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The
Division of Education is composed of five major components, all centered
on promoting the reputation of excellence of PBRC as a world-renowned
research institution and providing professional and community educational
seminars to increase the awareness of health and nutrition issues.
Dr. Phillip J. Brantley is the director of the division.
The Division of Education serves as the Center’s Office of Postdoctoral
Studies, established to enhance the postdoctoral research experience at Pennington.The
Pennington Scientific Symposia series attracts world-renowned scientists and
allows for synthesizing knowledge in a selected area of research.The professional
and community education programs sponsored by this division engage the public
and provide educational outreach.
1. INSTITUTIONAL POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING PROGRAM
The Pennington Biomedical Research Center was recently awarded a competitive
Postdoctoral Institutional Training Grant from the National Institutes of
Health.This is Pennington’s first institutional postdoctoral training
grant award. Entitled “Obesity: From Genes to Man,” this $1.3M
award will train postdoctoral fellows to become productive research scientists
capable of establishing scientific careers that further the understanding
of complex interactions between genetic, molecular, physiological and behavioral
aspects of obesity. Along with collaborating in research activities with
faculty mentors, postdoctoral fellows attend graduate nutrition seminars,
participate in workshops on grant proposal writing, enjoy presentations by
PBRC faculty and visiting scientists and participate in postdoc journal club
and data presentation meetings.
2. SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIA SERIES
The Division of Education plans and coordinates a bi-annual series of consensus
conferences, bringing together international expert scientists in specific
fields to present data and develop conclusions and recommendations for future
research. The first in the series of scientific symposia, entitled “The
Role for Polyphenols in Cardiovascular Disease,” was held in December
2002. Serving as co-chairs for this exploration into the importance of functional
foods were: Mike Lefevre, Ph.D. (Pennington Biomedical Research Center),
Myron D. Gross, Ph.D. (University of Minnesota) and Carl L. Keen (University
of California, Davis). In May 2003, the focus was on cutting edge research
involving nutrition and aging. “Mechanisms and Retardation of Aging” was
chaired by Eric Ravussin, Ph.D. (Pennington Biomedical Research Center),
Robert S. Schwartz, M.D. (University of Colorado Health Sciences Center),
and Richard Weindruch, Ph.D. (University of Wisconsin, Madison). Conclusions
from this symposium were published in the October 2003 edition of Experimental
Gerontology. Currently, 30% of the American population suffers from obesity
or overweight. In December 2003, Leslie P. Kozak, Ph.D. (Pennington Biomedical
Research Center) and Marc L. Reitman, M.D., Ph.D. (Merck Research Laboratories)
chaired a symposium exploring this rising epidemic entitled “Physical
Activity:The Thermogenic Regulator of Obesity?”
3. PROFESSIONAL SEMINARS/COMMUNITY EDUCATION
To keep health professionals up-to-date with contemporary issues, the Division
of Educational Programs has sponsored several professional seminars.These
include the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians Annual Research Networking
Seminar and the PBRC Medical Technology Conference. To foster community education
and increasing awareness of health concerns, the Division of Education has
sponsored public events, focusing on educational outreach. One such program
is the Annual Men’s Health Conference, held each spring at the Pennington
Conference Center.
4. LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AGRICULTURAL CENTER
The Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s Division of Education recently
began partnering with the LSU Agricultural Center and its division of education,
the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service.The Extension Service plays a unique
role in both rural and urban parishes in Louisiana. It is an agency devoted
to providing research-based outreach education.The objective of the partnership
is to provide an effective, efficient means of disseminating information and
advice to the public, through parish extension agents.The partnership focuses
on all aspects of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s nutrition
research findings by ensuring that the results of research are translated into
practical recommendations that are made available immediately to the community.
Dr. Heli Roy from the LSU Ag Center was appointed to the position of Outreach
Coordinator and charged with providing culture-specific research information
to Extension agents across Louisiana.
5. WOMEN’S NUTRITION RESEARCH PROGRAM
The WNRP was established in 1997 in response to the interests of the many researchers
at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center who were studying issues related
to women’s health. Primarily an education and outreach program the
WNRP has specifically targeted women’s health issues.There has been
a lack of attention to gender differences in regard to nutritional needs,
body composition, and the progression of chronic disease. A working group
with representation from several institutions and area hospitals was formed
to plan the program’s directions and activities. Dr. Jennifer Lovejoy
coordinated the program until her departure from Pennington in 2003, when
Dr. Catherine Champagne was named coordinator. The WNRP offers educational
programs, including the annual Irene W. Pennington Wellness Day for Women
to address women’s unique health concerns.The 2003 Wellness Day for
Women was attended by nearly 500 women, and consisted of a full day of educational
seminars, health-related exhibits, cooking demonstrations, and a style show.
FUTURE GOALS
There are plans underway to submit another postdoctoral training grant.We would
like to help increase the number of postdoctoral fellows at Pennington from
the current 40 to 75 by 2005.We would like to continue holding two scientific
symposia per year. Finding a permanent endowment for our symposium series
would help guarantee we could maintain a semiannual symposia schedule.We
have already begun work on our fourth symposium which will be held in the
spring of 2004 and focus on the metabolic syndrome associated with obesity
and related chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes.We also intend to continue
sponsoring professional training seminars such as the one planned for February
of next year. This conference involves collaboration among PBRC, the Paul
M. Hebert Law Center (LSU), and the University of Montréal and is
entitled “The Genomics Revolution? Science, Law, and Policy.” Another
professional seminar scheduled for April of 2004 will highlight worksite
wellness programs in Louisiana and their impact on employee healthy and productivity,
Finally, the division intends to continue its efforts to provide up-to-date
community education programs, directly with its participation in and sponsorship
of health fairs and indirectly by its expanding collaboration with the LSU
Agricultural Extension Service.
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