FIU to host Great Strides Walk-a-Thon to benefit Cystic Fibrosis Foundation


WHAT:  Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine is partnering with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to organize FIU’s first annual Great Strides walk-a-thon.  Across the country, tens of thousands come together each year to walk and participate in the foundation’s largest national fundraising event, meant to bring awareness and raise funds to combat the disease. In 2009, nearly $35 million was raised to support vital CF programs. Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs, leads to life-threatening lung infections, obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.

WHO:  FIU students, faculty, and staff members will gather as nearly 50 teams from the university as well as from the greater community walk around the Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Families with CF and other community members will attend. The walk is a collaboration between FIU’s Wertheim College of Medicine, the FIU Alumni Association, the Student Government Association, the Tri Beta Honor Society, the lab of Professor Kalai Mathee and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

WHEN AND WHERE:  The walk will take place on FIU’S Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 11200 S.W. 8th Street in southwest Miami-Dade County on April 3, 2010. Registration and breakfast begin at 8 a.m., followed by the walk at 9 a.m. All activities will be at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine building (HLS II) and the walk will be around the campus. Food and entertainment will be provided. Free parking will be located across from the Health and Life Sciences buildings and the Nursing and Health Sciences building.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  Contact Rebekah Kharrazi at 305-348-6032 or rkharraz@fiu.edu.

Media Contact:  Lissette Lanza at 305-348-2232.

-FIU- 

About the FIU Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine:
The College of Medicine was approved in 2006 by the Florida Board of Governors and the Florida Legislature.  In 2008, it received preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee for Medical Education of the AAMC and admitted its first class in August 2009. Among the innovative elements of the FIU College of Medicine is a program called NeighborhoodHELP™, which will send medical students along with their counterparts in social work, nursing and public health, into the community. The FIU College of Medicine is expected to have a multi-billion-dollar economic impact on Miami-Dade County, bringing thousands of jobs to the area and eventually contributing millions to the state coffers every year. For more information visit http://medicine.fiu.edu/

About FIU:
Florida International University was founded in 1965 and is Miami’s only public research university. With a student body of more than 38,000, its 12 colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a “High Research Activity University”. In August 2009, FIU welcomed the inaugural class of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu.

 

 

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