ITHACA, N.Y. -- Two featured events during Cornell University's 22nd Health Awareness Week, Jan. 27-31, on campus, will be public lectures by noted health professionals Dr. Henry J. Heimlich and Dr. Robert C. Hsiung.

Hsiung, an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of Chicago and an online health-information innovator, will give the Distinguished Health Professional Lecture Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in Room G10 of the Biotechnology Building.

Heimlich, a Cornell alumnus, is president of the Heimlich Institute and the inventor of the life-saving Heimlich maneuver. He will give the Health Awareness Week keynote address Thursday, Jan. 30, at 8 p.m. in Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall.

Both talks are free and open to the public and are underwritten by Cornell Fitness Centers. Other sponsors include the Statler Hotel, Gannett Health Center, Cornell's Student Health Alliance and Circle K.

Hsiung, also known as "Dr. Bob," directs a variety of Web resources originating from the University of Chicago, such as "Grand Rounds on the Internet," the "Student Counseling Virtual Pamphlet Collection," and "Psychopharmacology Tips" and "Psycho-Babble," message boards for mutual support and education that focus on medication-related issues. He serves on the editorial boards of Cyber Psychology & Behavior and Psychiatry On-Line and is the chair of the Telemental Health Special Interest Group of the American Telemedicine Association. He is on the steering committee of the Psychiatric Society for Informatics, was a founding member of the International Society for Mental Health Online and co-chairs the joint International Society for Mental Health Online/Psychiatric Society for Informatics committee that produces Suggested Principles of Professional Ethics for the Online Provision of Mental Health Services. He also is the editor of the new book E-Therapy: Case Studies, Guiding Principles and the Clinical Potential of the Internet .

Hsiung received his A.B. from Harvard University, his M.D. from Northwestern University and his training in psychiatry from Yale University. He was named the Region VI

Teacher of the Year by the Association for Academic Psychiatry in 1995 and a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association in 2000.

Heimlich, an alumnus of Cornell and its medical college (A.B. '41, M.D. '43) has had a career notable for the abundance of creative, simple solutions he has provided for difficult health and medical problems. While assigned to a U.S. Naval group in China during World War II, Heimlich took a chance with an innovative treatment for victims of trachoma, an incurable bacterial infection of the eyelids that was causing blindness throughout Asia and the Middle East. A mixture of sulfadiazine ground into a base of shaving cream proved effective, and the medical staff used the treatment successfully on hundreds of people.

In the 1950s, a month after completing training in general and chest surgery, Heimlich conceived of an operation to replace the esophagus. After successfully performing the procedure, he presented the results at an American Medical Association meeting in 1961. The procedure, dubbed a hot medical discovery by Life magazine, was the first total organ replacement in history. It is used today to overcome birth defects of the esophagus.

Haunted by the image of a Chinese soldier who died on the operating table after being shot in the chest in 1945, Heimlich set out to develop a valve that would drain blood and air out of the chest cavity. In 1964 the Heimlich Chest Drain Valve was introduced. The lives of thousands of American and Vietnamese soldiers shot in the chest were saved by the device, barely 5 inches long. It was manufactured for just $1 at that time, and today more than 250,000 Heimlich valves are used worldwide each year to treat patients with chest wounds or following surgery.

In 1974 Heimlich published findings on what was to become the Heimlich maneuver. A week later, the first choking victim was saved by the method. Since its introduction, the Heimlich maneuver has saved 50,000 people in the United States alone from choking or drowning.

In 1980 Heimlich conceived of the Heimlich MicroTrach™, a tiny tube inserted into the trachea at the base of the neck under local anesthesia. Quickly approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the MicroTrach has many advantages over other methods of oxygen delivery. During the 1980s, Heimlich also developed a method for teaching stroke victims and other patients who were fed through a tube to swallow again.

Among his many awards and honors were his induction into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Safety and Health Hall of Fame International in 1993. Heimlich has been credited with saving more lives than any other living American.

For more information on these lectures and on other featured events of the 2003 Health Awareness Week at Cornell, visit this Web site: http://healthweek.cornell.edu/events , or call Barry Le Vine, event director, (607) 253-0395.