USA College of Medicine is pleased to announce that Dr. Andre Dubois will be the keynote speaker during the 32nd Annual Medical Student Research Day on Friday, August 5, 2005.

His lecture, entitled "Helicobacter pylori and Gastric Diseases: A Model of Medical Discovery", will begin at 11 a.m. in the College's Conference Room.

Dubois' research interest centers on the role of H. pylori in the pathogenesis of gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease. The current research challenge in this area of medicine is to study and better understand the dietary and genetic factors that interact with H. pylori to induce ulcers or cancer.

Helicobacter pylori is a type of bacterium that plays a role in the development of peptic and small intestine ulcers. This infection can also increase the risk of stomach cancer. H. plyori bacterium contributes to ulcer development by growing in the lining of the stomach, causing irritation and allowing the stomach lining to be more susceptible to digestive acids.

Dubois is a professor of medicine and chief of the laboratory of gastrointestinal and liver studies at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, Maryland. Additionally he serves as the assistant director of the digestive diseases division at USUHS. Last year he was identified as a Master Teacher by Georgetown University Medical School Magis Society. This elite organization selects professors who strive for excellence in all their activities and give selflessly to their students, their colleagues, and their patients.

In 1963, Dubois graduated magna cum laude from the University of Brussels Medical School (UBMS). Later he obtained his PhD. in physiology and surgery at UBMS, again with honors. Dubois completed his residency at the Department of Surgery for both the University Hospital St. Pierre, Brussels, Belgium and the Military Hospital of Brussels, Belgium. He also boasts fellowships from the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, Peter Bend Brigham Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Dubois has been a member of the Digestive Disease Core Centers Study Section of the National Institutes of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases. He is also a member of the American Federation of Clinical Research, and the American Physiological Society. Additionally, he has served as associate editor of the journal "Prostaglandins".

For more information regarding this event, please contact Natalie Kent at 460-6041.