Monday, February 20, 2017

9:30 – 10:30  CULTURES, CLANS, AND COMMUNITIES

North Korean Refugees: Roadblocks to Freedom

Speaker: Hyon Kim, Founder and President of Freedom for North Korean Refugees
of Minnesota

As a four-year-old, Kim was separated from her family as they fled to Northern Korea. General MacArthur’s troops were advancing into the country. She will tell the rest of her story. Kim and her organization have planned two seminars at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
10:45 – 11:45 PUBLIC POLICY

How the Environment Affects Our Health and What We Can Do About It

Speaker: Dr. Bill Toscano, Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota

During a lifetime, we are exposed to some 100,000 chemicals, with many suspected as causes of chronic diseases such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. Some shape our DNA causing mutations that can lead to cancers and birth defects. Some chemicals even fool our cells with confusing signals that interfere with and change gene expression (epigenetics). What can we do to minimize these dangers to human health?

11:45 – Noon ANNOUNCEMENTS
12:00 – 1:15  LUNCHEON

1:15 – 2:15 HEALTH

What You Need to Know about Pacemakers and Defibrillators

Speaker: Dr. Selcuk Adabag, Cardiac Electrophysiologist, Minneapolis VA Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Minnesota

Adabag will talk about the history of pacemakers, the importance of Minnesota to pacemaker development; the function of pacemakers; implantation procedure; the new, leadless pacemakers; the history and function of defibrillators; and finally, the new subcutaneous defibrillators.