WesternU’s Austin Lecture to focus on adverse childhood experiences

The annual Robert L. Austin Endowed Lectureship in Pediatric Medicine, Pharmacology & Health Care Policy will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, 2016 in Lecture Hall I of Western University of Health Sciences’ Health Education Center, 701 E. Second Street, Pomona, California.

Keynote speaker Vincent J. Felitti, MD, UCSD Clinical Professor of Medicine and Co-Principal Investigator of the Adverse Childhood Experience Study, will present “Exploring the Lifelong Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences.” The lecture is open to the public and will also be streamed live to WesternU’s COMP-Northwest campus in Lebanon, Oregon.

A renowned physician and researcher, Felitti is one of the world’s foremost experts on childhood trauma. Leading the charge in research into how adverse childhood experiences affect adults, he is co-principal investigator of the internationally recognized Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, a long-term, in-depth analysis of more than 17,000 adults. Defying conventional belief, this study famously revealed a powerful relationship between our emotional experiences as children and our physical and mental health as adults. In fact, the ACE study shows that humans convert childhood traumatic emotional experiences into organic disease later in life. Revolutionary at its inception, Felitti’s groundbreaking research remains extremely relevant to today’s health care models.

Felitti, founder of the Department of Preventive Medicine for Kaiser Permanente, served as chief of preventive medicine for more than 25 years. Under his leadership, the department provided comprehensive medical evaluations to 1.1 million individuals, becoming the largest single-site medical evaluation facility in the western world. During this time, Felitti’s revolutionary health risk abatement programs incorporated weight loss, smoking cessation, stress management, and a wide range of cutting-edge efforts to reduce patient risk factors. Felitti also has served on advisory committees at the Institute of Medicine and the American Psychiatric Association. A noted expert on the genetic disease hemochromatosis, as well as obesity, he educates audiences around the country on these two very common, deadly maladies.

The lectureship was established in Dr. Austin’s memory by his wife, Gloria, their children, Charles, Douglas and Lynette, and their families. It is designed to honor and perpetuate his lifelong love of medical practice and his pursuit of pediatric knowledge in the health professions. He was a faculty member at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific until his retirement in 1981.

Click here to visit the Austin Lectureship website.