The "What Every American Needs to Know About Autoimmune Disease" public forum arrives in Tampa on Saturday, March 28th. The program will begin at 9:30am and end at 3:30pm. It will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore Hotel located at 4500 West Cypress Street. The $20 registration fee includes a continental breakfast and lunch.
The conference series provides autoimmune disease patients, their families and friends, as well as the general public with information on autoimmunity as a common thread of 100+ diseases. Additional topics will include chronic illness coping skills, the latest in research for autoimmune diseases, information on women and autoimmunity, and a dialogue on why it's important for the general public to know their own family history of autoimmune diseases—as autoimmune diseases tend to cluster in families.
"This forum is so necessary. I am elated that Tampa was selected this year. I like the fact that the forum has local doctors presenting and I can use them as resources once the forum is over," said Tarpon Springs resident Annetta Sylvester who will be in attendance. Since 2012, she has been diagnosed with six autoimmune diseases.
The program features the "Father of Autoimmunity", Dr. Noel R. Rose, who is the Director of the Autoimmune Disease Research Center at Johns Hopkins University, Rita Baron-Faust, co-author of The Autoimmune Connection and Dr. Robert A. Norman, a Tampa-based dermatologist.
A growing concern worldwide, more than 50 million Americans are thought to have an autoimmune disease (AD). Women are at much higher risk than men as AD's affect women 75 percent more often. Currently AD's are one of the top 10 killers of women under the age of 65. Included in the 100+ autoimmune diseases are lupus, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjögrens syndrome, psoriasis, celiac disease, scleroderma, and type 1 diabetes.
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