Dr. William Opel to Address City Club

William Opel, MBA, PhD, executive director of the Huntington Medical Research Institutes (HMRI) in Pasadena, will be the featured speaker at San Marino City Club’s May Dinner Meeting. The meeting will be held Tuesday, May 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the San Marino High School cafeteria.

Opel’s talk is titled “Huntington Medical Research Institutes: Past, Present & Future” and will focus on medical research projects and how they impact your health. Dr. Opel began his career with a decade of laboratory work studying radiation effects on the nervous system. He then became program director of a multi-institutional cell biology program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

Moving into administration, Dr. Opel recruited a team of physicians and scientists for prostate cancer research, which then developed and characterized what is now one of the most widely used prostate cell lines.

In 1982 he combined three research groups affiliated with Huntington Memorial Hospital to form HMRI. He launched one of the nation’s first clinical magnetic resonance programs, which has won great acclaim in imaging applications development and in clinical spectroscopy, as well as in training of radiologists and other clinicians.

HMRI is organized into four main programs: neural engineering, brain mapping, molecular medicine and clinical research. The neural engineering program has developed significant clinical technology, including the hydrocephalus shunt and electrical stimulators for epilepsy and deafness.

Besides its affiliation with Huntington Hospital, HMRI is expanding joint postdoctoral fellowship programs with Caltech.

The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the public is welcome to attend this community event. Please call Dennis Kneier at (626) 578-1109 to make a reservation. The dinner cost is $20 for non-members.

City Club is a community and civic organization, which was founded in 1926. Residents of the San Marino Unified School District, officials of the School District or the City of San Marino, and persons who conduct their business or profession within the School District are eligible for membership in City Club. To apply for membership or for more information, call Bert Becker, Membership Chairman, at 626 441-3414.