National Plastic Surgery Meeting

National Plastic Surgery Meeting to Highlight the Latest Research From MoreThan 100 Surgeons

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ Nearly 3,500 plastic and reconstructive surgeons from across North America and beyond will meet in New Orleans October 23-27 for the 68th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (ASPRS). The meeting will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

"A wide array of international experts on virtually every aspect of plastic surgery will be featured during the conference," said Paul Schnur, MD, President of ASPRS. "This meeting brings to an end the first century of plastic and reconstructive surgery and offers glimpses of what the coming decades will bring."

Fourteen panels will be featured and 300 instructional courses will be offered focusing on a variety of topics including cosmetic, breast, lasers, cranio/maxillofacial/cleft lip and palate, liposuction and general reconstruction. Three keynote lectures will also be featured.

Opening ceremonies will be held Sunday, October 24 in La Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom at the Convention Center. The keynote speaker will be Craig Venter, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Celera Genomics Corporation and the founder, chairman, chief scientist and former president of the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), a not-for-profit genomic research institution. A genome is the complete set of hereditary factors derived from chromosomes.

Dr. Venter's address, "The Genome Project: From Microbes to Man," will focus on how further research into genomes will revolutionize medicine. Among such applications is the potential for drugs that could be created to neutralize the genetic codes of infection agents -- HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis like a new program in a computer.

ASPRS represents 97 percent of all physicians certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS). ASPRS members also include physicians certified in plastic surgery by the Royal college of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. By choosing an ASPRS member plastic surgeon, patients are ensured that the physician has graduated from an accredited medical school and completed at least five years of additional residency, usually three years of general surgery and two years of plastic surgery. To be certified by ABPS, a physician must also practice plastic surgery for two years and pass comprehensive written and oral examinations. Consumers can call the Plastic Surgery Information Service at 800-635-0635 or access the ASPRS web site at www.plasticsurgery.org to find a plastic surgeon in their area.

For additional information or a schedule of events, visit the ASPRS web site at

or call Nancy Ryan, at 847-228-9900, ext. 347.

SOURCE American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons

CO: American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons

ST: Illinois

IN: MTC

SU:

10/13/1999 14:49 EDT