The Tropical Metabolism Research Unit (TMRU), University of the West Indies celebrates its fiftieth (50th) anniversary and will also host a Conference as a part of this celebration. The Conference will be held over the period Wednesday, November 22 to Friday, November 24, 2006.
The three day Conference activities will feature the launch of the book, 1956-2006: The House that John Built, which details the TMRU over its fifty years of existence. There will also be an open house that facilitates tours and exhibits on Wednesday, November 22, 2006. There will be various presentations made over the two days of the Conference. Topics being highlighted in these presentations include: Nitrogen and Protein Metabolism, Child Development: Risks and Interventions where discussions will centre on matters dealing with nutrition violence and child development and the Impact of TMRU. Additionally, the topic of Chronic Non-communicable Diseases featuring presentations on hypertension, diabetes among others will be discussed.
TMRU was established to conduct research on diseases that affect primarily the people of Caribbean region in order to inform policy and create a through understanding of these diseases so that solutions may be sought. The TMRU consists of four units namely: the Tropical Medicine Research Institute (TMRI), Sickle Cell Unit (SCU), Chronic Disease Research Centre (CDRC) and the Epidemiology Research Unit (ERU). TMRI has been doing research on priority health issues in the Caribbean and makes the research information available to formulate policy, programmes and practice. For more than a decade, the Institute has produced accurate descriptions of the epidemics of obesity, hypertension, diabetes and stroke.