Dr Mary Archer presents 'The Science of Good Health'
Location: The Auditorium, UCS Waterfront Building, Ipswich
Date: 25 April 2012
Time: 5.30pm - 7.30pm
Advances in science over recent centuries have allowed the Earth’s population to increase to some 7 billion, and it is only through science that the health of this huge number of people can be sustained. From early agricultural chemistry to the latest cell molecular biology, science has had major impacts on individual and public health.
The development of vitamins, antibiotics, vaccines and drugs have not only added years to our life and increased life expectancy by some 25-30 years over the past century, but they have added life to our years by improving our health and diminishing the burden of disease, while modern surgical and therapeutic techniques have made the previously untreatable treatable. Advances in materials science have transformed dentistry and equipped us with artificial hip and knee joints and synthetic blood vessels, heart valves and skin.
In future, we may be able to grow replacement body organs such as liver, skin and kidneys, and improvement in prediction of the course of disease will usher in the era of personalised medicine and an end to the overtreatment of indolent disease. Death will remain an ultimate certainty, but our chances of good health before then will increase.
Profile
Dr Mary Archer
Dr Mary Archer, Baroness Archer of Weston-super-Mare, is Chair of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is also Convenor of the UK University Hospitals Chairs Group, a trustee of the UK Stem Cell Foundation and Deputy Chair of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.
Dr Mary Archer, Baroness Archer of Weston-super-Mare, is Chair of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is also Convenor of the UK University Hospitals Chairs Group, a trustee of the UK Stem Cell Foundation and Deputy Chair of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.
She taught chemistry in the University of Cambridge for ten years before developing a wider portfolio of interests. Her scientific research interests lie in the field of solar energy utilisation, on which she has published three books. She chaired the National Energy Foundation for ten years, and is now its President. She is also President of the UK Solar Energy Society.
Dr Archer is a Companion of the Energy Institute and was awarded the Institute’s Melchett Medal in 2002. In 2007 she was given the Eva Philbin award of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland.