Established in 2008, The Merinoff Symposia delivers impactful conferences to advance understanding of human disease. These conferences are developed and presented by thought leaders in the field to inform researchers, clinicians, governments and the public of gaps in knowledge and resources hampering development of new cures. By providing a unique collaborative atmosphere for clinical and translational researchers, the ultimate goal of these conferences is to identify new approaches to therapeutics and diagnostics for human disease. These symposia will initiate dialogue and assimilate ideas and information with the goal of developing an integrated, evidence-based approach to caring for patients and developing biomedical technology.

Aberrant immune responses characterize sepsis, a disease that afflicts as many as 750,000 people in the United States each year and kills 30-50%. More people die of sepsis each year than prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDS combined – even more than the number of people that succumb to acute myocardial infarction.

Despite the prevalence of the disease, less than 20% of Americans have ever heard the term “sepsis,” and research and clinical resources are severely lacking. The next symposium, Merinoff Symposium 2010: Sepsis, will forge new alliances among leaders in the field, and will draw international attention to the clinical problem that this highly lethal disease presents.