For the complete list of speakers, visit http://www.thyca.org/download/document/524/Speakers2007.pdf.
Michael Bouvet, M.D., specializes in surgical oncology and endocrine surgery at University of California at San Diego, California. He routinely performs surgery for thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer, minimally invasive parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism, laparoscopic adrenal surgery, and pancreatic surgery. He is a member of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, International Association of Endocrine Surgeons, Society of Surgical Oncologists, and American College of Surgeons. He is certified by the American Board of Surgery and has been selected as one of America’s Top Surgeons by the Consumers’ Research Council of America. Dr. Bouvet has extensive training and experience in cancer surgery. He completed advanced fellowship training in surgical oncology at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. At UCSD, Dr. Bouvet is surgeon, researcher, and administrator at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, where he serves as Co-Director of the Specialized Gastrointestinal Cancer Care Unit, Director of Endocrine Surgery, and Director of Surgical Services.
Gregory A. Brent, M.D., is Professor of Medicine and Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Chief, Endocrinology and Diabetes Division, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. He is Secretary/Chief Operating Officer of the American Thyroid Association and Chair of the National Institutes of Health, Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology Study Section. He has been a member of the editorial boards of Thyroid, Molecular Endocrinology and Endocrinology. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel for Assessment of the Health Implications of Perchlorate Ingestion. Dr. Brent has received the Van Meter Prize of the American Thyroid Association, the Knoll Mentor Award from The Endocrine Society, and the Golden Apple and Excellence in Education Awards from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He completed a clinical fellowship in endocrinology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a research fellowship in the Department of Molecular Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His research interests include the molecular mechanisms of thyroid hormone action, iodine transport in hormone-dependent cancers, and thyroid disease in pregnancy.
Mark S. Chambers, M.S., D.M.D., Dentist and Oral Oncologist, is Associate Professor, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Surgery, and Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology, at the The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Since 1998 he has been Course Director of the Dental Oncology Core Curriculum Lectures and the Dental Oncology Literature Review Course M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Head and Neck, as well as reviewer for Clinical Cancer Research, Head and Neck, Cancer, and the Journal of the American Dental Association. He has been an invited faculty member of numerous continuing medical education meetings and courses and is author of numerous articles. His sessions at ThyCa conferences focus on dental and mouth issues related to radioactive iodine and external beam radiation treatment. He is a member of ThyCa's Medical Advisory Council.
Orlo H. Clark, M.D. Orlo H. Clark, M.D., is Professor of Surgery and Chief of Surgery, University of California San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, California. Dr. Clark is board certified in surgery and specializes in endocrine surgery and thyroid cancer, with a special interest in familial thyroid cancer. He has been identified as one of the best endocrine and general surgeons in local, national, and international publications. His research concerns what makes thyroid tumors grow, invade and metastasize. He serves on the editorial board for several medical journals and has held visiting professorships in several countries. He has written and edited numerous medical books and book chapters, as well as more than 300 peer-reviewed articles. He is also past president of several professional organizations, including the American Thyroid Association, American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, International Association of Endocrine Surgeons, and Northern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
Scott M. Fishman, M.D. is Chief of the Division of Pain Medicine and Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of California, Davis. He was formerly Medical Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Pain Center at Harvard Medical School. His medical degree is from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and he completed further clinical training at Greenwich/Yale University School of Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Pain Medicine, and Palliative Medicine. He lectures on all aspects of pain and its treatment throughout the United States and is the author of numerous books and articles. He is also past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Pain Foundation. He advocates for the field of pain medicine with consumers and lawmakers and serves as consultant to numerous government agencies and organizations. He is extensively involved in research, and his clinical interests include cancer-related pain management, peripheral and central neuropathic pain, chronic opioid usage, and spinal injection therapies.
Robert F. Gagel, M.D., Endocrinologist, is Director, Division of Internal Medicine, and Professor, Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, as well as Adjunct Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. A graduate of Ohio State University Medical School, he completed postgraduate training at Tufts-New England Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health. He is a frequent faculty member at continuing medical education meetings, serves on numerous committees and advisory groups for professional organizations, and has authored hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles and other publications. Dr. Gagel’s studies have focused on transcriptional regulation of the calcitonin gene. He and his colleagues identified the new variant of MEN2. Dr. Gagel has also been active in studies of the development of strategies for treatment of medullary thyroid carcinoma. He is a member of ThyCa’s Medical Advisory Council.
Francis S. Greenspan, M.D., Endocrinologist, is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Radiology and Chief of the Thyroid Clinic at the University of California San Francisco. He also is an Attending Physician at the University of California Hospitals and Clinics, San Francisco. A graduate of Cornell University Medical College, he completed further training at New York Hospital, Stanford University Hospital, and University of California at Berkeley. He has received numerous awards, including the American Thyroid Association’s Distinguished Service Award, and has been involved in research on TSH and thyroid diseases for many years. In addition to authoring numerous published articles, he has been chief editor of 7 editions of Basic and Clinical Endocrinology.
