Nearly 100 research projects and a keynote presentation focused on one of the region’s most pressing health problems, obesity, will mark the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine’s Health Sciences Center 27th Annual Research Day at Marshall University.
The two-day research event begins at 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 23, with a community seminar on obesity, co-sponsored by Cabell Huntington Hospital (CHH) and its Senior Services Program.
Richard J. Johnson, M.D., chief of the division of renal disease and hypertension at the University of Colorado, will serve as special guest speaker for both the community event and Marshall’s academic event.
Johnson graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School and then completed a residency in internal medicine and fellowships in nephrology and infectious diseases at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Johnson’s community presentation, “Obesity,” is focused on the causes of weight gain and overall energy balance and concerns about the intake of added sugars containing fructose in the Western diet. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Harless Auditorium of the Marshall University Medical Center on the campus of Cabell Huntington Hospital. The following day, Tuesday, March 24, Johnson also will deliver a lecture to medical students, residents and other medical personnel in the Harless Auditorium. The lecture, which begins at 11:30 a.m., is titled, “The Role of Sugar (Fructose) in the Great Epidemics of Diabetes and Obesity.”
Research Day showcases research conducted by medical students, graduate students, residents and postdoctoral fellows. This year’s entries include a variety of projects that focus on various areas in medical and biomedical research. “The topic of our research day, obesity, is very important since most of the serious health care disparities affecting West Virginians result from obesity,” said Uma Sundaram, M.D., vice dean for research at the School of Medicine. “The presentations by Dr. Johnson and the cutting-edge research that will be presented during the research day illustrate our commitment to education, prevention and treatment of obesity and its many complications in West Virginia.”
For more information about Research Day contact the Office of Continuing Medical Education at 304-691-1770.
