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Dr. Brian Schwartz, M.D., M.S., will provide the fourth and final presentation of Lycoming College’s Lyme Symposium. Schwartz’s speech, “Lyme Disease: Epidemiologic & Clinical Overview; and Our Research,” will take place on Monday, Nov. 6 at 5:30 p.m. in Heim, Room G-11, on the Lycoming College Campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Schwartz is a professor and associate chair for the department of environmental health sciences in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Md.
Schwartz also serves as professor for the department of epidemiology and health services research at the Geisinger Center for Health Research, and as the director for the Geisinger Environmental Health Institute, in Danville, Pa. Through Geisinger, he evaluates how environmental and community conditions impact the health of residents in counties throughout central and northeastern Pennsylvania — an area that faces several health challenges, including exposure to infected organisms that carry Lyme disease.
“Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne infectious disease in the United States, and Pennsylvania has more cases than any other state,” said Schwartz. “My presentation will first review the epidemiologic and clinical features of the disease — how it is diagnosed and treated, and the interpretation of the persistent symptoms after treatment. I will next present recent research findings from the first year of a three-year study with the Geisinger Health System using electronic health records, where over 25,000 cases were diagnosed from 2006 to 2016.”
Michelle Briggs, Ph.D., associate professor of biology, noted the importance of Schwartz’s emphasis on the epidemiology of Lyme disease, and how she believes his presentation will round out the topics presented throughout the symposium.
“Epidemiology is the core science that allows us to understand what causes a disease and how the disease is transmitted,” explained Briggs. “Epidemiology also involves disease prevention and, as such, it has a major impact on public policy. While the previous three talks in Lycoming’s Lyme Symposium focused on an individual’s main concerns — preventing and treating Lyme disease, Dr. Schwartz’s talk will include some of the latest epidemiological research on Lyme disease, and perhaps a glimpse of what needs to happen in the future.”
Schwartz received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Tufts University, a degree in medicine from Northwestern University, and a Master of Science degree in clinical epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Schwartz’s presentation will bring the College’s Lyme Symposium to a close.