The Faculty Symposium will be held on February 1, 2018 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the Faculty Shark Club (Rosenthal Building).

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that, as of 2017, there are 5.5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s dementia. Scientists believe they are very close to a groundbreaking blood test to detect the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s in people in their 40s and 50s with no obvious symptoms. This advancement could reveal millions of people who are predisposed to develop the disease. If this type of genetic test becomes available, would you want to learn this information to prepare for your future, or would you rather not know? Would you want to keep this information private, or would you want to share this information with others to increase awareness and advocate for a cure? Could your employer or an insurance company use this health information in making business decisions? Are there any differences in treatment if you knew early on that you would develop this disease later in life? This symposium will address these and other important legal and medical issues that surround the genetic testing for the predisposition of Alzheimer’s.

Presenters

Marilyn L. Uzdavines, J.D., associate professor of law at NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law, primarily teaches in the area of health care practice and regulation. She teaches J.D. courses in Health Care Compliance; Health Care Organizations, Regulations, and Access; and Disability Law. She also teaches Pharmaceutical Law; Legal Perspectives in Health Care Ethics; and Regulatory Compliance for the college’s Master of Science in Health Law program. Her scholarship explores the regulation of developing areas of medical practice with an emphasis on FDA regulation. Uzdavines has spoken at numerous national academic conferences throughout the United States, including the Annual Health Law Professors Conference, the Southeastern Association of American Law Schools, and the Society of American Law Teacher’s Conference. She has served as an affiliated faculty member for NSU’s College of Allopathic Medicine, providing assistance in developing the leadership thread for that college’s curriculum. She has also served on the Master of Science in Health Law Curriculum Task Force and as a co-organizer of NSU’s College of Law 2016 Health Law Symposium. Uzdavines is a member of The Florida Bar and of The Florida Bar Committee on Diversity and Inclusion.

Kenya Rivas, M.D., C.M.D., assistant professor and vice chair of the Department of Geriatrics at the Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (NSU-KPCOM), completed her Family Medicine Residency and Geriatric Fellowship at Florida Hospital, Orlando, Florida. She has been instrumental in helping to establish various geriatric educational programs for trainees at many levels at NSU-KPCOM. Rivas has been lecturing on geriatrics at local- and national-level conferences, coauthored several case reports in peer-reviewed journals, and coauthored a chapter in the journal Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice called “Evaluation and Management of the Older Adult with Chronic Kidney Disease.” Currently, she is involved in different projects aiming to enhance the standard of care for geriatric patients. These include the quality improvement project that took place in a local nursing home and the implementation of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is currently working as principal investigator on a grant application for the antibiotic stewardship project. Rivas is also an active Continuing Medical Education member of The Florida Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (FMDA), where she was recently elected as a board member.

RSVP to facultysymposium@nova.edu.
Save the Date-Future Symposia
Thursday, March 15, 2018