President Josiah Bartlet is coming to Western University’s Robarts Research Institute. As announced earlier, this year’s special guest at the Leaders in Innovation Dinner is actor and social activist Martin Sheen who played the President in The West Wing during its seven-year run. In the series, it was President Bartlet’s Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry who suffered a heart attack. But in real life, Sheen had one in March, 1977, when he was just 38 and filming his breakout role in Apocalypse Now.
More than 100 roles later, Sheen has earned a reputation as a leading actor and humanitarian. But he i s never forgotten that terrible night and the health scare that changed his life. He is keenly interested in health research and will be touring the cardiovascular and vascular biology labs at Robarts prior to the Leaders in Innovation Dinner. Media is invited to join the tour and to interview Sheen immediately afterwards.
When: Monday, November 18, 2013, 3:30-4 p.m.
Where: Robarts Research Institute, Western University (map at: https://www.uwo.ca/about/visit/maps.html)
Please contact Kathy Wallis, Media Relations Officer for the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, by noon on Friday, November 15, if you plan to attend. Contact information below.
This will be the only opportunity to ask questions of Sheen during his visit. While media can shoot video and take photographs of him walking into the Leaders in Innovation Dinner at the London Convention Centre, just prior to the start of the dinner at 6:00 p.m., no video or audio recording, or photography will be allowed during Sheen’s presentation later in the evening.
The dinner celebrates research excellence at Robarts. This year’s focus is on vascular biology and will highlight significant research breakthroughs that provide new hope for those with cardiovascular diseases. Media are welcomed to videotape and take photos during the presentation of the 2013 J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine to Dr. Salim Yusuf for his pioneering cardiovascular research, which is scheduled to take place at 6:50 p.m.
For more information, or to rsvp please contact: Kathy Wallis, Media Relations Officer, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, (w) 519-661-2111 ext. 81136, (c) 519-777-1573, Kathy.wallis@schulich.uwo.ca
