In Search of a Troponin for TIA

When

3 Oct, 2013

8:00AM - 9:00AM

Where

Paetzold HEC Auditorium, Jim Pattison Pavillion, VGH

with Videolink to SPH (New Lecture Theatre, Level 1 Providence Building, St. Paul’s Hospital)

Contact

For more information please contact Elishah Velji at: [email protected] or 604-806-8586

---

Speaker Information

Dr. Andrew Penn did neurophysiology and then medicine at Cambridge University before pursuing post-graduate training in New Zealand and BC. After finishing neurology at UBC he did an MRC fellowship in MR Spectroscopy of brain and muscle. He then spent 8 years at the University of Alberta becoming Associate Professor in Neurology and Public Health Sciences. He ran Synapse Publishing, a University spin off specializing in the electronic publishing of disease guidance systems. In 1999 he returned to his native Vancouver Island. He is now the Medical Lead of Stroke Programs and of the Stroke Rapid Assessment Unit in the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA). Following on funding by the Heart and Stroke Foundation, CIHR and the Canadian Stroke Network Dr Penn has now been awarded a $10 million grant from Genome Canada to develop a blood test for TIA using mass spectrometry.

Abstract

The most powerful and cost-effective intervention to reduce stroke burden is rapid intervention after TIA. Neurological disturbance represents 10% of emergency room visits. Current assessment for possible TIA relies on neurological expertise and expensive state-of-the-art imaging, both of which are a limited resource. No intermediate screening triage tools exist. This talk will describe a $10 million Genome Canada project to create such a tool bridging the new worlds of mass spectrometry and Google-style machine learning.