Jan. 24, 2012: ISER Lunchtime Talk: 'Early Life Lasts a Lifetime'

Tuesday, Jan. 24, 12-1 p.m.
ISER Conference Room, Fifth Floor, Diplomacy Building (4500 Diplomacy Drive)

In the upcoming ISER Lunchtime Talk, "Early Life Lasts a Lifetime," Stephen Bezruchka of the University of Washington's School of Public Health will discuss how early life affects our health as adults and why changes in health policies for the youngest Americans could make us healthier as we age.
 
Research on the developmental origins of health and disease demonstrates that a substantial portion of our health as adults is programmed in the first thousand days after conception. Evidence suggests we make trade-offs in early life in order to survive to reproduce-and that we pay the price with chronic diseases later in life. Medical care in the U.S. mostly relies on maintenance medicines to manage symptoms of non-communicable diseases. As we increasingly neglect the first part of life with our hectic and stressful adult life, we face limitations later. Health in the U.S. is that of a middle-income country, even though U.S. spending for health care amounts to almost half the world's medical bill. Dr. Bezruchka argues that changes in policies regarding early life are the primordial "medicines" we need.

Stephen Bezruchka is a graduate of Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford universities. He teaches courses in population health in the Department of Global Health in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, where he also directs the Population Health Forum. He received the 2002 Outstanding Teacher Award and the 2008 Faculty Community Service Award in the School of Public Health. He also practiced as an emergency physician for 30 years. Join us to hear his discussion of why early life lasts a lifetime.
 
The Diplomacy Building is at 4500 Diplomacy Drive, at the corner of Tudor Road and Tudor Centre Drive. Free Parking. Call (907) 786-7710 if you need directions.