Public Lectures
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Public Lecture Series has been designed with the objectives:
- To raise the awareness of medical research at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
- To provide an opportunity for education on prevention, treatment and cure of specific diseases.
Public Lectures are held throughout the year with approximately four per year.
They provide the general public and others with the latest information and trends in medical research and medicine and access to leading scientists and clinicians. Public Lectures provide an opportunity to tell the stories of our work and the impact of it on people around the world. By opening our doors we are providing a first-hand, memorable experience of how we pursue the mission of the institute - Mastery of Disease Through Discovery.
Public Lectures are held in the Lecture Theatre on Level 7 of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute at 1G Royal Parade, Parkville.
Next Public Lecture
Malaria: a global disease - control and eradication
Wednesday 14 April 2010, 5.45 for 6pm
Lecture Theatre, Level 7, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
In the institute’s first public lecture for 2010 Professor Alan Cowman, Dr James Beeson and Professor Sir Gustav Nossal will discuss the global impact malaria has on public health, the new treatments and vaccines that are being developed for this infectious disease and the likelihood of it being eradicated.
Professor Cowman is head of the institute’s Infection and Immunity division and Dr Beeson is a public health clinician and malaria researcher. Professor Nossal was director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute from 1965-1996 and is a consultant to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on its Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative.
Register online or call 03 9345 2555
2009 lectures
4. How will breast stem cells help find new treatments for breast cancer?
In this, the institute’s fourth public lecture for 2009, Associate Professor Geoff Lindeman will discuss the common forms of breast cancer, new treatments for the disease and whether breast cancer is hereditary.
Associate Professor Lindeman is joint head of the institute’s Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium Laboratory, a position he shares with Associate Professor Jane Visvader.
The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion. The panel will include Associate Professor Visvader and other experts from the breast cancer field.
Associate Professor Geoff Lindeman
Joint head of Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
3. Discovery of a new drug for coeliac disease ... but maybe more
Imagine coeliac disease diagnosed by a blood test and treated without the need for a gluten-free diet. That’s the hope of Dr Bob Anderson whose research has led to the world’s first trials of a ‘vaccine’ for the disease. Join Dr Anderson and a panel of experts as they consider the prospect of coeliac disease being the first autoimmune disease that is diagnosed and controlled by the very agent – gluten, in this case – that causes the problem.
Dr Bob Anderson
Head, Coeliac Disease Laboratory, Autoimmunity and Transplantation Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Consultant Gastroenterologist, Melbourne Health
2. Improving Cancer Treatments
Professor Don Metcalf, whose discovery of colony stimulating factors has improved the lives of thousands of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, outlined the ongoing hunt for blood cell regulators. He was followed by Dr Glenn Begley, from US pharmaceutical company Amgen, who discussed how discoveries of these regulators are continuing to benefit cancer patients.
Professor Donald Metcalf
Cancer and Haematology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Dr Glenn Begley
Amgen
1. Progress towards the prevention and cure of type 1 diabetes
Professor Len Harrison, head of the Autoimmunity and Transplantation division, outlined the probable causes of diabetes and the scientific directions being taken by researchers to tackle this expanding problem.
Professor Len Harrison,
Autoimmunity and Transplantation Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Watch movies of WEHI Public Lectures online