Continuing Education Course Finder: BMCCS01-1a

Scientific Basis of Global Health Concerns (BMCCS01-1a)

Status: Closed

Fee: $300.00

Timing: 8 sessions from October 6, 2009 - November 24, 2009 on Tuesday, 7-9pm

Course Description: This course, designed for non-scientists, will provide the scientific background to clear up misconceptions and to promote an informed debate over controversial issues. Some of the covered topics will include:

• The anti-vaccine movement. The media is talking about connections between vaccination and autism; there are reports about the risks of the HPV vaccine. . . . Are vaccines safe? This course will explain how vaccines work, will put them in historical and future contexts, and will talk about new types of vaccines and their uses in global programs. Once the science behind vaccination is understood we will be ready to discuss the controversial issues.

• The H1N1 flu. We all hear about virus outbreaks, pandemics and epidemics, Swine flu, Avian flu, SARS, and the H1N1 flu: what does it all mean? Are we ready for an influenza epidemic? We will talk about the differences between viruses and other microbes and will discuss the benefits and challenges of flu vaccination. The course will also cover the risks of epidemics on developing countries and the mainstream media treatment of H1N1 and other “biological threats.”

• Gluten, dust, pollen...name your own allergy. Eating peanuts was safe and harmless not many years ago. Or was it not? Recent reports show that more kids have food allergies these days. What are the possible reasons? Is it true that children with food allergies are four times as likely to have asthma? What is the “hygiene hypothesis”? This course will teach how allergies are triggered and what its related conditions are. Reports on allergy incidences will be discussed along with the current hypothesis to explain the increased rates.

Along with the covered topics, the students will be invited to raise their own doubts and ask inquisitive questions which will be discussed based on scientific research. The instructor will provide handouts to render complex scientific ideas simple.

Instructor(s): M. Pilar Gil

Instructor(s) Bio: M. Pilar Gil is an immunologist, biochemist, and molecular biologist who has been involved in scientific research for over 25 years. She has a master’s degree in Immunology and a Ph. D. in Chemistry from the University of Barcelona. Pilar believes in the need to stimulate research and education at the interface of the scientific disciplines, following the ideal of the Renaissance man: people should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible. Currently she is an instructor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Brown University where she studies how the immune system fine tunes its signaling mechanisms to promote appropriate immune responses and allows access to the antimicrobial defense functions as needed.