Last modified: Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Kelley School's life science workshop series begins Sept. 21; focuses on the role of informatics
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 4, 2007
EDITORS: The media is invited to attend this event. A complete program schedule, links to the participants' biographies and parking information is available at https://www.kelley.iu.edu/lifesc/conferences/conf1.html.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The impact that informatics is having on Indiana's life science industries will be the focus of the first program in the 2007-08 Indiana Life Sciences Collaboration Conference Series.
The workshop series, which was established last year, is designed by Indiana University's Kelley School of Business to assist Indiana's healthcare and life science companies.
"Informatics develops new ways for information technology to convert data into comprehensible information and turn it into useful knowledge," said Lawrence Davidson, professor of business economics and public policy, and the Kelley School's liaison to its Health Care and Life Sciences Initiative. "Since informatics is so broad in scope, it is serving Indiana life science firms helping find best practices in biomedical development, chemical engineering, computer security and even the doctor-patient relationship."
The seminar, "The Age of Life Sciences Informatics," is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 21, at 8 a.m. in the offices of Barnes and Thornburg LLP, 11 S. Meridian St. in downtown Indianapolis. The registation fee is $40 or $150 for the entire series.
Other conferences in the series will include "Biological and Physiological Differences Across the Population: Implications for Research and Development Along the Life Sciences Value Chain," Nov. 16, in Bloomington; "Leading the Way in Biotech Services," Feb.1, 2008, in Indianapolis; and "Life Sciences is a Capital Idea," May 16, also in Indianapolis.
Registration is available online at www.kelley.iu.edu/lifesc/conferences/confreg.html or by contacting Roxie Glaze at the Kelley School at 812-855-9210 or rglaze@indiana.edu.
"The response this past year to Kelley School efforts to help Indiana life science and healthcare firms has been tremendous, and we expect that momentum to continue," said Dan Smith, dean of the Kelley School. "In addition to helping our state economy to grow, the Indiana Life Science Initiative helps us to better prepare our students for careers in those fields and has deepened the expertise of our faculty."
"Informatics is playing a crucial role in life sciences research and practice, in areas ranging from the use of bioinformatics to understand human genetics to the role of health informatics in maintaining patient information," added Robert Schnabel, dean of the IU School of Informatics. "The School of Informatics is delighted to be one of Indiana's participants in preparing students for work in these exciting fields and in working collaboratively with the Indiana life sciences corporate community."
The Sept. 21 program will begin with remarks from Brad Wheeler, IU vice president for information technology; Marcus Chandler, a partner in Barnes and Thornburg LLP, chair of the Global Services Practice Group and the Entrepreneurial Services Group; and Schnabel.
Michael A. Evans, president and chief executive officer of AIT Laboratories, will present the keynote address and discuss how informatics is at the heart of the operation and success of his Indianapolis company.
He will be followed by a panel discussion on how informatics is being employed in other life science business applications. The panel will be moderated by A. Keith Dunker, director of the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in the IU School of Medicine and director of the Bioinformatics Program in the IU School of Informatics.
Other panelists will be Derek L. Faughn, vice president of information management, Mead Johnson Nutritionals; Neil V. Kirby of Discovery Information Management at Dow Agrosciences LLC; Donald E. Knebel, chair of the BTech Practice Group and co-chair of the Intellectual Property Department at Barnes and Thornburg LLP; Julie A. Meek, executive vice president and chief operating officer of CareGuide; and Peter J. Norder, executive vice president of Medical Informatics Engineering.
In addition to organizing the workshop series, the Kelley School operates a Web site at www.kelley.iu.edu/lifesc that includes research studies by Kelley faculty, MBA students and industry professionals about various segments of life science industries and the challenges presented.
Other partners in the Indiana LifeSC Initiative include Baker and Daniels LLP; Barnes and Thornburg LLP; BioCrossroads; Bloomington Life Sciences Partnership; Cook Medical; Ice Miller LLP; Indiana Economic Development Corp.; Indiana Health Industry Forum; Indy Partnership; Indiana Biotech Entrepreneurship Network; IU Center for International Business Education and Research; IU College of Arts and Sciences; IU School of Informatics; IU School of Medicine; IU Research and Technology Corp.; Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Kelley-Indianapolis' Evening MBA Program, Methodist Medical Center of Illinois; Northeast Indiana Innovation Center; and Sommer Barnard PC.
