The Global Pandemics: It’s a Small World After All

Benjamin J Briggs, MD, PhD

Topic: The Global Pandemics: It’s a Small World After All
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Place: Irondequoit Country Club: 4045 East Ave. [14618]
Time: 6:00 Reception; 7:00 Dinner; 8:00 Speaker Presentation
followed by Q and A
Cost: $50 per person – dinner and service charge. Cash Bar

***Registration Policy: RSVP via Email to Christine Grout at WACRContact@gmail.com. Mail your
check for the dinner[s] to: WACR, PO Box 25462, Rochester, NY 14625 no later than December 7 .
We are relying on the “Honor System” that all attendees will be vaccinated. Please adhere to this to
protect our fellow members!

Dr. Briggs is a member of the University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group and is a graduate of the University of Buffalo, with an MD and a PHD in Pathology and Medical Microbiology. His research focuses on the development and study of novel approaches to sequencing-based diagnostics, (also known as clinical metagenomics) to provide rapid and clinically actionable results with broad pathogen detection as well as genotypic results such as antimicrobial resistance predictions. Sequences from specimens can be compared to help scientists track the spread of a virus, how it is changing, and how those changes may affect public health.

While this field is in its infancy, the potential to improve clinical outcomes and epidemiological investigations is remarkable, making this work both exciting and important, especially given recent epidemics and outbreaks where diagnostics are lacking. DNA sequencing is a biochemical method to determine the order of nucleotides in DNA. The technology of DNA sequencing began in the 1970s.

Dr. Briggs promises to enlighten all of us, in laymen’s terms, about the future of global health, in our shrinking world!

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