Dr. Norman Kaplan, professor of internal medicine and chief of hypertension at UT Southwestern, will be the guest speaker at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Center for Human Nutrition March 5. Dr. Scott M. Grundy, Center director, will highlight the Center's research progress and discuss future directions. "Dr. Kaplan was selected to be the keynote speaker," Dr. Grundy said, "because he is a nationally known expert in hypertension and has played a major role in making the public aware of the importance of prevention in combating heart disease."

Dr. Kaplan is probably best known to the Dallas community as the moderator of television station KERA's "Here's to Your Health," which was seen on Public Broadcasting Service stations around the country from 1984 to 1988. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 1986 for Talk Service Show Host. Dr. Kaplan will talk about "Preventing Heart Disease: Perils and Promises" at the Friends meeting. Confronted with so many patients with heart disease, cardiologists seldom have time to teach well people how to prevent it, Dr. Kaplan said. This situation creates "a major societal problem," he said. "Most of the time we worry about the people who have problems already," he said. "What we do is offer temporary relief--band-aids that come at a very expensive price. There is a great interest in prevention, but that involves changes in lifestyle."

Chairman C. Vin Prothro said, "The Friends is an important and growing organization, and the annual meeting is always an outstanding occasion. Dr. Kaplan's talk will undoubtedly provide us with invaluable information."