Ziad Kazzi, M.D.The current use of chemical weapons, as well as the history of chemical warfare, will be the focus of an upcoming lecture at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Ziad Kazzi, M.D., an emergency medicine physician and toxicologist at Emory University, will present his lecture, Chemical Warfare Agents: Then and Now; Far and Near, on Thursday, Jan. 31.
Kazzi will talk about the different types of chemical warfare agents, the various ways the chemicals enter the body and the body damage caused by chemical agents.
“This lecture will tell the community how important it is to know about warfare chemicals,” said Mohammad Athar, Ph.D., director of the UAB Research Center of Excellence in Arsenicals and a professor in UAB’s Department of Dermatology. “These are simple molecules that produce tremendous damage. We want to look at the history of the production of these, how they are used, and what are the damages caused by environmental exposure or terrorist attacks.”
“We want to let people know there is still a concern of chemical warfare agents, particularly with arsenicals,” said Lisa McCormick, DrPH, associate dean for Public Health Practice for the UAB School of Public Health. “These agents have been stockpiled and either lead to accidental exposures or are intentionally used to cause harm. As a Center, we are working to discover how these chemicals are damaging the body following exposure through the skin and working to develop medical countermeasures to treat those exposed.”
This is the first lecture sponsored by UAB CounterACT Research Center of Excellence in Arsenicals, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The lecture is open to the public. It will be held Thursday, Jan. 31, from 12-1 p.m. in the Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium, located at 620 19th St. South. Lunch will be provided while supplies last.