Pitt to Host Symposium on Avian Flu

PITTSBURGH-In the face of a possible avian flu outbreak, scientific and public health communities are planning how to best protect the public. The steps researchers in Pittsburgh and East Asia are taking will be the subject of a public symposium, "Avian Flu in Asia and at Home," to be held at Pitt April 12. This free event, cosponsored by the Asian Studies Center, within Pitt's University Center for International Studies, and the Graduate School of Public Health, will take place at 6 p.m. in Room 125, Frick Fine Arts Building Auditorium, Schenley Drive, Oakland. A panel discussion will be followed by an hour-long question-and-answer session.

The evening's panelists will include:

Andrea Gambotto, assistant professor in the Departments of Surgery and Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Gambotto and associates at the School of Medicine have developed a vaccine against avian flu that was highly effective when tested on several animal models. The vaccine can be produced rapidly and in large quantities, which may make it an invaluable tool for stopping the spread of a pandemic flu.

Gabriel Leung, associate professor in the translational public health department of community medicine at the University of Hong Kong. Leung contends that if a novel strain of the H5N1 virus emerges and is not contained at its source, a pandemic will result. He will discuss household- and community-based interventions in terms of their efficacy in reducing transmissions in large urban settings.

Loren Roth, senior vice president and chief medical officer, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC); associate vice chancellor for health sciences; and professor of health policy and management, University of Pittsburgh. Roth, who is also the chair of UPMC's Avian Flu Task Force, will speak about the challenges that hospitals may face in the event of a pandemic, focusing on UPMC's planning process-including plans to protect staff and how the hospital system will function at "surge capacity."

The discussion will be moderated by Wenfang Tang, associate professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh. Tang has published widely on China's markets and political institutions and is currently studying public opinion and political change in China. Simon Barratt-Boyes, associate professor of infectious diseases and microbiology in the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and codeveloper of the avian flu vaccine, also will be available to answer questions during the question-and-answer session.

Since 2004, Pitt's Asian Studies Center has held semi-annual public symposia with the aim of giving the Pittsburgh region the tools it needs to understand U.S. impact on Asia and Asia's impact on the United States.

Advance registration is requested; for more information, call 412-648-7371 or e-mail kcarlitz@ucis.pitt.edu.

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4/4/06/tmw