President Signs Health Care Reform Bill

President Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010.

For a related post on the debate surrounding health care reform and the passage of Medicare in 1965, see "Operation Coffeecup and Socialized Medicine."

Edward Tufte Named to Recovery Independent Advisory Panel

President Obama on March 5, 2010 named four members to the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel, including Edward Tufte, the noted expert on information design and visualization. The White House provided the following bio for Tufte on its blog:

Edward Tufte is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Statistics, and Computer Science at Yale University. He wrote, designed, and self-published The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, and Beautiful Evidence, which have received 40 awards for content and design. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the Society for Technical Communication, and the American Statistical Association. He received his PhD in political Science from Yale University and BS and MS in statistics from Stanford University.

On his own website, Tufte made the following comments on the appointment:

I will be serving on the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel. This Panel advises The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, whose job is to track and explain $787 billion in recovery stimulus funds:

"The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board was created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with two goals:

To provide transparency in relation to the use of Recovery-related funds. To prevent and detect fraud, waste, and mismanagement. Earl E. Devaney was appointed by President Obama to serve as chairman of the Recovery Board. Twelve Inspectors General from various federal agencies serve with Chairman Devaney. The Board issues quarterly and annual reports to the President and Congress and, if necessary, "flash reports" on matters that require immediate attention. In addition, the Board maintains the Recovery.gov website so the American people can see how Recovery money is being distributed by federal agencies and how the funds are being used by the recipients.

Mission statement: To promote accountability by coordinating and conducting oversight of Recovery funds to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and to foster transparency on Recovery spending by providing the public with accurate, user friendly information."

I'm doing this because I like accountability and transparency, and I believe in public service. And it is the complete opposite of everything else I do. Maybe I'll learn something. The practical consequence is that I will probably go to Washington several days each month, in addition to whatever homework and phone meetings are necessary.

The others named to the Panel include Steven Koch, Chris Sale, and Malcolm K. Sparrow.

Duke Program on Health, Social Justice, and the Civil Rights Movement

Health, Social Justice, and the Civil Rights Movement
in American Medicine: A Series of Interdisciplinary Programs at Duke University, March 3-4, 2010

With award-winning scholar John Dittmer, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Depauw University, author of The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care (2009) and Local People: the Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (1994)

:: The Civil Rights Roots of Healthcare Activism
Wednesday, March 3, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
John Hope Franklin Center, 2204 Erwin Road, Room 240

A panel discussion with:
John Dittmer, PhD
Sharon Elliott-Bynum, RN, BSN, MA, PhD, Co-Founder & Clinical Director of CAARE, Inc.
Open to the public. Lunch will be served.

:: Health & Social Justice: Practice and Research -- A Forum for Graduate and Professional Students
Wednesday, March 3, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

For readings and location information, contact Abby Goldman, eag14@duke.edu

:: Justice in Healthcare, Today and in the Past: A Conversation with John Dittmer
Thursday, March 4, 5:30 pm -7:00 pm
John Hope Franklin Center, 2204 Erwin Road, Room 240

Panelists will include:
Onye Akwari, MD, Surgery
William Chafe, PhD, History
Dennis Clements, MD, Infectious Disease, Pediatrics, Global Health Institute
Sherman A. James, PhD, Public Policy, Community & Family Medicine, African & African American Studies
Evelyn Schmidt, MD, Director, Lincoln Community Health Center
Open to the public. Wine and cheese reception will follow.

For more information: Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities & History of Medicine 919.668-9000 or trent-center@duke.edu. For additional events, see the Trent Center's online calendar.

North Carolina's Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law

As of January 2, 2010, North Carolina's Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law (S.L. 2009-27 (G.S. 130A-496)) requires restaurants, bars, and many lodging establishments to be smoke-free. The web site SmokeFreeNC.gov provides information on the law and rules for enforcement; frequently asked questions; tools for businesses; educational materials; secondhand smoke; quitting tobacco use; contact information for local health departments; complaint forms for reporting violations and a complaint log; and a form for submitting thank you's.

UNC Law School Sponsors Forum on Reader Privacy in the Digital World

Reader Privacy: Should Library Privacy Standards Apply in the Digital World?

