Las Vegas attracts medical conference

Wednesday, May 29, 2002 | 10:49 a.m.

The world's largest medical school is teaming with the organizers of Comdex to present a November conference in Las Vegas to discuss the fight against bioterrorism.

BioSecurity 2002, planned by Harvard Medical International and Key3Media Group Inc., is expected to draw 8,000 people to the MGM Grand Conference Center Nov. 18-22, the same time thousands of technology experts will be in the city for Comdex.

Organizers say scheduling the event at the same time as Comdex was coincidental and show planners say there probably would be no crossover of attendees from the two shows, although trade shows for the two events should feature products of common interest.

The bioterrorism conference will bring scientists, physicians, researchers, public health and hospital officials, nurses, government leaders and emergency first responders together to discuss biosecurity questions and answers.

The conference is significant for Las Vegas because it will be one of the largest medically oriented events staged in the city. Harvard Medical International is a subsidiary of the Harvard Medical School, which has the world's largest medical faculty with 8,000 physicians with teaching, research or patient-care responsibilities.

The medical and banking industries have been slow to embrace Las Vegas as a meeting place, in part because of the city's reputation as a gambling mecca. But with the city's meeting and convention centers expanding to meet demand and gambling becoming more commonplace nationwide, the industries have taken another look at the city.

Nancy Murphy, the head of convention sales for Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said it was only a matter of time before large medical shows seriously considered Las Vegas because additional convention space has been built and the range of hotel product has expanded.

With the expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center and next year's opening of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, several associations are considering proposals to meet in Las Vegas now that space is available for more dates.

"This is a case where if you build it, they will come," she said. "We've always wanted to squeeze in more association business and now that we have more high-end hotels, like the Hyatt Regency, Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton, we're starting to see some of the medical and banking organizations."

Don Gibbons, head of public affairs for Harvard Medical School, said Las Vegas' reputation was never considered when the decision of where to stage the show was reached.

"This is a very mixed group," Gibbons said of potential participants for BioSecurity 2002. "We needed to find a location that offered moderate prices in airfares and hotels."

Gibbons said he was unaware that Las Vegas hotel rates usually run higher than normal during Comdex because room demand is high. Until last year, Comdex normally has been the largest annual convention hosted in Las Vegas by number of delegates. More than 200,000 people attended the show in 2000, but last year, attendance fell to between 125,000 and 150,000 after a prolonged slump in the high-tech industry and the negative effects on travel produced by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

For Harvard, BioSecurity 2002 is expected to be the largest event the school has ever organized.

Bob Bierman, vice president and general manager of the show, said the November date was selected because federal budgets normally are finalized in October and the conference will be the first opportunity for participants to discuss what programs they will be capable of supporting financially.

Bierman said several nationally recognized experts in public health, genetics, microbiology, immunology and pathology are taking roles in organizing seminars and presentations for the event.

Registration will begin next month.