THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603290207
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Physicians from across Virginia and North Carolina will gather here Wednesday to learn about the latest advances in organ transplant and CAT Scan technologies and to pick up a few pointers on stress management and decision making.
Obici Hospital is sponsoring its 43rd annual clinical conference, a one-day event that traditionally draws more than 150 physicians to hear speakers from some of the top-ranked medical schools and facilities in the country. The conference, at the National Guard Armory, has been designed ``for the enhancement of medical knowledge on topics of current clinical significance that cross over specialty lines,'' said Susan Stone, Obici marketing director.
Among this year's speakers are Dr. George D. Lundberg, publisher of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and Dr. Forrest Dodson, liver transplant specialist and assistant professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. (See profile on page 4.)
Dodson, who was raised in Nansemond County, graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School and has gone on to become one of the leading liver transplant surgeons in the country. Now based in Pittsburgh with the University of Pittsburgh's medical school transplant program, Dodson is part of the world's largest and busiest transplant program. An average of one transplant - including liver, kidney, pancreas, intestine, heart, lung, and multiorgan replacements - is performed there every 12 hours.
The Journal of the American Medical Association is the most widely read journal in the world, according to Lundberg, and he will call upon his experience with the journal for his luncheon lecture on how medical journals work.
Also at the luncheon hosted by Obici, the annual Medical Staff Award will be presented to Dr. Donald W. Drew for outstanding contributions to the medical profession. Drew, a retired cardiologist at Norfolk General Hospital and a professor of medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, was for 15 years the director of medical education at Sentara.
Dr. George C. Carroll, Obici pathologist, has been the moving force behind the annual conference since it was begun just a year after the hospital opened.
``He is involved in professional and medical societies on a state and national level and it is his reputation and connections that have attracted such top speakers to the conference,'' Stone said. by CNB