By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLISóDuke University’s free health classes next month at the N.C. Research Campus will feature a panel of local doctors who support the MURDOCK Study.
The series kicks off by discussing the community’s involvement in the 50,000-member registry and a biostorage facility that will hold millions of blood and tissue samples.
Other seminars will cover the ethics and policy issues behind research, the effects of environmental factors on human disease and the importance of community involvement in research.
The free classes start at 7 p.m. every Tuesday in April in the Core Laboratory Building. Seating is limited to 225 and registration is required at www.murdock-study.org.
Duke’s medical research study is named for campus founder David Murdock, dubbed the Measurement to Understand Reclassification of Disease of Cabarrus/Kannapolis.
Seminar participants can learn more by enrolling in the registry.
Classes include:
– April 7 “The MURDOCK Study Community Registry: What does it really mean?” by Dr. Kristin Newby and Dr. Rowena Dolor.
An overview of the registry and biorepository that will help explain what they are, why they are important and how individuals can become involved.
Newby, a cardiologist and co-director at Duke University Medical Center, is the principal investigator of the cardiovascular disease project in the first phase of the MURDOCK Study.
Dolor is a general internist at Duke and the Ambulatory Care Service at the Durham VA Medical Center. She directs the Primary Care Research Consortium for the Duke University Health System and outlying communities.
– April 14 “Maps Where People Matter” by Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda.
A discussion about how environmental exposures may contribute to human disease.
The seminar will highlight how exposures are measured and subsequently included in research analyses, as well as which exposures are of particular concern in North Carolina.
Miranda is an associate professor of environmental sciences and policy in the Nicholas School of the Environment and directs the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative.
– April 21 “Ethics and Policy Issues in Biorepository Research” by Dr. Laura M. Beskow.
Biorepositories are an important resource for research into new ways to detect, treat and maybe even prevent health problems. But the facilities raise some concerns about issues such as informed consent and privacy.
Beskow is an assistant research professor at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. She is a co-investigator in the MURDOCK Study and principal investigator of “Simplifying Informed Consent for Biorepositories,” a MURDOCK-funded study.
– April 28 “Communities & Research: The Importance of Involvement” by Dr. Mary Anne McDonald.
McDonald will moderate a panel of local health care providers from the selected MURDOCK Study sites where participants can enroll, including a question-and-answer session between the audience and panelists.
McDonald is an assistant professor at the Duke Center for Community Research in Duke’s Department of Community and Family Medicine.
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