January 22, 2010
8:30am - 12:30pm

UNC-CH School of Law
Room 4085

As reading expands from a world of print publications to electronic formats, can and should we retain traditional notions of reader privacy? Just what is the privacy we have come to expect as readers of books, and do these notions of privacy translate effectively in the world of Google Book Search, the Kindle, the Sony Reader --- or to the many pages of text we read online daily?

Keynote Speaker John Palfrey, Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources and Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Co-Director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, introduces a discussion about these issues of the policy and law of reader privacy.

Two panels of speakers explore whether special protection for readers of library books merit recognition in the electronic environment. Speakers include Jane Horvath, Global Privacy Counsel for Google Inc.; Andrew McDiarmid, Policy Analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology; Lili Levi, Professor of Law at the University of Miami; Annie Anton, Professor of Computer Science at North Carolina State University and Director of ThePrivacyPlace.org; Paula J. Bruening, Deputy Director of the Centre for Information Policy Leadership at Hunton & Williams LLP; and Anne Klinefelter, Director of the Law Library and Associate Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina. Moderators are Bill Marshall, William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina and David Hoffman, Director of Security Policy and Global Privacy Officer at Intel Corporation.

This event is held in honor of Data Privacy Day 2010 and is sponsored by the University of North Carolina School of Law, the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, the UNC Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, the UNC University Libraries, the UNC School of Information and Library Science and The Privacy Projects. The Privacy Projects thanks the Official Sponsors of Data Privacy Day 2010 for their support: Intel, Microsoft, Google, AT&T, and LexisNexis.

Questions about the event should be directed to Anne Klinefelter at klinefel@email.unc.edu.

Questions about Data Privacy should be directed to Jolynn Dellinger at jolynn@dataprivacyday.org.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register, complete the form available online.

Researcher James Hansen to Speak on Global Climate Change

James Hansen, internationally recognized as a leading expert on global climate change, will speak at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, February 1, 2010.

Hansen will discuss “Global Climate Change: What Must We Do Now?” He comes to UNC as the Frey Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences. His lecture, at 7 p.m. in Memorial Hall, is free to the public and no advanced tickets are required.

A public reception and book-signing will follow the lecture. Hansen’s new book is Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity.

In 2006, Time magazine named Hansen one of the world’s most influential people. Former vice president Al Gore said about the climatologist: “When the history of the climate crisis is written, [James] Hansen will be seen as the scientist with the most powerful and consistent voice calling for intelligent action to preserve our planet’s environment.”

Hansen is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. He is best known for his Congressional testimony on climate change in the 1980s — an early scientific voice that helped raise broad awareness of global warming. He created one of the first models of climate change about 30 years ago and has used it to predict much of what has happened since.

Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995, he has been an active researcher in planetary atmospheres and climate science for nearly 40 years, with the last 30 years focused on climate research.

In addition to numerous testimonies given to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Hansen twice made presentations to former President George W. Bush’s Climate and Energy Task Force.

The Frey Foundation Professorship was established in 1989 to bring to campus distinguished leaders from government, public policy and the arts. David Gardner Frey chairs the foundation established by his parents, Edward J. and Frances Frey of Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1974. He earned bachelor’s and law degrees at Carolina in 1964 and 1967, respectively.

Hansen's visit is also in conjunction with the Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology, the Department of Marine Sciences, the Department of Public Policy, and the Institute for the Environment.

Parking for the lecture is available in commercial lots on Rosemary Street. For more information on the lecture, call (919) 843-6339 or e-mail deereid@unc.edu.

Digital Driving: Don't!

The National Safety Council (NSC) announced on January 12, 2010 that an estimated 1.6 million accidents are caused annually by cell phone use or texting while driving. The NSC's estimates were calculated by statistical analysis of data on driver cell phone use from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and from peer-reviewed research on associated risks. NHTSA data show that 11% of drivers at any one time are using cell phones and another 1% are using their cell phones in ways that include texting. Cell phone use is estimated to increase crash risk fourfold, while texting increases risk eightfold.

Janet Froetscher, president and CEO of the NSC, states that:

This new estimate provides critical data for legislators, business leaders and individuals to evaluate the threat and need for legislation, business policies and personal actions to prevent cell phone use and texting while driving. There was great progress made in 2009, particularly regarding a broad recognition that texting is dangerous. We now need the same broad consensus that recognizes cell phone use while driving causes even more crashes.

