Fetal surgeon opens UCSF Mini-Med lectures Wednesday, March 17

* WHAT: Diana Farmer, MD, speaks on “Fetal Surgery:  What’s Old, What’s New, What’s Right” at the opening lecture of the UCSF Mini Medical School, a six-week series for the public continuing through April 21.

* WHO: Farmer is chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery at UCSF Children’s Hospital and Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.  She is one of the leaders of the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center, the world’s first in-utero surgical center.  Farmer’s work to study maternal-fetal surgery for spina bifida helped spark a national effort to determine whether fetal interventions such as this are safe and beneficial enough to balance the risks of surgery to both the fetus and the mother.

* WHEN: Wednesday, March 17, 7:00 to 9:00 PM (one-hour lecture and Q&A)

* WHERE: Cole Hall on the UCSF campus, 513 Parnassus.

* UCSF Mini-Medical School:

UCSF Mini Medical School VI is open to the general public and designed for people who want to learn more about science and the intricate workings of the human body. In addition to maternal-fetal surgery, this series includes sessions on children’s heart defects, children’s cancer, diabetes, allergies, vaccines and the immune system, and pain.

## Tickets and Registration:

Tuition for one Mini Medical School session is $15. Tuition for the six-week course is $75. On the evening of the event, registration in the 513 Parnassus lobby begins at 6:00 pm. For more information, email [email protected] or call UCSF Public Affairs at (415) 476-2557.

## Note for Reporters and Editors:

For interviews with Dr. Farmer or to cover the event, contact Janet Basu, UCSF News Services, phone: 476-2557, pager, 719-0189.