Lecture 57: Recent Contributions of Iran to Medical and Public Health Research

When: Thursday Jan 10, 2013 – 7:30 PM
Where: Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus) – Humanity Building (HU), Conference Room 009 (Get Directions, Campus Map )

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Speaker: Farin Kamangar, MD, PhD, MPH, MHS
Esmail Tabibi

Synopsis:

Iranians are generally aware of their old, but not their more recent, contributions to medical research. Avecinna’s book, the Canon of Medicine, and Rhazes’s discovery of alcohol are often quoted as salient examples of Iran’s contributions to medicine. However, few are aware that substantial medical research is currently ongoing in Iran, and that despite the tense political relationships, the research is being conducted in collaboration with the United States, the United Kingdom, and the World Health Organization. This presentation reviews some statistics on recent research in Iran, provides some examples of collaborations between Iran and other nations, in particular with the United States, and recounts some success stories.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Farin Kamangar is the Chairman of Department of Public Health Analysis and Professor of Epidemiology at Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD. He received his PhD in Epidemiology and MHS in Biostatistics from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and his MD and MPH from Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Dr. Kamangar has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in the field of epidemiology, mostly focused on the causes of esophageal and gastric cancer.

Fee (including dinner): $5 Students, $15 Public

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Lecture 56: Drug Development Process

Date & Time: Thursday December 13, 2012 – 7:30 PM

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Location: Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus) – Humanity Building (HU), Conference Room 009 (Get Directions, Campus Map )

Speaker: Esmail Tabibi, PhD
Language: English 
Esmail Tabibi

Synopsis:

Drug development is a long, expensive and risky process. It starts from an idea that sparks in a scientist’s brain (either in academia or industry) and creates a flurry of scientific, financial and sometimes political activities to generate about 5000 compounds, which at the end, just one of them may end up in the market as a drug.This brief presentation will attempt to point out the major issues involved in drug development process and the potential reasons of failure of other 4999 compounds during 12-15 years of this process.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Esmail Tabibi received his B.Sc. in pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy with emphasis on Pharmacology from Tabriz University in Iran. After teaching at Tabriz and Mash-had universities, he moved to University of Maryland at Baltimore to obtain his Ph.D.. Following his graduation, he served as Director of Pharmaceutical R&D at H.G. Pars Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Director R&D and Vice President at MediControl Corporation, Newton, MA, Vice President for Product Development at Micro Vesicular System, Nashua, NH, Assistant Professor of School of Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI and Project Officer at the National Cancer Institute with responsibility for develping anti-cancer drugs.
In 2001, he returned to academic as Associate Professor of the Dept of OB/GYN at Eastern Virginia Medical School to develop microbicide and anti-AIDS medications. His current position is at the National Cancer Institute with similar responsibility. Dr. Tabibi has published over 60 peer reviewed articles, many book chapters and has been honored with several patents.
He is founding member of the following non-profit organizations:

  • Ibn Sina Health Foundation of North America
  • AhlulBayte Society in North America
  • Islamic School of Potomac

Currently he serves at the Board of Islamic School of Potomac and Islamic Research and Educational Foundation.

Fee (including dinner): $5 Students, $15 Public

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2012 Student Scholarship Award Ceremony & Lecture 55

IAAP is proud to host 2012 Student Scholarship Award Ceremony.

Date & Time: Thursday November 8, 2012 – 6:45 PM RSVP Here
Location: Montgomery Community College (Faculty Lounge, Campus Center) (Get Directions, Campus Map )

Program Agenda:
  • 6:45 pm: Registration and Socialization
  • 7:15 pm: Opening Remarks, and Welcoming note by Dr. Aram Hessami
  • 7:20 pm: IAAP, and the Scholarship Award Selection Criteria
    Dr. Manouchehr Farkhondeh, President, IAAP
  • 7:35 pm: Dinner
  • 8:10 pm: Lecture by ”Ashkan Emadi, MD, PhD ”, “Targeting Cancer Metabolism: A New Hope Ready for Prime Time”
  • 8:50 pm: Scholarship Awards
    Mr. Hossein Ebneyousef, Chair of Student Scholarship Committee, IAAP
  • 9:30 pm: Musical performance
  • 10:00 pm: Closing Remarks
Speaker: Ashkan Emadi, MD, PhD
Language: English 

Ashkan EmadiSynopsis:

In contrast to normal cells, rapidly dividing cancer cells genetically reprogram their nutritional requirements to match an increased metabolic demand. The two main nutrient sources for growth and survival of cancer cells are glucose, a sugar, and glutamine, an amino acid. The preference for glucose was noted approximately 90 years ago and is now best illustrated by the fact that positron emission tomography (PET) scans are able to detect many new and recurrent cancers. We and others have connected key genes in leukemia, lymphoma and other cancers to glucose and glutamine metabolisms in cancer. After validating the proof-of-concept, we are now exploring the therapeutic potential of targeting several key enzymes in glycolysis, mitochondria and glutamine metabolism for already approved and future anti-neoplastic drugs. This presentation demonstrates a personal journey, several collaborations, failures and successes of studies that are underpinned by rigorous scientific foundations, upon which new ways of treating cancers and in particular, leukemias are being researched.

About the Speaker:

Ashkan Emadi, M.D., Ph.D. is a board certified Hematologist/Oncologist and an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center. He previously served as Medical Officer at the Division of Hematology Products (DHP), Office of Hematology and Oncology Products (OHOP), Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and as Visiting Scientist at Division of Adult Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Emadi received his medical doctorate (M.D.) from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 1996 and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2004. He developed novel methodologies for the synthesis of multiple naphthoquinone derivatives exhibiting HIV integrase inhibitory and anti-neoplastic activities. He was granted “Highest Standards of Academic Achievement Award” for this work, and holds the patent on the compounds and their synthesis. Following completion of his Ph.D., he completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Kentucky and the University of Cincinnati, respectively. Dr. Emadi finished his Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Emadi’s translational and clinical research is focused on exploiting cancer metabolism. He works on developing new drugs and novel targets for the treatment of blood cancers and solid tumors. Dr. Emadi has published in several prestigious journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Blood, Organic Letters, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology and Science Translational Medicine.

Fee (including dinner): $5 Students, $15 Public

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