Plague of the 21st century

This year’s Elsie Bertram Memorial Lecture will by given by Melanie Davies, Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Leicester.

Professor Davies is an internationally recognised leader in her field. She has several research interests, including developing a structured education programme for people with type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form of the condition. Other ongoing research she is leading includes work with 3,500 inner city schoolchildren which reveals that physical inactivity among today’s children has reached epidemic proportions.

The study, carried out in Leicester in 2007, showed that only half the children walked to school and half spent more than four hours a day watching television or videos or playing computer games. Such inactivity can lead to obesity and cardiovascular problems and an increased risk of developing diabetes.

Prof. Davies’s lecture, “Diabetes: a plague of the 21st century”, will include thoughts on prevention, early detection, novel risk factors and interventions, drawing on her research and clinical experience in Leicester.

The lecture is sponsored by the Norwich and Norfolk Diabetes Trust in memory of Elsie Bertram, a businesswoman who generously support diabetes research in Norfolk for many years and who gave her name to the diabetes unit at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

The lecture is free and takes place at 6.30 pm on Thursday the 30th of April in the John Innes lecture Theatre at the John Innes Centre, Colney Lane, Norwich. All are welcome.