The NSC web site provides much additional information concerning the risks of cell phone use and texting, including: Cell Phone Fact Sheet; Public Opinion Fact Sheet; Risk Estimate Description; NSC Estimate Summary; and Key Research Studies. See also Distraction.gov, the official US government website for Distracted Driving.

UNC Forum on Health Care Reform and Electronic Medical Records

The UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and Accenture, LLC, are sponsoring the forum, Toward Health Care Reform through Electronic Medical Records, to discuss the use of electronic medical records and its impact on the the U.S. health care system.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010 -- 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM (reception to follow)
Michael Hooker Research Center, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation Auditorium, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Registration is available online.

Presenters include:

Jonathan Oberlander, PhD
Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, and Associate Professor of Social Medicine, UNC School of Medicine

Tim Carey, MD, MPH
Director of the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Medicine and Social Medicine, UNC School of Medicine

Deniese M. Chaney, MPH
Partner, Accenture Health and Public Service

* * *
FREE PARKING will be available in the McCauley Deck beneath the FedEx Global Education Center on Pharmacy Lane off of McCauley St. near Pittsboro St. (Map/Directions).

UNC Symposium on Public Information in a Digital World

The School of Information and Library Science (SILS) and School of Government (SOG) at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) will hold a day-long symposium called "Preparing Stewards of Public Information in a Digital World" on January 15, 2010 from 8-5 in the Warren Jake Wicker Classroom of Knapp-Sanders Building on the UNC-CH campus. The symposium will include panel discussions and other interactive sessions related to lessons and strategies for professional preparation to engage in public information stewardship. Registration for the symposium costs $45 (or $25 for students) and can be done online.

The themes of the day will include persistent issues in the stewardship of electronic records; the "policy game" – what it is and how to play it successfully; advancing professional values through IT policies and systems; and professional education – context and strategies of SILS and the SOG at UNC.

The symposium is part of Educating Stewards of Public Information in the 21st Century (ESOPI-21), which is a three-year collaboration between SILS and the SOG at UNC-CH, sponsored by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

ESOPI-21 is based on the belief that the stewardship of public information is a fundamental responsibility of a democratic society. Public information (e.g. agency records, government publications, datasets) serves as evidence of governmental activities, decisions, and responsibilities at the local, county, state, and federal levels. Providing appropriate access to public information promotes accountability, rights of citizens, effective administration of policy, and social memory.

Guide to State Legislation on Comprehensive Health Care Coverage

The Law Library of Congress has prepared a guide to state legislation on comprehensive health care coverage for the four states that have attempted to cover all residents or those without insurance. Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont have each taken different approaches, and the guide offers background information as well as citations to relevant statutes for the extent of coverage, employer and individual contributions, benefits assistance, and exemptions. Hawaii was the first state to offer near universal coverage with the passage of the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act in 1974, which was implemented the following year. Hawaii requires most employers to offer insurance, while Massachusetts requires most individuals to obtain some coverage. Maine and Vermont partner with the private sector, and subsidize coverage for low-income individuals.

An important related resource from the Library of Congress is Thomas (named after Jefferson), which is a comprehensive digital collection for federal legislation, including the current health care reform bills in the House of Representatives and Senate. Thomas also offers the Congressional Record as well as the full-text of bills, resolutions, presidential nominations, treaties, committee reports, and other government resources; an online guide describes the various resources available and how to search them effectively.

Sheldon Lecture in Anatomy, History, and Society

All interested students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend the second annual George F. Sheldon Lecture in Anatomy, History, and Society on Monday, October 19, 2009 at 8:30am.

Dr. Sheldon himself will be delivering the lecture, which is entitled: "Anatomy, Medicine, and Social Policy." Dr. Sheldon is Zack D. Owens Distinguished Professor of Surgery at UNC, and was Chair of the Department of Surgery from 1984-2001. He is also the director of the Health Policy and Research Institute of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and Editor-in-Chief of e-Facs.org, a web portal of ACS.

The lecture will be held on the UNC campus in Room G-202 of the the Medical Biomolecular Research Building (MBRB).

Health Care Reform and the White House

The White House has produced several videos on its Health Care Reform initiative, including the one above entitled, "Doctors Call for Health Reform," which features sound-bites from the White House gathering of physicians from all fifty states held on October 5, 2009. Additional information is available in the Health Care section of the The White House web site. The White House also maintains a YouTube channel with videos on a variety of topics.

