“Ebola Unmasked” Lecture Offered by Alumna/Leader with National Institutes of Health
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Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary's College
(574) 284-4579
October 28, 2014 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—Saint Mary’s College is proud to welcome back to campus infectious disease expert Mary Anne Luzar ’72, PhD for another health-related speaking engagement, this time on Ebola. Luzar is chief of the Regulatory Affairs Branch, Division of AIDS, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The public is invited to attend her lecture, titled “Ebola Unmasked: International Efforts to Halt the Current Epidemic and the Bioethical Challenges Facing Each Approach,” which will take place on Wednesday, November 5 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in Carroll Auditorium of Madeleva Hall. Click for a campus map.
We appreciate any help the news media can provide in publicizing the event, but news reporters and photographers are not permitted to cover the lecture so that Luzar may speak freely about her work at the NIH. The opinions presented at the seminar will be hers and should not be taken as official commentary from the NIH.
Mary Anne Luzar '72Ebola is an infectious disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding, which is often fatal. The virus has killed nearly half the over 10,000 people infected this year in West Africa, according to news reports. This lecture will focus on current developments regarding Ebola and its global impact in areas of public health, ethics, and economics. The talk will trace the history of earlier Ebola outbreaks and discuss the current preparation in the U.S. for what may come. A review of the research to find a treatment will be discussed. Past pandemics have provided valuable lessons and Luzar will explore how these lessons may inform current public health decision makers.
Luzar’s career has included work in the war on AIDS. At the NIH, she has been responsible for the overall regulatory strategy for Division of AIDS-sponsored drug trials, providing guidance for clinical trials, including international trials under FDA investigation in approximately 50 countries.
Her work has appeared in numerous journals. In fact, the clinical findings from her dissertation were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. She is fluent in both French and Spanish, and defended her dissertation in French, becoming the first American to receive the PhD (summa cum laude) in microbiology from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
“To think her higher education began at Saint Mary’s with a degree in French literature and humanistic studies. It goes to show where a solid liberal arts education can lead,” Vice President of College Relations Shari Rodriguez said.
Luzar embodies how a liberal arts foundation works hand in hand with the discipline of science. “I always tell people that humanistic studies taught me to see the connections between complex issues that do not appear on the surface to be related. The liberal arts education I received at Saint Mary’s has been invaluable to me as a scientist.”
The Division of College Relations and the Career Crossings Office (CCO) are co-sponsors of the lecture. Questions regarding the lecture can be directed to Stacie Jeffirs, director of CCO at sjeffirs@saintmarys.edu.
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, residential, women’s liberal arts college offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study, such as business, nursing, art, chemistry, and social work. The College’s single-gender environment has been proven, in study after study, to foster confidence, ethical leadership, and strong academic success. Saint Mary’s College ranks among the top 100 Best National Liberal Arts Colleges for 2015 published by U.S. News & World Report. Founded in 1844 by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Saint Mary’s College’s mission is to educate women and prepare them for postgraduate success whether it’s a first job, graduate school, or postgraduate service.