Jerome M. Hershman, M.D., M.S., MACP, is Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Associate Chief of the Endocrinology and Diabetes Division at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, and Director of its Endocrine Clinic. He was Editor of the journal Thyroid from 1991-2000. He received a B.S. in chemistry from Northwestern University, a M.S. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and an M.D. from the University of Illinois School of Medicine in Chicago, followed by residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and the Boston VA Hospital as well as further training in endocrinology at New England Medical Center. Dr. Hershman was a faculty member at Northwestern University and University of Alabama in Birmingham before moving to UCLA in 1972. He has authored over 340 research papers in endocrine literature and written more than 100 book chapters and reviews about thyroid function and disease. His current research focuses on the cell biology of thyroid cancer and the management of thyroid diseases.
Electron Kebebew, M.D., F.A.C.S., is a member of the University of California at San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center, specializing in endocrine surgery. His clinical interest is in surgical endocrinology (thyroid surgery, parathyroidectomy, and adrenalectomy) and oncology as well as minimally invasive endocrine surgery. His research investigates the molecular mechanisms involved in the treatment of thyroid cancer, hyperparathyroidism, and adrenal tumors. Dr. Kebebew earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, where he also completed his residency and a fellowship in surgical oncology. Dr. Kebebew has published extensively in his area of expertise and serves as a reviewer for many medical journals.
Paul R. Krakovitz, M.D., is an Otolaryngologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. A graduate of Indiana University School of Medicine, he completed further training in surgery and pediatric otolaryngology at the University of Vermont, the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is a staff member of the Head and Neck Institute and the Division of Pediatrics at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is an invited reviewer for three peer-reviewed medical journals: Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American Journal of Otolaryngology, and The Laryngoscope. His clinical work focuses on pediatric otolaryngology, and his research interests include minimally invasive thyroid and parathyroid surgery in children, multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN), and the incidence of pediatric thyroid cancer. He is author of numerous peer-reviewed medical journal articles, as well as book chapters and abstracts, and is a frequent presenter at medical meetings.
Michael A. Levine, M.D., F.A.A.P., F.A.C.P., is a Pediatric Endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. A graduate of Drexel University College of Medicine, he completed further training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the National Institutes of Health. He was a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and pediatric endocrinologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1982 to 2003, when he moved to the Cleveland Clinic, where he served as Chairman of Pediatrics and Physician in Chief of the Children’s Hospital until 2006. He is presently Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. Dr. Levine has received numerous awards and honors. His research has focused on the genetic basis of disorders of bone and mineral metabolism. He has served on the editorial boards of leading journals in the fields of endocrinology and clinical investigation. Dr. Levine has published more than 250 articles, co-edited the textbook, The Parathyroids, and given many named and honorary lectures throughout the country and abroad.
Erika Maslan, M.A., LMFT, is a family therapist with The Wellness Community, San Francisco East Bay, Walnut Creek, California, and has extensive clinical experience. She is an experienced trainer on the psychological and social impact of life-threatening illness, including anticipatory as well as actual loss and grief.
Ernest L. Mazzaferri, M.D., M.A.C.P. is an Endocrinologist and a past President of the American Thyroid Association, as well as a member of the ATA Guidelines Task Force that developed ATA's official clinical guidelines (2006) for managing thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer. Dr. Mazzaferri is a specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer and has had a distinguished career in treatment and research. He is Professor of Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, a member of the University of Florida Shands Cancer Center, and Emeritus Professor and Chair of Internal Medicine at Ohio State University. He is a graduate of Ohio State University College of Medicine. In 1999 he chaired the National Cancer Center Network panel that issued guidelines for the investigation and treatment of thyroid nodules and cancer. The author of numerous publications for professional audiences, he also wrote the foreword for the patient reference book, Thyroid Cancer: A Guide for Patients. He is a ThyCa medical advisor.
I. Ross McDougall, M.D., Ph.D., is a Nuclear Medicine Physician at Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California. He is Professor of Radiology and Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He also is the director of the medical school’s Nuclear Medicine Residency Program. Dr. McDougall is a board member of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine, the primary certifying organization for nuclear medicine in the United States. At the ThyCa Conference in October, Dr. McDougall will speak and answer questions about thyroid cancer monitoring through scans and new imaging techniques, Including I-123 for whole-body diagnostic imaging and FDG PET scans in Thyroglobulin positive, iodine-scan-negative thyroid cancer.
Bryan McIver, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P., chairs the Thyroid Group within the Division of Endocrinology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; this group has more than 40 fulltime Endocrine specialists. As a consultant in endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition, he has extensive experience treating patients with diseases of the thyroid, specifically those faced with aggressive cancers such as anaplastic thyroid cancer and other advanced thyroid cancers. He also runs a research lab, working on thyroid cancer genetics and on new treatments for patients with thyroid cancer. Dr. McIver has received numerous awards and honors, including the Endocrine Society Mentor Award for Outstanding Research. Dr. McIver graduated Summa cum Laude in Medical Sciences from the University of Edinburgh in Stocland, received his PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Vermont; and his MB ChB Faculty of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He is a member of the American Thyroid Association's Thyroid Cancer Guidelines Development Group.
