When: October 2, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
Where: NIH Campus, Lipsett Amphitheater, NIH Clinical Center, Building 10, Bethesda, MD
Institute: Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center (CC)

Seventeen million people in the United States—about 1 in every 12 adults—abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent. Alcoholism is a disease, and research shows that risk for developing alcoholism runs in families. The genes a person inherits partially explain this pattern, but lifestyle is also a factor. The craving that an alcoholic feels for alcohol can be as strong as the need for food or water. Despite serious family, health, or legal problems, an alcoholic will continue to drink. This lecture will cover alcoholism, its symptoms, and the latest research on the disease.

You can learn more about alcoholism by attending the first 2007 “Medicine for the Public” lecture. In this presentation, NIAAA Clinical Director Markus Heilig will speak on “Alcohol Use Disorders: Old Insights, New Treatments.”

“Medicine for the Public" is a series of lectures by NIH scientists sponsored by the NIH Clinical Center. Physician-scientists working to translate their findings into medicine deliver the lectures and take questions from the audience. Presented every fall since 1978, this free public series was developed as a way to reach out to the general public—to help non-scientists understand medical science and appreciate the importance of medical research in our lives.

Next Steps
See the complete schedule of “Medicine for the Public” lectures online at http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/about/news/mfp.shtml.

Read more about Dr. Heilig’s presentation at http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/about/news/mfp/mfp07/bios07/heilig.shtml.

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