ISSUED: 27 August 2018
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — The Shepherd University President’s Lecture Series will cover a variety of topics this fall, including health issues, the politics of oil, and climate change. Four lectures are planned. All are free and open to the public and will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education auditorium. They include:
- Tuesday, September 18—“Photobiomodulation Therapy (PBMT): What is it? How does it work? What can it do for you?” by Dr. Juanita J. Anders. Photobiomodulation is an emerging and rapidly expanding area of light-based photonic research with therapeutic applications that has the potential to revolutionize modern health care. This presentation will include the basics of what PBMT is, the mechanisms by which it alters physiology and response to injury and disease, and its clinical potential. Anders is internationally recognized as an expert in photobiomodulation research and has served as an invited chair and speaker globally. Her specialty is peripheral and central nervous system injury and repair mechanisms, and light tissue interactions. Anders received her Ph.D. in anatomy from the University of Maryland Medical School, then joined the National Institutes of Health in the Laboratory of Neuropathology and Neuroanatomical Sciences. She is affiliated with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences as a professor of anatomy, physiology, and genetics and is a professor of neuroscience.
- Tuesday, October 23—“Iraq and the Politics of Oil: An Insider’s Perspective” by Gary Vogler, who will discuss the restoration activities over his many years of involvement on the ground in Iraq. Vogler will lay out numerous facts that, over time, led him to the conclusion about the real agenda of the Iraq war, which he says has never been voiced by U.S. government leaders and had nothing to do with a threat posed by Iraq’s president or the interests of the United States. A 1973 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Vogler joined Mobil Oil Corporation and later ExxonMobil after serving in the U.S. Army. Vogler went to Iraq with the initial U.S. military elements as a civilian oil advisor and helped lead efforts to restore Iraq’s oil industry after the second Gulf War.
- Monday, November 12—“Lyme Disease” by Dr. Roberta Lynn DeBiasi, who will discuss what causes Lyme disease and the fact that, if left untreated, it can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. DeBiasi is chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Children’s National Health System, a professor of pediatrics and microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine, and principal investigator in the Center for Translational Science at Children’s Research Institute. Her research expertise includes basic science, clinical/translational research, and severe and emerging viral infections.
- Tuesday, November 27—“A Wild Solution for Climate Change” by Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, co-creator of the long-running PBS television series “Nature” and director of George Mason University’s Center for Biodiversity and Sustainability. Lovejoy will discuss how the impacts of climate change on biodiversity are ubiquitous and dangerous, and how ecosystem restoration can make a significant contribution to addressing the challenge. Lovejoy is a conservation biologist who coined the term “biological diversity” and is credited with founding the field of climate change biology. He has served on science and environmental councils under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. At the core of these many positions are his seminal ideas, which have formed and strengthened the field of conservation biology.
For more information on the President’s Lecture Series, visit www.shepherd.edu/president/presidents-lecture-series, or contact Karen Rice, director of continuing education and lifelong learning, at 304-876-5135 or krice@shepherd.edu.
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