Pulitzer Winner Laurie Garrett is Keynote Speaker for SBRI Fundraiser; Passport to Global Health Celebration Set for April 20 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.

SEATTLE -- Pulitzer Prize-winning author Laurie Garrett will be the keynote speaker at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute's Passport to Global Health Celebration, set for 5:30-8:30 p.m., April 20, at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel. The event will increase awareness of infectious disease research as a means to improve global health and raise funds to support pilot research projects at SBRI, the largest independent, non-profit research organization in the United States focused solely on infectious diseases.

Gerard Schwarz, Music Director of the Seattle Symphony, will serve as master of ceremonies for the evening, which will also feature the presentation of SBRI's inaugural Advancing Global Health Award to Gordon Perkin, M.D., founder of PATH and currently a Senior Fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. SBRI established the new award to honor a Puget Sound-based individual or organization demonstrating a long-term commitment to building a world of healthy people, thriving communities and stable nations.

"With our region steadily gaining a reputation as a driving force for life sciences research, we believe it's important to spread the word about the need to improve global health and the power of research to do so," said Ken Stuart, Ph.D., SBRI president and founder. "We're pleased to have Laurie joining us to share that message and to honor Gordon, who has put Seattle on the map as a global health epicenter."

Garrett is a well-known advocate for the need to be vigilant about infectious diseases and to improve health around the world. She is the only writer ever to have been awarded all three of the Big "Ps" of journalism: The Peabody, The Polk (twice) and the Pulitzer. Garrett is the author of "The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance" and "Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health."

For ticket availability, please contact Greg Ross at 206-256-7499 or visit www.sbri.org.

About Seattle Biomedical Research Institute 

Seattle Biomedical Research Institute advances global health through key research discoveries. Founded in 1976, SBRI is the largest independent, non-profit research institute in the United States focused solely on the world's most devastating diseases, including malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. The mission of SBRI's nearly 200 employees is to conduct targeted research leading to the prevention, diagnosis and cure of global infectious diseases, responsible for the deaths of 14 million people each year. SBRI's discoveries have resulted in promising leads for vaccines and drug targets, as well as seminal contributions to scientific knowledge. For more information about SBRI, visit www.sbri.org.