Swiss official to discuss drug addiction in that nation

Dr. Thomas Zeltner, director general of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, will explain his country's fourfold approach to reducing the problems associated with drug addiction on Tuesday, Dec. 15, at Public Health Grand Rounds. The talk is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the division of international health at the School of Medicine, Zeltner's talk will be held noon-1 p.m. in Winslow Auditorium, first floor of the Laboratory of Epidemiology and Public Health, 60 College St. Zeltner will outline the Swiss drug policy and the resulting political debates in both the national and international arenas.

Zeltner took office in 1991, the year the new Swiss Drug Policy was introduced. That policy is composed of four elements -- law enforcement, prevention, harm reduction and therapy -- which have notably reduced problems associated with drug consumption, including AIDS and hepatitis infections, and deaths from overdoses.

Before joining the Office of Public Health, Zeltner was professor of medicine at the University of Berne and director of the medical services of the University Hospital in Berne. He has been very active in the World Health Organization and was recently elected chair of the governing council of the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France.

Zeltner's visit to Yale marks the launch of an increased effort by the department of epidemiology and public health to bring senior public health practitioners from around the world to share their experiences with Yale students, faculty and the wider community.

Psychologist will discuss 'covert communication'

Psychologist Robert Rosenthal, who has done extensive research on the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy, will deliver the Program for Humanities in Medicine's Bayer Lecture on Thursday, Dec. 17. His talk, titled "Covert Communications in Clinics, Classrooms, Corporations and Courtrooms," will begin at 5 p.m. in the Beaumont Room of the Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St. The event is free, and the public is invited.

Rosenthal is the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1962. In his lecture, he will discuss the interpersonal expectancy effect, a phenomenon in which people often get from each other exactly what they expect to get. Rosenthal believes this phenomenon frequently is brought about by nonverbal behavior of which people are not aware.

For the last 40 years, Rosenthal has centered his research on the role of self-fulfilling prophecy in everyday life and in laboratory situations. His special interests include the effects of teachers' expectations on students' academic and physical performance, the effects of experimenters' expectations on the results of their research and the effects of clinicians' expectations on their patients' mental and physical health. He also has studied the role of nonverbal communication in these relationships and among other groups. He has authored or edited dozens of books on this subject. For his research, Rosenthal has received numerous prizes, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Prize for Behavioral Science Research.