2016 Gibbons Memorial Lecture Series

The human body is of mind-boggling complexity in the immense number and detail of its components, the interconnections between them and the way they are controlled. It is far from being what we normally describe as a machine! This complexity is why Medicine, although benefiting greatly from Science, remains an Art.

However, over the last 60 years, increases in computer computational power, the storage of information, and in data transfer, have led us to develop human-made artificial systems that also are mind-bendingly powerful. Although in no way approaching human complexity, the capacity of these modern computer systems has provided us with tools that enable us to better understand how the body works, and to better diagnose and treat disease..

Leading the lecture series for 2016 is Distinguished Professor Peter Hunter, director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, who will address the use of computer models that improve understanding of human physiology and proposed treatments of diseases. In the second lecture, Professor Thomas Lumley of our Statistics Department will get down to the molecular level, describing the use of modern computing and storage capacity in analyzing DNA. In the third lecture, Professor Anthony Butler from the University of Otago at Christchurch will discuss the way in which IT has revolutionized diagnostic imaging and describe advanced research being undertaken in this area. The final lecture by Professor Jim Warren, of our department, will then take a broader look at how IT can assist in managing chronic illness.

Schedule

5th May -Computational Physiology

    Distinguished Professor Peter Hunter
    Director of Auckland Bioengineering Institute. The University of Auckland.

12^th May - Finding your place in the genome: assembly, annotation, association

    Professor Thomas Lumley.
    Department of Statistics. The University of Auckland.

19^th May - A case study of IT in Medical Imaging: The evolution of Computed Tomography

    Professor Anthony Butler.
    University of Otago at Christchurch, Head of the Department of Radiology and Director of the Centre for Bioengineering and     Nanomedicine

26^th May - Using IT to improve health delivery for management of chronic illness

    Professor Jim Warren.
    Professor of Health Informatics, Department of Computer Science. The University of Auckland. 

All of the talks are Thursdays at 6.30pm, with the public invited from 6pm for refreshments. The venue is room 260-092 on level-0 of the Owen Glenn building on Grafton Road (ample parking is available under this building.)