For further MBL News and Media Information, contact the MBL Communications Office at (508) 289-7423 or e-mail us at comm@mbl.edu


November 22, 2006

MBL, WOODS HOLE, MA—Patients are now expected to take an active role with their doctors in managing their health and illnesses. But with so many information sources available, how does one make the most well-informed choices?

Donald Lindberg, Director of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), will explore public sources of health information that can help patients, and also note sources of deliberate and accidental misinformation, in a talk titled “Health Information: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” Friday, December 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the MBL’s (Marine Biological Laboratory’s) Lillie Auditorium, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole. The lecture, presented by the MBL Associates and sponsored in part by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, is part of the 2006-2007 Falmouth Forum series and is free and open to the public.

Dr. Lindberg has pioneered applying computer technology to health care. In 1984 he was appointed Director of the NLM, the world’s largest biomedical library. From 1992 to 1995 he served in a concurrent position as founding Director of the National Coordination Office for High Performance Computing and Communications in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President.

Dr. Lindberg graduated from Amherst College and received his M.D. degree from Columbia University. He is the author of three books: The Computer and Medical Care; Computers in Life Science Research; and The Growth of Medical Information Systems in the United States, several book chapters, and more than 200 articles and reports. He has served as editor and editorial board member of nine publications including the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Lindberg is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the New York Academy of Medicine, and has honorary doctorates from Amherst College; the State University of New York at Syracuse; the University of Missouri-Columbia; and the University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Innsbruck, Austria. He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards.

Admission to this Falmouth Forum presentation is free and open to the public. A buffet dinner is available before the lecture at 6:00 PM in the Swope Center located near the auditorium. Dinner tickets are $20 and must be purchased in advance at either Eight Cousins Children’s Books, Main Street, Falmouth, or at the MBL’s Communications Office in the Candle House, 127 Water Street in Woods Hole. Dinner seats are limited, and tickets are only available until they sell out or until 5:00 PM on Tuesday, November 28. All tickets are nonrefundable. For more information contact the MBL’s Communications Office at 508-289-7423.

The Falmouth Forum is sponsored in part by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation and will continue throughout the winter. The remaining lectures in the series are below.

January 19 - "Arab Women’s Dilemmas with Democratic Reform"
Andrea Rugh, Adjunct Scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.

February 9 - "The Pathos of Bubonic Plague in Italy (1500-1800) Depicted Through Art" - James Welu, Director, Worcester Art Museum and Richard Glew, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, UMass Medical School

March 15 - "The Old Ship of Zion: African American Gospel Music"
Horace Clarence Boyer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Music at UMASS Amherst
**NOTE: Thursday Lecture**

All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information and for full lecture descriptions, visit http://www.mbl.edu/events/falmouthforum

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The MBL is a leading international, independent, nonprofit institution dedicated to discovery and to improving the human condition through creative research and education in the biological, biomedical and environmental sciences. Founded in 1888 as the Marine Biological Laboratory, the MBL is the oldest private marine laboratory in the Western Hemisphere. For more information, visit www.MBL.edu

Since 1944, the MBL Associates has promoted the scientific mission of the MBL. The group supports the Annual Fund, provides a formal connection for anyone interested in learning about the institution, and sponsors gifted students and promising young investigators. Members also raise funds for special projects and organize educational and cultural programs for the MBL and the community. In addition, they operate the MBL Associates Gift Shop, located on Water Street in Woods Hole, the profits from which support scientific fellowships.