Steven Phillips, MD will speak on " Autophagy: Cure or Curse" on Saturday, December 5 at Ridgefield Town Hall. The program runs from 7 to 9 pm and is free and open to the public.

Autophagy is a cellular clearance mechanism whereby abnormal proteins can be cleared from the body. As such, it has potential therapeutic ramifications for the treatment of a range of disease states, inclusive of neurodegenerative illnesses which are hallmarked by the accumulation of such proteins, such as Alzheimer's Dementia, Parkinson's, Lewy Body Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia, and ALS. This mechanism will be examined from a number of aspects that are all on the same biologic axis, which include aging and cancer.

Dr. Phillips, a past president of ILADS who practices in Wilton, CT, is a Yale trained physician specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease and co-infections. He is well published in the medical literature on the topic of Lyme disease and has treated patients from virtually every state in the US and from over 20 countries.