Media Advisory

On Friday, Oct. 12, Duke University will host a conference titled "Stem Cell Research: The Latest Science, The Controversy & The Coverage," which is designed to help journalists understand and cover this controversial issue.

The conference, which is free and open only to journalists, runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, at Duke's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy. It is sponsored by the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research, Duke University and Duke University Health System, Duke's Sanford Institute and DeWitt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism, and Research!America.

After opening remarks by Dr. R. Sanders Williams, dean of the Duke University School of Medicine and vice chancellor for academic affairs for Duke University Medical Center, speakers will address several topics related to stem cell research. Speakers and their topics include:

Dr. Joanne Kurtzberg, director of Duke's Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Program, director of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank, and a professor of pediatrics and associate professor of pathology at Duke, who will discuss stem cell and cord blood research.

Dr. Steven A. Goldman, Nathan Cummings Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Cornell University Medical College, who will discuss adult tissue-derived stem cells and therapeutics.

Dr. Jeremy Sugarman, director of Duke's Center for the Study of Medical Ethics and Humanities and a professor of medicine and philosophy at Duke, who will deliver the keynote address about the ethical considerations of stem cell research.

Kyle Kinner, legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and Tony Mazzaschi, assistant vice president for biomedical research & health sciences research and director of the Council of Academic Societies, Division of Biomedical and Health Sciences Research, at the Association for American Medical Colleges, who will talk about the current controversy surrounding stem cell research.

William Raspberry, a Washington Post columnist and Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism at Duke, and Rhonda Rowland, a CNN medical reporter, who will discuss the media's coverage of stem cell research.

Journalists can register online at http://www.ncabr.org/stemcell_reg.htm