cancer, lung, cardiac and infectious disease.
“We really have some great speakers,” said Sarah Boggan the spokeswoman for Banner UMC. “Reiman’s research was on 60 Minutes.”
The final lecture on Feb. 28 will be presented by Monica Kraft and the lecture is titled “Take a Deep Breath: Is a Cure for Asthma on the Horizon?” Kraft is a department chair of the UA department of medicine.
“Kraft’s asthma research and so many of our doctors are so well known in their areas of practice,” Boggan said. “It’s a great opportunity to interact with physicians who are highly regarded in their fields.”
Kraft is also the associate director of the UA Health Sciences Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center. Kraft’s lecture will discuss personalized approaches to treatments for asthma.
“We made the lecture series interactive and engaging so it’s not just another one hour lecture that you sit through,” Geare said. “It’s more entertaining and it’s free. You do have to register online or call the number on the flyer because space is filling up. We already have hundreds of people for our first event.”
The same lectures will be given every Thursday at the UA College of Medicine campus in Phoenix.
“We wanted to show the value of academic medicine and what it brings to the community, this series is an opportunity for the community to come out and learn about health topics that affect so many people,” Boggan said.
The lecture series will take place over the course of a month with the first lecture on Feb. 7, and the following three on Feb. 14, 21 and 28. Each starts at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 7:30 p.m. All of the talks are free events that will be hosted at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa, 3800 East Sunrise Drive.
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