Marcus Plescia, MD to be Thursday Dialogue for Action Keynote

We’ve already told you how delighted we are that Dan Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, will be the Friday keynote speaker at the 2011 Dialogue for Action on Colorectal Cancer Screening: Prevention Now for a Healthier Tomorrow. Now, the Prevent Cancer Foundation is thrilled to announce Marcus Plescia, MD, Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the keynote speaker on Thursday, March 24.

Dr. Plescia understands both the public health and primary care sectors, with his experience as the head of chronic disease and injury activities for the state of North Carolina and as a family physician providing primary care to the homeless, urban poor and other medically underserved populations. He is working to implement a national colorectal cancer (CRC) control program and to expand the scope of state cancer registries as a tool for comparative effectiveness research. Dr. Plescia has published widely in family medicine and public health literature.

The 2011 Dialogue will be held in Baltimore, MD, on March 24-25, with pre-conference sessions on March 23. It will examine health care reform and the emerging health care system from the perspective of CRC screening. We expect primary care providers (family medicine physicians, internists, obstetrician/gynecologists, nurse practitioners and physician assistants), medical specialists (gastroenterologists, radiologists and surgeons), public health educators, researchers, third-party payers, government agency personnel, service provider and advocacy organizations from across the country to be in attendance.