FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    Connecticut Department of Public Health

April 10, 2008                                                  William Gerrish

                                                                         (860) 509-7270

Hartford- The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH), Office of Genomics will host a panel of experts to discuss the promise and regulatory challenges of biobanks at the international, national, and more regional level.  The seminar will explore the overall importance to understanding the key role that biobanks play in disease research and how critical they are to future research discoveries.

Guest speakers include Jeffery Struewing, M.D., M.S., Epidemiologist, Office of Population Genomics, National Human Genome Research Institute; Steve Latham, Ph.D., J.D., Director, Center for Health Law & Policy, Quinnipiac University School of Law; Errol Norwitz, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Director, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine; and Paul Pescatello, J.D., Ph.D., CEO/President, Connecticut United for Research Excellence, who will moderate the free seminar.

“Biobanks: The Promise and Public Health Challenges of Biorepositories” will be held on Thursday, May 22, 2008 from 1:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Hartford – Cromwell, 100 Berlin Road in Cromwell, Connecticut.

To learn more about this event, visit the “Featured Links” section on the home page of the DPH website at www.ct.gov/dph

The Connecticut Department of Public Health is the state’s leader in public health policy and advocacy with a mission to protect and promote the health and safety of the people of our state. To contact the department, please visit its website at or call (860) 509-7270.

###