Banned Books Week 2009

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year, and for 2009 it runs from September 26 to October 3. Established in 1982, this annual American Library Association (ALA) event urges citizens not to take the fundamental democratic freedom of reading for granted.

First Amendment rights protect the unhindered access to information that is essential to a free society. Banned Books Week celebrates freedom of expression, for both authors and readers, and serves as a reminder that attempts at bans, restrictions, and censorship of books are ongoing. According to the American Library Association, over 500 books were challenged in 2008 alone; for further information, visit the ALA website.

Scientific, medical & health-related books are of course no exception to controversy and have also been challenged over the years, including such notable works as Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican (1632), Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection . . . (1859), Margaret Sanger's Family Limitation (1914), and more recent titles such as Our Bodies, Ourselves (1971) by the Boston Women's Health Book Collective.

Healthcare Reform Panel at UNC School of Medicine

Interested in understanding the current healthcare reform debate? If so, you do not want to miss Healthcare Reform 101 on Monday, September 14, 2009 from 5pm - 6pm in 321 MacNider.

Dr. Jonathan Oberlander will provide an introductory framework for understanding the current debate on healthcare reform. He will be joined by Dr. Tim Carey, Dr. Warren Newton, and other UNC School of Medicine experts and the panel will answer your questions on healthcare reform.

We hope that you will be able to join us for this special event.

Ali Chhotani and Anshu Verma
Whitehead Medical Society Co-Presidents

Please contact Katie O'Brien, Internal Communications, UNC School of Medicine (919-843-3989; katie_obrien@med.unc.edu) with any questions. The event is open to the campus community.

Congressman Price to Speak on Health Care Reform

US Representative David Price (D-NC) will be speaking on health care reform legislation at 7pm on September 2, 2009. The event will held in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room in Wilson Library.

Operation Coffeecup and Socialized Medicine

Health care reform is today foremost in the minds of the public and politicians alike. It is, however, not a new concern, as evidenced by a new exhibit at the UNC Health Sciences Library which features the American Medical Association’s 1961 campaign, Operation Coffeecup. Led by the Woman’s Auxiliary to the American Medical Association, Operation Coffeecup was “an all-out effort to stimulate as many letters to Congress opposing socialized medicine and its menace as proposed in the King bill (HR 4222).”

Identical versions of the bill were introduced by Cecil King (D-CA) in the House of Representatives and Clinton Anderson (D-NM) in the Senate, and the bill was the latest in a series of legislative attempts to create a Medicare-type program. All were defeated until the Social Security Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 30, 1965. President Truman was a guest at the ceremony and was presented with the first Medicare card (below); a video clip is available online.

Operation Coffeecup’s main tool of persuasion was a 33-1/3 rpm record entitled, “Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine,” a copy of which was recently acquired by Special Collections at the Health Sciences Library. It contains two tracks: the title piece, delivered by Reagan, and “Socialized Medicine and You”; several documents were also inserted into a pocket in the album that were intended for the use of discussion leaders, including printed transcripts of the record's two tracks. Ronald Reagan [1911-2004] was a registered Democrat when this record was produced, though he switched his affiliation to the Republican Party in 1962 and had been a strong supporter of Dwight Eisenhower in the presidential campaigns of 1952 and 1956 and Richard Nixon in 1960.

“The Problem,” as described by Operation Coffeecup on the album's inside cover, was:

The legislative chips are down. In the next few months Americans will decide whether or not this nation wants socialized medicine . . . first for its older citizens, soon for all its citizens. The pivotal point in the campaign is a bill currently before Congress. The King bill (HR 4222), another Forand-type bill, is a proposal to finance medical care for all persons on Social Security over 65, regardless of financial need, through the social security tax mechanism. Proponents admit the bill is a “foot in the door” for socialized medicine. Its eventual effect—across-the-board, government medicine for everyone!

The section "How Operation Coffeecup Works" enumerates the following headings as action items:

— Listen, Look
— Put on the Coffeepot
— Invite an Audience
— Talk about What You Heard
— Spur Action
— Don’t Stop Now

“Each letter you help send off is a step along the way toward stopping socialized medicine. So join the Coffeecup Corps today!”

