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Durham, N.C. -- Journalists are invited to attend the 2005
Association of Health Care Journalists National Conference, to
be held March 31 to April 3, 2005, at the Sheraton Chapel Hill.
The conference is co-hosted by Duke University Medical Center
and University of North Carolina Health Care.

The conference
program, which will begin at 1:00 p.m. on March 31, will
include presentations by Duke and UNC medical researchers and
clinicians on topics including universal health care, risk
communications, obesity and weight loss, biosafety and
genomics.

The program also will include field trips to facilities of
the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, the
Environmental Protection Agencies, the Duke Diet and Fitness
Center and the UNC Center for Environmental Medicine, Asthma
and Lung Biology.

Keynote speaker at an opening reception for the conference
will be Victor J. Dzau, M.D., president and CEO of the Duke
University Health System. And keynote speaker at an April 1
reception at the UNC School of Journalism will be William L.
Roper, M.D., CEO of the UNC Health Care System and dean of the
UNC School of Medicine.

The program also will include presentations by patient
safety experts, the editors of the Journal of the American
Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine,
and journalists for national publications.

Information about registration and accommodations is
available at the Association of Health Care Journalists
website.

The Association of Health Care Journalists, Inc. is an
independent, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing
public understanding of health care issues. Its mission is to
improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care
reporting, writing and editing.