Biochemistry study day

A Biochemistry study day was held on 1st March 2006 at Furness General Hospital (FGH), courtesy of the Education Centre and Astra Zeneca. Dr Alan Taylor, consultant chemical pathologist, reports on the meeting for the Journal. He describes the contribution of Professor Ian S Young, Professor of Medicine and Clinical Biochemistry at Queens University Belfast. His lecture on the origins of atheroma, which in a masterly way condensed many years of research into one hour, ranks alongside Dr Denis Burkitt’s lecture on the origins of bowel disease (the inaugural lecture in the new theatre at FGH in 1986) and Professor Nick Hales’s on the origins of diabetes (presented in 1998 at FGH). The topics selected for the study day were designed for primary care staff in particular, because they have overtaken secondary care as the main users of clinical biochemistry services.