Lecture Series

Lecture 24: Dynamics of Global Warming

Date & Time: Thursday March 11, 2010 – 7:30 PM

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

Speaker: Dr. Hazhir Rahmandad

Synopsis:
Climate change has become a major concern for citizens and policy makers. However public understanding of the underlying dynamics of global warming is limited. This talk overviews the major processes involved in creation and mitigation of global warming and discusses a prominent simulation tool for predicting alternative scenarios and policy analysis regarding the mitigation of climate change trend.
About the Speaker:
Hazhir Rahmandad is an assistant professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. He received his Ph.D. in system dynamics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2005). Hazhir’s research interests include applying systems analysis tools to diverse dynamic problems such as polio eradication, sustainability, obesity, construction safety, product development, systems engineering, organizational learning and change, comparing different simulation methods, and model estimation methodologies. Hazhir is a Chemistry Olympiad gold medalist and has twice won the Dana Meadows paper award from the System Dynamics Society. Hazhir has also been involved in establishing several non-profits working on research and educational initiatives targeting Iran, including MIT Iranian Studies Group, Farsi Teachers Network, and International Association of Iranian Managers (I-AIM).

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

Lecture 23: Treatment planning for your oral health

Date & Time: Thursday January 14, 2010 – 7:30 PM

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

Speaker: Dr. Ahmad SoolariDr. Ahmad Soolari

Synopsis:

The main cause of periodontal disease is bacterial plaque, a sticky, colorless film that constantly forms on your teeth. However, factors like the following also affect the health of your gums:

* Smoking/Tobacco Use
* Genetics
* Pregnancy and Puberty
* Stress
* Medications
* Clenching or Grinding Your Teeth
* Diabetes
* Poor Nutrition
* Other Systemic Diseases

In this lecture, Dr. Soolari will discuss the following topics:

1. Diagnosis of oral disease
2. Etiology of caries (tooth decay) and periodontal (gum) disease
3. Treatment planning for teeth that have caries and or periodontal disease
4. Esthetic , function and speech consideration when treating oral diseases
5. Why dental treatment is expensive?
6. How your dental insurance work? Why dental insurance is different than medical?
7. What the LASER or IMPLANT therapy can do for you?
8. Are you caries or periodontal disease susceptible?
9. When should you be referred to a specialist?
10. Do you have gum recessions? Are your teeth sensitive?
11. Why gum disease should be detected and treated at early stage?
12. Body Mouth Connection: diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, pregnancy
13. What do you need to watch in dental marketing?
14. Are you saving money by going to overseas to get dental treatment?
15. What are signs of oral cancer?
16. What will happen when you do not replace missing teeth?
17. When wisdom teeth should be extracted?
18. Defective prosthesis and its impact on your oral health

Please visit www.drsoolari.com for more information.

About the speaker:
Dr. Soolari earned his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, School of Dentistry in 1990, where he received several academic awards. He received his postdoctoral specialty training in periodontics from the Department of Eastman Dental and Master of Science degree from the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. He achieved the distinction of Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology in 1997.
Dr. Soolari is an Adjunct Clinical Professor at the Postgraduate Periodontics Department at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.
Fee (including dinner): $5 Students, $15 Public

Lecture 22: Personalized Medicine – Implication in diagnosis and management of diseases; case of Colorectal cancer

Date & Time: Thursday December 10, 2009 – 7:30 PM

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

Speaker: Dr. Hassan Ashktorab

Dr Hassan AshktorabSynopsis:

Finding better therapies for the treatment of many tumors including colorectal cancer (CRC) is hampered by the lack of consistently obtained molecular data in a large sample set and the ability to integrate biomedical data from disparate sources enabling translation of therapies from bench to bedside. Hence, a critical factor in the advancement of biomedical research and clinical translation is the ease with which data can be integrated, redistributed, and analyzed both within and across functional domains. Novel biomedical informatics infrastructure and tools are essential for developing individualized patient treatment based on the specific genomic signatures in each patient’s tumor. Here, I present and explain the molecular biology of gene (oncogene and tumor suppressor genes), and implication of personalized medicine in colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of death in the USA.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Hassan Ashktorab is a professor in the Department of Medicine and an adjunct professor in the Department of Genetics and Human Genetics.  The focus of Dr. Ashktorab’s research is epigenetics and the genetics of gastrointestinal cancers especially colon cancer. His long term goals include the identification and characterization of factors that play a direct role in the initiation and progression of cancer, specifically colon cancer. Dr. Ashktorab is hopeful that his work can contribute to the reduction of cancer health disparities through his NIH funded research focusing on investigating the genetic and epigenetic factors that contribute to the development of adenomas (polyps) and colon cancer especially in African Americans.

Dr. Ashktorab received his undergraduate degree in medical technology from Shiraz University in Iran. In 1984 he moved to the United States to attend Utah State University where he received a Masters degree in molecular biology and went on to get a PhD in Molecular Biology. He did two post-doc training, one at Indiana university and the other at University of Florida. In, 2004, Dr. Ashktorab became the first holder of the Fulbright Scholarship from Howard University. He is currently a Fulbright Ambassador in the Washington DC metropolitan area and also serves on the Board of Directors of Ibn Sina Health Foundation of North America (ISHFINA), a non-profit organization that provides help to uninsured people in the DC Metro area.

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