News Release: Best-selling Author Chris Mooney Tops List of Notable Speakers at Hope Summit on Jan. 23
Friday, January 8, 2010
By: Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures

Author and journalist Chris Mooney has made a successful career of bridging the gap that often divides science and the American public. As the keynote speaker at Hope Summit 2010 on Jan. 23 in St. Louis, he'll address that separation and what it spells for America's future.

Chris Mooney

“It’s a divide especially pronounced in the United States, which is simultaneously the world’s scientific leader--at least for the moment--and yet also home to an overarching culture that often barely seems to know or care,” the New York Times best-selling author writes in his latest book, “Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future.”

Learn more about Hope Summit 2010, or register, here.

Sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the first-ever Hope Summit starts at 8 a.m. at Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel & Suites, 400 S. 14th St. Admission is $35, which includes breakfast, lunch and the 7 p.m. dinner featuring Mooney. The author will sign copies of his book for audience members.

The public conference will also feature panel discussions by scientists, stem cell advocates, business leaders and others about recent advances in stem cell research, state and federal policies surrounding the science and the impact of research on Missouri jobs and the economy.

Other participants include:

• Bernard Siegel, executive director of the Wellington, Fla.-based Genetics Policy Institute, which hosts the annual World Stem Cell Summit;
 
• Don Reed, founder and co-chair of Californians for Cures;
 
• Dr. Steven Teitelbaum, a physician and professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University in St. Louis;
 
• Marie Davis, executive director of the Metro Saint Louis/Greater Missouri Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF); and
 
• Kelly Gillespie, executive director of the Jefferson City-based Missouri Biotechnology Association.

For more information, or to register, visit www.missouricures.com.