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MEDIA ADVISORY
WHAT: Some of the world’s leading experts on sex differentiation disorders will participate in the “2nd World Conference: Genetic and Hormonal Basis of Sexual Differentiation Disorders”, a groundbreaking conference hosted by faculty in Florida International University’s Wertheim College of Medicine. This conference will provide information that will serve as the basis for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) establishing procedures for resolving gender controversies involving athletes. The conference, which will bring together scientists and physicians who deal with these disorders, will offer Continuing Medical Education credit for physicians through the joint sponsorship of the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.
WHO: The conference will be co-hosted by two FIU Wertheim College of Medicine experts in the field: Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Dr. Maria New, Associate Dean for Clinical Research and Professor of Human and Molecular Genetics at FIU, who also serves as Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Director of the Adrenal Steroid Disorders Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
WHEN/WHERE: Jan. 15-17 at the Eden Roc Hotel on Miami Beach, 4525 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach. For a full schedule, please click here.
WHY: Although New organized the conference a year ago, sex differentiation disorders became newsworthy with the appearance of the South African runner Caster Semenya, IAAF world champion in the women’s 800 meters. Questions arose over her gender after she won the gold medal in August at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, held in Berlin. Semenya was ultimately allowed to keep her medal.
The IOC will use material presented during the conference as the basis for determining processes to address controversies. A closed meeting to be attended by 15 to 20 scientists and sports federation physicians will be held immediately upon the close of the 2nd World Conference. At this meeting, sponsored by IOC and the International Athletic Foundation (IAF) and directed by IOC and IAAF officials, processes for addressing controversies will be delineated and clinical needs identified.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please click here or call Esther Lopez, Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Office of Academic Affairs, at 305-348-0653.
Media Contact: Madeline Baró at 305-348-2234.
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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 17 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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