The Office of Science Education will offer a special Mini-Medical School to senior adults beginning every Wednesday from Oct. 2 through Oct. 23, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., at no charge. The Barney Neighborhood House, a senior living community, and NIH are also cosponsoring the fall series.
Featuring nationally known scientists and researchers, NIH's Mini-Med School teaches the basics of biomedicine -- the subjects one may learn during the first years of medical school. The classes for this series are designed to address the health issues most important to the senior adult community.
"We feel there's a great need to inform the senior population of issues that affect them differently than the rest of the population," said Cassandra Isom, program director. "Not many of us realize the growing number of seniors who suffer from acute hypertension, depression, as well as the rise in medication addiction to ease aches and pains."
NIH will provide lectures on the following subjects: Oct. 2, Dr. Rick Martinez, chief of the Geriatric Psychiatry Research Program, NIMH, "The Mind and Memory: Understanding Alzheimer's Disease"; Oct. 9, Maureen Leser, clinical research dietician for the Clinical Center nutrition department, "Nutrition: Eating Right for Healthy Living"; Oct. 16, Dr. Donald Vereen, special assistant for medical affairs, NIDA, and medical officer in the Violence and Traumatic Stress Research Branch, NIMH, "Depression: It's More Common Than You Think" and "Drug Abuse and Addiction: What the Research Tells Us"; Oct. 23, Dr. Theodore George, interim clinical director, section of clinical sciences, NIAAA, "Alcoholism: The Disease As We Know It," and Dr. Charles Curry, John. B. Johnson professor of medicine and chief of cardiovascular diseases, Howard University College of Medicine, "Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease: Can They Be Prevented?"
Although designed for senior adults, the program is open to everyone. As always, those who attend all four sessions will receive a Mini-Med School diploma. Metropolitan Baptist Church is located at 1225 R St., NW, Washington, D.C. Call Isom at 2-2469 for more information.
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