Farm Bill, food security highlight discussions at Public Health Symposium April 4

A Public Health Symposium on “Food Systems” will include two keynote speakers and experts from an array of food security and safety organizations from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. April 4 at the Hilton Fort Collins.

The symposium is free of charge but registration is required. Visit the event website at www.publichealth.colostate.edu/GPPH/symposium.asp for more details.

The symposium, sponsored by Colorado State University’s Master of Public Health program through the Colorado School of Public Health, will include poster sessions and two panels on the 2012 Farm Bill and current issues in food safety.

The Farm Bill keynote speaker is Jill Krueger, senior attorney with the National Coordinating Center and Northern Region of the Public Health Law Network. Krueger will open the symposium with a keynote talk from 9-9:50 a.m., followed by a panel discussion on the 2012 Farm Bill, food assistance, and food security and production. Wendy Peters-Moschetti of WPM Consulting will moderate the Farm Bill panel.

In addition to Krueger, the panel will include Colorado State professor Dawn Thilmany from the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Ruth Stemler from Share Our Strength.

Elaine Scallan, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health, will open afternoon sessions with a keynote talk from 1:30-2:20 p.m. Following the talk, Scallan, whose expertise is foodborne disease, will join Colorado State professors Larry Goodridge, Department of Animal Sciences; Marisa Bunning, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition; and CDPH representative Alicia Cronquist for a panel discussion on food safety. CSU clinical sciences Professor Paul Morley is moderator.

The Colorado School of Public Health includes three leading educational and research institutions: Colorado State University, University of Colorado-Denver, and University of Northern Colorado. The school incorporates all Colorado-based public health graduate education and research into a single entity guided by the mission to promote physical, mental, social and environmental health of people and communities in the Rocky Mountain West and globally.

The school provides training, innovative research, and community service to actively address public health issues including chronic disease, access to health care, environmental threats, emerging infectious diseases, and costly injuries.

Although the three campuses offer unique identities and student life experiences, all Colorado School of Public Health students have access to renowned faculty, more than 150 public health courses, eight research centers, and a network of community partners and future employers.

Colorado School of Public Health students and alumni assume careers with federal and local agencies, private hospitals and health care providers, international health agencies, research institutions, consulting firms, local business, and community-based organizations.

See http://publichealth.ucdenver.edu for more details on the school.

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