TCU's Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences will host a lecture on "Can a Pandemic be Managed? Lessons from 1918" with Dr. Rhonda Keen-Payne, at 5 p.m. April 26 in the Smith Entrepreneurial Hall, room 104, on the TCU campus. The program is free and open to the public.

"The 1918 influenza pandemic has been largely forgotten, but has implications for handling global health issues in the future," says nursing instructor Marinda Allender. "We believe that the knowledge gained from this lecture will be applicable in many patient care settings, as well as to the lay person."

Dr. Keen-Payne will cover a summary of the 1918 pandemic:  a description of the virus and its spread, the resulting illnesses, and the results observed in everyday life. 

"The 1918 influenza epidemic has been the least known pandemic in modern times, largely forgotten for some 85 years," says Dr. Keen-Payne. "As a result of fears about terrorism and biological weapons, interest in studying the disease and its affects has surged. More people died in the U.S. than died in all U.S. wars; international mortality estimates vary from 25 to 40 million."

Dr. Keen-Payne’s research includes nursing history, in particular the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and women’s issues. Dr. Keen-Payne is the dean of the Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences and W.F. "Tex" and Pauline Curry Rankin Professor of Nursing. She is the founding dean of the Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences and has been teaching at TCU since 1982. Dr. Keen-Payne received her B.S.N. from TCU, her M.N.Sc. from the University of Arkansas and her Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University.

For more information on the event, contact Allender at 817-257-7650 or via e-mail at m.allender@tcu.edu. For more information on TCU’s Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences, visit http://www.chhs.tcu.edu/

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