Governor Nathan Deal will proclaim Sept. 1, 2011 as Personalized Medicine Awareness Day and kick off a half-day program at Morehouse School of Medicine to mark the occasion.

The free program takes place from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 1 at the Louis W. Sullivan National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine.

Keynote speaker Leroy Hood, MD, PhD, a pioneer in biotechnology and genomics and founder of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, will discuss the promise of personalized medicine for improving health care. While at Caltech, Hood and his colleagues developed the DNA sequencer and synthesizer and the protein synthesizer and sequencer – four instruments that paved the way for successful mapping of the human genome.

A panel discussion including scientists from Emory University, Morehouse School of Medicine and Georgia Tech will explore recent advances in personalized medicine and Georgia’s leadership in this innovative field.

Speakers include:

David Satcher, MD, PhD, director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States

Kenneth L. Brigham, MD, associate vice president and director of the Predictive Health Institute at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology

Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, dean and executive vice president of Morehouse School of Medicine

Elizabeth Ofili, MD, MPH, associate dean and director of the Clinical Research Center at Morehouse School of Medicine and national principal investigator of the WARFARIN study, a first of its kind personalized medicine study approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Roger Simon, MD, director of translational programs in stroke and professor of neurology and neurobiology at Morehouse School of Medicine

David Stephens, MD, vice president for research at Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center and principal investigator of the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute (ACTSI)

The program is organized by Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory and Georgia Tech, all part of the ACTSI, a research consortium funded by the National Institutes of Health. Also participating are Georgia Bio, Iverson Genetic Diagnostics, Inc. of Bothell, Wa.

Click here to register