Three-day event to kick off on Sept. 18 at Lakeview
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University School of Medicine Department of Family Medicine and the WVU schools of Dentistry, Nursing, and Pharmacy are teaming up to host the 40th Annual Hal Wanger Family Medicine Conference Sept. 18-20 at Lakeview Golf Resort and Spa in Morgantown.
The conference’s speakers will address a variety of topics of interest to family physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers. Among the more than 20 topics to be covered during the conference are: cancer, depression, coronary artery disease, stroke, osteoporosis, sleep apnea, oral health, and acupuncture.
“This conference has been a wonderful tradition for 40 years, and we are looking forward to its continued success,” G. Anne Cather, M.D., co-director of the Hal Wanger Conference and professor in the WVU departments of Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine, said. “Each year, we bring to our colleagues up-to-date evidence-based, clinical information that enables them to provide the best possible care to their patients in West Virginia. This year will be no exception.”
In addition to the lectures, a 40th Anniversary Reception and Banquet will be held on Sept. 18. Cocktail hour begins at 6 p.m.
“The conference will also provide a unique opportunity for our alumni and friends to see one another and share pleasant memories from times past,” Dana E. King, M.D., co-director of the Hal Wanger Conference and professor and chair of the WVU Department of Family Medicine, said.
The conference is named in honor of Halvard Wanger, M.D., who organized an extensive scientific assembly to celebrate the Eastern Panhandle Medical Association’s 50th anniversary in 1956.
Participants praised the Potomac-Shenandoah Postgraduate Institute’s outstanding speakers, who had been invited because senior students at medical colleges in the eastern United States voted them best lecturers in their respective fields. This method for developing a roster of outstanding lecturers worked very well, and subsequent Institutes drew many participants.
Dr. Wanger directed the annual Institute through 1974. When Wanger cancelled the Institute in 1975 because of health reasons, the WVU Department of Family Medicine assumed responsibility for continuing the fall conference. John Traubert, M.D., then the newly appointed chair of Family Medicine, assumed the role of course director for the newly named Hal Wanger Family Medicine Conference, which was held at WVU. Dr. Traubert considered Wanger the “founding father” of continuing medical education in West Virginia.
Since the original setting of the Postgraduate Institute was West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, local orchards supplied apples for refreshments, a tradition that has been continued at WVU.
The deadline to register for the conference is Sept. 11. For more information on the conference, including registration, lodging, and continuing education, visit http://medicine.hsc.wvu.edu/fammed/Education/Hal-Wanger-Family-Medicine-Conference-2014.
