FORT WORTH, Texas -- The UNT Health Science Center’s seventh annual Research Appreciation Day, including recent findings on Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, heart and eye disease, takes place March 24 at the Fort Worth institution. Over 100 research projects will be on display with investigators on hand to explain their work. The public is invited at no charge.

Dr. George Beaton, professor emeritus in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto, will present the keynote address at noon in the health science center’s George Luibel, D.O. Hall. A leading authority on nutrition, Dr. Beaton will explain the new dietary nutritional guidelines of the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences, including why the change in dietary guidelines is taking place and how to understand the new recommendations.

The title of Dr. Beaton’s keynote presentation is, "The Dietary Reference Intakes: Progress and Confusion."

Research Appreciation Day is an annual opportunity for students, faculty and staff to share research results, encourage potential joint research projects, and enhance the public’s knowledge of the type of research conducted at the health science center. Other investigative efforts relate to:

• Developing new influenza vaccines through nasal treatments
• Preventing blindness due to glaucoma
• Understanding natural killer cell function in the treatment of cancer
• Maintaining older adult independence through home health screening
• Measuring the impact of insurance status on the health practices of Hispanic diabetics
• Regulating blood pressure extremes during exercise
• Creating new health promotion initiatives through churches

Keynote speaker Dr. Beaton will also be presented the Roger J. Williams Award in Preventive Nutrition, given every three years by the health science center for outstanding contributions to preventive nutrition. Named in honor of the late Roger J. Williams, Ph.D., research scientist and founding director of the Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, the award is made possible by an endowment from Mr. and Mrs. E. Bruce Street, Sr. of Graham, Texas.

The UNT Health Science Center is located at 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard in Fort Worth’s Cultural District, and free parking is available in the health science center’s Lot A on Clifton Road, off Camp Bowie Blvd. For the first time, attendance at the Research Appreciation Day lunch presentation will offer physicians one hour of continuing medical education credit. For more information on Research Appreciation Day, contact the health science center at (817) 735-2560.