Related online resources include an essay, “Operation Coffeecup: Ronald Reagan’s Effort to Prevent the Enactment of Medicare,” and a YouTube recording of the text “Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine” (note that the first two paragraphs of Reagan's text are not included on this particular recording).

In addition, the American Medical Association Historical Archives contains a Medicare Campaign collection (record group MDC), which includes materials related to Operation Coffeecup and other AMA public relations efforts from 1960-1965; the collection is described as follows:

History Note: The Medicare public relations campaign constitutes the AMA's efforts in response to the proposed passage of the King-Anderson bill in Congress since 1960. The AMA staged numerous public relations efforts to amend passage of the bill before Congress. Congress passed the bill in 1965, creating Medicare.

Scope Note: Many of the highlights in the AMA's history are documented here, such as excerpts from Operation Coffee Cup featuring Ronald Reagan, the nationally televised script of AMA president Dr. Annis speaking before Madison Square Garden in 1964 and other interviews. Also included are files and newsletters related to the AMA's position on the bill and about socialized medicine.

Infomation on how to use the AMA Historical Archives is available online. Only AMA members have access to the archives, with the exception of the Historical Health Fraud Collection, which may be used by non-members on a fee-for-service basis. A descriptive summary of more than 50 collections is available for download.

The Man on the Moon and Doctor Bills

July 20, 2009 marked the 40th anniversary of the momentous occasion of humans first walking on the moon. Upon setting foot on lunar soil, Neil Armstrong uttered, with a slight glitch (either technical or grammatical), the immortal words: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

Of course, the Sixties in America were an especially tumultuous period of social protest by many constituencies, so it is not too surprising that the moon landing itself was also the subject of criticism. Indeed, no less a figure than the highly accomplished space scientist Dr. James Van Allen [1914-2006] of the University of Iowa objected throughout his career to the vast resources that were expended on manned space flight as opposed to other more economical and efficient means of exploration and research.

On the cultural front, poet, musician, and activist Gil Scott-Heron in 1970 composed and recorded the song, "Whitey on the Moon," which contrasts the poverty and medical expenses of the song's protagonist to the fact that astronauts are now going to the moon. The lyrics raise poignant questions about how society allocates limited resources to fundamental needs such as health care. And in what is perhaps a reference to the air mail stamp that was issued in 1969 to commemorate the moon landing (pictured above), the song concludes: "I think I'll send these doctor bills, airmail special (to Whitey on the moon)." Various versions of this song, as well as Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" are available on YouTube.

The last man on the moon (and all twelve NASA astronauts that walked on the moon were male--and white) was Eugene Cernan, who commanded the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. His parting words as the lunar module left the celestial body closest to Earth were: "We leave as we came and, god willing, as we shall return, with peace, and hope for all mankind."

See also: Man on the Moon -- Part II.

The History of Eugenics in North Carolina

In North Carolina over 7,600 people were sterilized between 1929 and 1974 under the state’s Eugenics Sterilization Program. Indiana was the first state to implement such a program, and eventually over 30 states followed suit, including North Carolina in 1929. The Eugenics Board of North Carolina reviewed petitions for sterilizations and authorized sterilizations in over 90% of cases. Of those sterilized, approximately 38% were black and 84% were female; moreover, 71% were classified as “feebleminded.” While most states’ sterilization programs diminished in scope after World War II, almost 80% of North Carolina’s cases occurred after 1945. By the late 1960’s over 60% of those sterilized in North Carolina were black and 99% were female.

North Carolina Governor Michael Easley established a committee to investigate the state’s Eugenics Sterilization Program, and currently the General Assembly of North Carolina is considering two bills: House Bill 21, Eugenics Program – Support and Education and Senate Bill 179, Sterilization Compensation.

House Bill 21 is: “An act to provide counseling benefits to eugenics survivors, to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a database of eugenics program participants and verify the status of persons contacting the state to determine their participation in the state program, to erect a historical marker about the program, to direct the State Board of Education to include information about the program in its K-12 history curriculum, to recommend creation of an ethics training module for state, county, and local government employees, and to direct the Department of Cultural Resources to digitize existing records for preservation and study purposes, as recommended by the House Select Committee on Compensation for Victims of the Eugenics Sterilization.”

