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March 27 , 2006
"Season of Predictive Health" seminar series kicks off, March 30

BY Christi gray

A new quarterly seminar series, “Season of Predictive Heath,” focuses on “Predictive Health and Society,” one of Emory’s strategic plan initiatives under the theme “Exploring New Frontiers in Science and Technology.” Woodruff Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management Kenneth Thorpe will kick off the series, Thursday, March 30 at 3 p.m. in Cox Hall Ballroom, with his lecture “Policy Implications and Solutions for Predictive Health.”

“The series is being held to further inform the Emory community about predictive health and to invite continued dialogue with the broad constituency across campus that’s involved with or impacted by the predictive health initiative,” said Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Mike Johns. “These seminars are designed as a mechanism to continue the discussion involving the disciplines central to implementing the predictive health model.”

Events like the national symposium “Seeking Ponce’s Dream—The Promise of Predictive Health,” co-hosted by Emory and Georgia Tech held last December, and the recent Feb. 17 panel, which featured President Jim Wagner, Provost Earl Lewis, and initiative leaders Kenneth Brigham (medicine) and Michelle Lampl (anthropology), raised questions about how Emory might lead in health care by building and implementing a predictive health model. Thorpe will further the discussion by offering some insight into predictive health.
Thorpe is a frequent commenter on health care issues in the print media and on television. He has appeared on Nightline with Ted Koppel, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, CNN, CNBC and Newshour with Jim Lehrer.

He has also testified before Congress on health care reform and has worked with the American College of Physicians, American Hospital Association, National Coalition on Health Care, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Service Employees International Union and the United Hospital Fund, as well as policymakers, including former president Bill Clinton to develop and evaluate alternative approaches for providing health care.

“Dr. Ken Thorpe is a nationally recognized authority on health policy and related issues,” Johns said. “He will discuss not only the policy implications for the implementation of Predictive Health as a model system—but he will also explore possible solutions for the implementation as well.”

Future lectures will feature speakers on the topics of education, ethics, behavior, religion and political forces as they relate to predictive health and will align with the initiative’s concerns outlined in the strategic plan including:

• combining technological expertise at Emory and Georgia Tech in areas such as nanobiology, imaging and genetics/metabolomics;
• integrating science, technology, ethics, humanities, law, business, health policy and economics;
• moving from cellular to societal sciences; and
• building bridges between population and individual health.

For more information on the strategic plan, visit www.admin.emory.edu/StrategicPlan/.

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