Preventive Medicine Topic of UA’s 10th Annual Rural Health Conference

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Preventive medicine will be the focus of The University of Alabama’s 10^th annual Rural Health Conference, Sept. 17-18 at the Bryant Conference Center on the UA campus and the Hotel Capstone next door.

At the conference, Dr. David Mathews, president and CEO of the Kettering Foundation, will offer one of the keynote speeches. Mathews, who is a former secretary of health, education and welfare and former president of UA, will be discussing the role of the community in prevention and health reform.

The conference, titled “Prevention:  More Than Just an Apple a Day,” will feature breakout sessions on immunization, obesity, cardiac arrest management, prenatal care, stroke prevention, cancer prevention and mental health. The conference is focusing on community prevention: A community member or organization will be paired with each physician-speaker. Participants who attend all three cardiac arrest sessions will receive cardiac arrest management certification.

Other keynote speakers at the conference are Jeff Ingrum, vice president of the Health Care Network Division of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama; Dr. Mark S. Williams, chief medical officer of North Mississippi Health System and chairman of the board of the Alabama Quality Assurance Foundation; and Dr. Pamela Foster, deputy director of the Rural Health Institute for Clinical and Translational Science. For more information on the speakers, go to http://cchs.ua.edu/rhi/conference/keynotes.

UA’s Rural Health Institute, part of the College of Community Health Sciences, sponsors the conference. Registration is $75 a person, which includes two continental breakfasts, a luncheon and refreshments. For details, go to the conference’s Web site at http://rhc.ua.edu.

The College of Community Health Sciences operates a comprehensive, state-of-the-art medical clinic, University Medical Center, where College faculty members conduct their medical practices and where 70 third- and fourth-year medical students and 36 Family Practice Residents receive clinical experience and training. The College’s research component supports faculty and student research efforts, including clinical trials.