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Patients Accelerating Search for Cures Are Focus of Unique Session, November 11, 2005 at World Health Care Innovation and Technology Congress

Posted on: Monday, 7 November 2005, 12:01 CST

WOBURN, Mass., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Becoming a patient is usually a humbling experience. Suddenly, we are powerless, beholden to doctors, nurses, and the confusing bureaucracy enveloping the health care system. Now, advanced technology is allowing many patients not just to take better charge of their own care, but help drive the search to cure extremely challenging illnesses such as breast, colon, or prostate cancer; rare genetic conditions; and lung disease.

These bold, smart, and determined advocacy groups and their stories will be the focus of a unique showcase and Keynote Session entitled "Individuals Seeking Cures," being held at the World Health Care Innovation and Technology Congress, November 9-11, 2005, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington D.C. This event features health care and technology leaders sharing real-life case studies and successful applications of innovative business strategies, policy-making, and technology solutions leading the way to tomorrow's health care.

The "Individuals Seeking Cures" Keynote will be held on November 11, at 1:00 pm. Abstracts and posters detailing unique projects and approaches from participating advocacy groups will displayed in the exhibit hall throughout the conference. Hamilton Jordan, White House Chief-of-Staff to President Carter, three-time cancer survivor, best-selling author, and founder of the Georgia Cancer Coalition, will be the keynote speaker.

Thanks to the influx of many information and medical research technologies over the last decade, many patients and their loved ones are finding that even without medical degrees, they can have a dramatic impact on how quickly new treatments are found. Most importantly, desperate family members and friends are often pioneering the use of these advanced technologies. For example, new IT tools have allowed very small groups to reach out across the world, greatly increasing the number of patients they represent and recruit for studies. And while leading pharmaceutical companies struggle to understand how use the wealth of information from the human genome, groups representing patients with rare genetic diseases are making huge strides thanks to crucial new genetic information and tools.

"People will realize that the same processes and mechanisms can be applied to conditions that are not completely genetic, but are multifactorial," says Sharon F. Terry, CEO of Genetic Alliance, one of the speakers at the "Individuals Seeking Cures" keynote address, and a participant in the showcase.

The Wall Street Journal is co-sponsoring, and Booz Allen Hamilton is the platinum sponsor of the conference. More information about the World Health Care Innovation and Technology Congress is available at http://www.whitcongress.com/

CONTACT: Tracey Fielding, 781-939-2555 t.fielding@worldcongress.com http://www.whitcongress.com/

World Health Care Innovation and Technology Congress

CONTACT: Tracey Fielding of World Health Care Innovation and TechnologyCongress, +1-781-939-2555, t.fielding@worldcongress.com

Web site: http://www.worldcongress.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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