Dartmouth Faculty, Alumni Discuss Advances in Disease Treatments

Hanover Faculty and alumni of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth will discuss recent advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of chronic and life-threatening diseases in a free medical education session on Sept. 19, from 2-4 p.m.

The event, part of Geisels alumni reunion, is open to the public. It will highlight current contributions by faculty and alumni to research on cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis, some of the leading causes of death in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It will take place in Auditorium G at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

A recent study led by Dr. Christopher Amos, a genetics professor at Geisel, has discovered a variant of the BRCA2 gene, commonly associated with breast cancer, that confers a 2.5-fold greater risk for development of squamous lung cancer. Amos will discuss the research and earlier findings of another gene variant that influences risk for lung cancer and smoking behavior and medicine applications for smoking cessation that can be tailored to a patients genetic profile.

Dr. C. Ford Von Reyn, professor of medicine at Geisel School of Medicine, will discuss development of the first new tuberculosis vaccine in 90 years to demonstrate a protective effect in humans. The DAR-901 vaccine was developed, and is now in clinical trial, at Dartmouth.

Brian Pogue, an engineering science professor at Thayer School of Engineering, will discuss new tools to detect and treat cancer. Created through medical and engineering collaborations at Dartmouth, they include visual examples of light imaging used in radiation therapy; molecular imaging of metastatic tumor cells in lymph nodes; and molecular-fluorescence contrast agents used in surgical resections.

Dr. Edward Horton, a Dartmouth College and Geisel alumnus, will talk about the underlying causes of type 2 diabetes and lifestyle choices that can help prevent the chronic disease. Horton is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and senior investigator at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

For more information, call 603-653-0726 or email Geisel.Alumni.Relations@Dartmouth.edu.

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