Senate Bill 179 proposes that: “Any person who, as a result of the eugenic sterilization program in this State, was sterilized between the years of 1929 and 1975 shall receive compensation as provided for in this section if the person submits a claim before June 30, 2012."

The current status of both bills, as for any pending legislation, can be tracked online at the web site of the General Assembly of North Carolina: House Bill 21 and Senate Bill 179.

Readers interested in learning more about this topic can visit Eugenics in North Carolina, a web project of the State Library of North Carolina. The Winston-Salem Journal also has an online eugenics project, entitled Against Their Will: North Carolina’s Sterilization Program.

In addition, Special Collections at UNC Health Sciences Library, in collaboration with the Carolina Digital Library and Archive, has digitized all volumes of the Biennial Report of the Eugenics Board of North Carolina [1934-1966], as well as North Carolina journals and documents in public health and other areas as part of an ongoing digital initiative.

Pandemics, Infectious Diseases, and Public Policy

Engage in discussion with UNC-Chapel Hill scholars, researchers, and clinicians—four Thursday evenings, 7–9 pm, beginning April 2 at the Friday Center. What's the Big Idea? is presented by the Friday Center in partnership with Endeavors Magazine. Advance registration is required. Lectures are $10 each or all four for $30; further information is available online.

Spring 2009: Pandemics, Infectious Diseases, and Public Policy
Join us for four evenings of lectures by eminent UNC-Chapel Hill scholars and researchers to examine a topic that deserves serious focus in an ever-shrinking world. Infectious diseases can have small-scale local consequences as well as global effects. How is the medical community responding to research and the public’s need for knowledge and treatment? Are emergency management teams prepared? Are public policies in place to deal with a pandemic? Learn what UNC-Chapel Hill is doing to address these issues.

:: The Global HIV Pandemic 2008: Where Do We Go From Here?
Thursday, April 2, 7–9 pm

Thirty-six million people are living with HIV; sixteen million have died from the disease. Eighty percent of the HIV epidemic is in sub-Saharan Africa, and as many as one-third of adolescent girls in South Africa have acquired HIV by age 21. Why is the disease focused in this geographic location, and what are we doing about it? This presentation considers the global HIV pandemic with a focus on the disease in Africa and possible approaches to stopping the devastation of HIV.

Myron Cohen is associate vice chancellor for Medical Affairs-Global Health and director of the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases.

:: Social Forces and the HIV Epidemic: Why Some People Get HIV and Others Don't
Thursday, April 16, 7–9 pm

Poverty, incarceration, and segregation are some of the economic and social forces that disproportionately impact African Americans. This presentation will examine the ways that social and economic forces affect the distribution of HIV in the US population.

Ada Adimora is professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine and adjunct professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

:: Geographical Analysis in Vaccine Trials: Concepts and Case Studies
Thursday, April 23, 7–9 pm

Trials are the gold-standard tool for evaluating the effectiveness of vaccines. However, some people question the utility of conventional vaccine trial methods, arguing that it is difficult to make decisions about whether or not to vaccinate diverse populations because, due to different social and environmental circumstances, vaccines might work better in some areas than others. This presentation will introduce “ecological vaccine trials,” which use geographical analysis to determine the circumstances in which a vaccine will work best. Case studies, including the trials for cholera and malaria vaccines, will be used to guide the discussion.

Michael Emch is associate professor of geography at UNC, a Fellow at the Carolina Population Center, and adjunct associate professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

:: Emerging Infections and Biodefense: Are We Doing Too Little or Too Much?
Thursday, April 30, 7–9 pm

This presentation will examine the national and regional response to the anthrax attacks of 2001. Now that we strongly suspect that the perpetrator of these attacks was a US scientist, many worry that a massive post-2001 increase in research intended to prevent or treat attacks with infectious diseases could paradoxically increase our risk of attacks from within. Are these fears justified? How do we protect ourselves against “rogue” scientists? Are there risks (the “dual use” problem) in conducting research on biodefense? How can we protect ourselves from dual-use threats? We also are increasingly aware of naturally emerging threats to our health that respect no geographical borders, including drug resistant tuberculosis and staphylococci, and a plethora of viruses. How great are the risks? What should be our responses to them? What is the proper balance between biodefense research and emerging infections research in an era of financial limitations?

Fred Sparling is professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology at the UNC School of Medicine and director of the Southeast Regional Center for Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infections.