TODAY news - Feb 20, 2003

Thursday, February 20, 2003 TODAY

Loma Linda University news

2003 bioethics conference to focus on human genetics and social policy

Michael D. West, PhD, will speak on “Promise and Peril of the New Genetics,” at a symposium planned for March 2 and 3..

A symposium to address developing social policy and enhancing clinical care will be held March 2 to 3, 2003, in Wong Kerlee International Conference Center.

Michael D. West, PhD, president and chief executive officer, Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., Worcester, Massachusetts, is the keynote speaker for the conference, titled “Promise and Peril of the New Genetics.”

Cloning and stem cell research and how it will affect the future of medicine has become a serious topic of discussion in this country, according to Mark F. Carr, PhD, theological co-director, Center for Christian Bioethics, Loma Linda University.

Medical science is rapidly advancing knowledge about human genetics. Cloning and stem cell technologies are emerging that will change the nature of medicine and alter human society.

The conference will focus attention on how social policy should respond to these new technological capabilities.

“ The purpose of this symposium is to help answer several questions raised by the prospect of stem cell technologies,” says Dr. Carr. “For example, should the marketplace be allowed to utilize any and all technologies as they become available? What role should religion play in developing social policy?

“ Furthermore, how can these new technologies be researched and put to use for therapeutic purposes in responsible ways?”

At the completion of this conference, attendees will be able to discuss how new cloning and stem cell technologies are developed with concern for bioethics and social policy; identify particular ways that religion can influence the development and use of the new genetics; and describe ways in which the therapeutic use of these new technologies can enhance care for patients in a clinical setting.

The conference is presented by the Center for Christian Bioethics and Center for Spiritual Life & Wholeness.

The extensive list of speakers includes Dede Alpert (D)–San Diego, California State Senator, and chair, California Senate Committee on genetics, Genetic Technologies, and Public Policy, Sacramento; Kathleen Blazer, MS, CGC, assistant director, cancer genetics education program, City of Hope, Duarte; Diana Fritz Cates, PhD, associate professor, School of Religion, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa; Paul Gelsinger, father, Tucson, Arizona; Ronald Green, PhD, Eunice and Julian Cohen professor for the study of ethics and human values, and chair, department of religion, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; Suzanne Holland, PhD, associate professor of religious and social ethics, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington; Christopher Morris, MD, PhD, pediatrics, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda; Joan Morris, MD, pediatrics, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda; and Tony Zuccarelli, PhD, professor, department of microbiology and molecular genetics, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda.

Dr. West received a bachelor of science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, in 1976; his master of science in biology from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, in 1982; and his doctorate from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, in 1989.

He has extensive academic and business experience in age-related degenerative disease, telomerase molecular biology, and human embryonic stem cells.

From 1998 to 1999 he was a co-founder and chair of Origen Therapeutics, San Francisco, a company developing transgenic technology in commercial poultry. From 1990 to 1998 he was the founder, director, and vice president of Geron Corporation, Menlo Park. At Geron he initiated and managed programs in telomerase diagnostics, telomerase inhibition, telomerase-mediated therapy, and human em- bryonic stem cells.

The conference is sponsored by Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, Loma Linda University School of Nursing, and Adventist Health Systems–West.

For more information on the conference and registration, check out the website at <www.llu.edu/ llumc/events/genetics>. Or individuals may call the office at (909) 558-4901.

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Terry Swenson, Donald Miller to speak for chapel

Terry Swenson, MDiv

Donald E. Miller, PhD

Loma Linda University chapel programs for March will feature a speaker from Loma Linda University and a professor from University of Southern California.

Terry Swenson, MDiv, campus chaplain for Loma Linda University, is the featured speaker for the chapel program on March 5.

Pastor Swenson has had extensive experience in youth ministry, as well as in campus ministries.

Previous to his work at Loma Linda University, Pastor Swenson has served as associate pastor at Stockton Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, and pastor at Covelo Seventh-day Adventist Church, Petaluma Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Milpitas Adventist Center. He has also served as pastor for campus ministries at the Campus Hill Church of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda.

Donald E. Miller, PhD, executive director, Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California, will be the speaker for the chapel program held March 12.

Dr. Miller is the Firestone Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. He is a third generation native of Southern California and has been teaching courses in the sociology of religion at USC since 1975.

He is the author/editor of seven books, including Portraits of Survival and Hope: An Oral History of the Republic of Armenia During Its First Decade of Independence (University of California Press, 2002); GenX Religion (Routledge, 2000); Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the Next Millennium (University of California Press, 1997); Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide (University of California Press, 1993); Homeless Families: The Struggle for Dignity (University of Illinois Press, 1993); Writing and Research in Religious Studies (Prentice Hall, 1992); and The Case for Liberal Christianity (Harper & Row, 1981). He has had major grants from the Lilly Endowment, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The James Irvine Foundation, Haynes Foundation, California Council for the Humanities, and Fieldstead Company.

He is currently working on two major projects: a study of global Pentecostalism based on 350 interviews done in 17 different developing countries; and a Pew-funded study of the role of religion for new immigrants in Los Angeles.

Loma Linda University chapel programs are sponsored by the office of student affairs and are held in the University Church of Seventh-day Adventists on the Loma Linda campus. Programs are held every Wednesday from 8:10 to 9:00 a.m.

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Jack W. Provonsha lecture discusses human embryonic stem cell research

Understanding embryonic stem cell research and how it might change the nature of medicine is the subject of this year’s Jack W. Provonsha Lecture Series.

The series, presented by the Loma Linda University Center for Christian Bioethics, will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2003, at 7:00 p.m. in Wong Kerlee International Conference Center on the Loma Linda campus. This year’s lecture will feature Michael D. West, PhD, and is open to the public at no charge.

“ The Promise of Human Therapeutic Cloning and Embryonic Stem Cell Research” is the title of the lecture. Dr. West is president and chief executive officer of Advanced Cell Technology, Inc., Worcester, Massachusetts. He has extensive academic and business experience in age-related degenerative disease, telomerase molecular biology, and human embryonic stem cells.

Established in honor of Jack W. Provonsha, MD, PhD, this lecture series focuses on the integration of ethics, theology, spirituality, and medicine. Dr. Provonsha was influential in the establishment of the Center for Christian Bioethics 18 years ago and is director emeritus.

Dr. West is also the featured speaker for this year’s Bioethics Conference to be held March 2 to 3 on the campus of Loma Linda University. The conference, “Promise and Peril of the New Genetics,” is a symposium designed to address developing social policy and enhancing clinical care. A story covering the upcoming conference is in this issue of TODAY.

For more information on the lecture series, please contact Heather Morrison at (909) 558-4956.

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Thursday, February 20, 2003 TODAY