ARM 2020 highlights

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Speaker: Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, Consultant Psychiatrist

Date and time: Wednesday 16 September, from 12.30pm to 2pm

The covered:

• the definition of the clinical characteristics of a gambling disorder
• an outline of Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones work in setting up the National problem gambling Clinic
• an outline of the recent expansion by NHS England of the protocols used in order to plan for the 15 extra NHS funded clinics opening throughout the UK
• a focus on the current political landscape linked to gambling and discuss the need for a public health approach in order to protect the vulnerable.

If you missed this session, you can watch it back.

Speaker: Professor Fergus Shanahan, Chair, Department of Medicine and Director, APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork

Date and time: Wednesday 16 September, from 6pm to 7.30pm. 

Synopsis

Humans have evolved with tiny creatures (microbes) residing in and on the body. These include bacteria, fungi and viruses, collectively referred to as the microbiota and the genetic information contained therein is known as the microbiome.

The microbiome has been likened to a virtual organ, essential for immunity and for the maturation of internal organs, including the gut, brain and neuroendocrine system. Moreover, the high prevalence of chronic immune, allergic and metabolic disorders in socio-economically developed societies is attributable, in part, to missing microbes, lost in a modern lifestyle.

Advances in microbiome research show how microbes influence human health and risk of disease. Three areas are particularly noteworthy. Firstly, the microbiome is a source of predictive biomarkers for health (including healthy ageing) and disease (including risk of colon cancer).

Secondly, the microbiome can be manipulated for health benefit, most notably by diet, but also by strategies ranging from microbiome transplantation to phage therapy.

Thirdly, the microbiome can be ‘mined’ for new drugs and functional food ingredients, including smart antibiotics, immunoregulatory molecules and even growth factors.

Lessons from these success stories of microbiome medicine will be explored and simple strategies for how we can maintain our microbes will be addressed. Microbiome health is for everyone!

If you missed this session, you can watch it back.

Speaker: Professor David Heymann, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Date and time: Thursday 17 September, from 12pm to 1.30pm

Synopsis of talk

Over the years the public health community has learned much about outbreak detection and response, and about the need for strong public health and health care systems to control and mitigate the impact of outbreaks.

There has also been much learned about the importance of community involvement in these actions, but two of the lessons not yet fully learned have been how political, public health and clinical management systems can best work together towards the same clearly identified goal of preparedness and response; and how working together within the human health, animal health and environment sectors can eventually help prevent outbreaks at the source.