Meeting: ICML - Genomics Symposium

[Frank Norman]

Please bring this to the attention of any Librarians or Information
Scientists in 
your organisation

Symposium on :
       The Impact of Genomics on Health and Healthcare Libraries
                    30th June 2000, Wellcome Trust, London

The 8th International Congress of Medical Librarianship is being held in
London in 
July 2000.  As part of its continuing education programme, a one-day
symposium 
on genomics will take place.  A varied and authoritative range of
speakers has 
been assembled.  

The current explosion of genetic information is profoundly affecting all
healthcare disciplines. Medical librarians must learn to understand this
new area of information and the new information needs of researchers,
healthcare workers and patients. 

Genome projects are rapidly generating an array of new information 
resources including sequence, structure, mapping and functional 
databases. Increased knowledge about genetic disorders and 
about genetic aspects of common diseases is beginning to impact 
on medical practice. Magazines and newspapers are regularly 
publishing information about these issues, but there is still 
ignorance and misunderstanding of what effect genome research 
will have on healthcare. All of these issues pose challenges for 
librarians in healthcare and medical research libraries.  

This symposium is designed to improve your awareness of the 
influence of the new genomic knowledge on medicine. It also aims 
to encourage you to learn about genomic information resources 
and to promote their exploitation. Attendees will gain an 
appreciation of the impact of the Human Genome Project on 
medical practice and research, current ethical debates and the 
information needs of the public in this area.  

The precise programme will be available soon, but confirmed 
speakers include:

Graham Cameron (Joint Head, European Bioinformatics Institute)
Sir David Weatherall (Director, Institute of Molecular Medicine)
Tom Wilkie (Head, Biomedical Ethics, Wellcome Trust)
Jo McEntyre (US National Centre for Biotechnology Information)
Alastair Kent (Director, Genetic Interest Group)
Bernard Keavney, (Oxford University Medical School)

There will also be a speaker from Iceland to talk about the Icelandic
Healthcare Database, and a speaker from the pharmaceutical industry to
talk about the use of bioinformatics in drug discovery.  

More details will be available at this Web-site:
http://unicorn.sanger.ac.uk/icml/symposium.htm

Symposium Registration Costs:
If registering for ICML: £100 + VAT
Registering for this event only:  £120 + VAT


Frank Norman            National Institute for Medical Research
Librarian               The Ridgeway, Mill Hill
                        London NW7 1AA,  UK
tel 020 8 913 8629       email fnorman at nimr.mrc.ac.uk
fax 020 8 913 8534            http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/personal/Frank


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