Mira M. Milas, M.D., F.A.C.S., had been an Endocrine Surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, since 2002. She is Associate Professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. After graduating from Rice University and the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, she completed specialty training at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Emory University Hospitals and School of Medicine and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She has received numerous awards and honors, including being named in the Guide to America’s Top Surgeons 2007 by the Consumers’ Research Council of America. She is extensively involved in research as well as in training other medical professionals, including, in September, serving as a faculty member for the course Advances in Diagnostic and Interventional Endocrine Neck Ultrasound, sponsored by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. At ThyCa events, her sessions have included thyroid cancer basics for newcomers, thyroid surgery in complex situations including liver metastases, and physician-patient communications.
Joanna Morales, Esq., Attorney, is Director of the Cancer Legal Resource Center in Los Angeles, a joint program of the Disability Rights Legal Center and Loyola Law School. Prior to joining the DRLC staff in 2002, as the recipient of a Loyola Law School Post-Graduate Fellowship in Public Interest Law, she externed at the CLRC from January 2000 to May 2002. She received her undergraduate degree with honors in political science at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also spent eight years working at the John Wayne Cancer Institute for its Psychosocial Care Program and the Positive Appearance Center, counseling and educating patients regarding comfort and cosmetic side effects of cancer treatment. She is Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, teaching Cancer Rights Law. She serves on the Board of Directors for Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Los Angeles and on the American Cancer Society’s Leadership Council for the Central Los Angeles Unit. She has also served on Boards of community organizations, including Asian Rehabilitation Services, Inc. and the Western Law Center for Disability Rights Young Professionals’ Board. She also participates on the California Dialogue on Cancer.
David Myssiorek, M.D., F.A.C.S. is an otolaryngologist at New York Univeristy Clinical Cancer Center. He is also Secretary of the New York Head and Neck Society. Previously he was on the staff of Long Island Jewish Hospital. A graduate of New York University School of Medicine, he did his internship at Lenox Hill Hospital and was Chief Resident at New York University/Bellevue. He is the author of numerous articles on thyroid cancer surgery and other head and neck surgery. He is a member of ThyCa's Medical Advisory Council.
Lisa A. Orloff, M.D., is Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), as well as Chief of the Division of Head and Neck and Endocrine Surgery at UCSF, and member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF Medical Center. Dr. Orloff specializes in the care of patients with thyroid and parathyroid diseases, head and neck cancer, and voice and other laryngeal disorders. She provides extensive office-based and hospital-based evaluation and treatment of head and neck disorders that includes ultrasonography and endoscopic, minimally invasive, open and microscopic head and neck surgery. She is also an experienced microvascular and reconstructive surgeon. She is actively involved in teaching in the head and neck surgery residency program and medical school at UCSF. Dr. Orloff received her medical degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, with further training at the University of Washington in Seattle and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. She was named a Fulbright scholar in 2003.
Manisha H. Shah, M.D., is a medical oncologist at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, where she is an attending physician at the James Cancer Hospital and is involved in research and clinical trials of treatments for advanced thyroid cancer. These include studies of new treatments for medullary thyroid cancer, and for metastatic papillary and follicular thyroid cancer unresponsive to radioiodine. She is Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Assistant Director, Neuroendocrine Tumor Clinic Program, James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Ohio State University. She received her medical education at Smt. N.H.L. Municipal Medical College, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India. She completed postdoctoral training at Sheth K. M. School of Post Graduate Medicine & Research, Ahmedabad, India; Buffalo General Hospital, SUNY at Buffalo, NY; and James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute at Ohio State University. She has given numerous invited lectures, published many articles, and is involved in teaching medical students and postdoctoral fellows. Dr. Shah is a Member of the International Thyroid Oncology Group (ITOG), which is the topic of a session at this conference.
Peter A. Singer, M.D., Endocrinologist, has been Professor of Clinical Medicine, Chief of Clinical Endocrinology, and Director of the Thyroid Diagnostic Center at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, since 1991. He has been Course Director of the Annual Thyroid Symposium, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, since 1978. A graduate of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical School, he received postdoctoral training at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California (LAC-USC) Medical Center Keck School of Medicine, and a Special Research Fellowship from the US Public Health Service. He is extensively involved in medical education as well as service in professional organizations, and is the author of numerous articles. He served as President of the American Thyroid Association during 2002-2003, served on ATA’s Board of Directors for several years, and has chaired ATA’s Education and Standards of Care Committees. He has been named among the Best Doctors in America (1995–Present) and in 2004 was honored as Outstanding Clinical Endocrinologist by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists in 2004.
Carole Ann Spencer, Ph.D., F.A.C.B., is Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Spencer is Director of both the Endocrine Services Laboratory and General Clinical Research Center Core Laboratory at USC. She is also a researcher and has authored or coauthored numerous original papers as well as laboratory guidelines. Her research focuses on serum thyroglobulin (Tg) measurement. She has received awards for her teaching and research. Dr. Spencer is a past President of American Thyroid Association, and currently a member of the ATA Laboratory Services Committee. Her patient education article on thyroglobulin testing is on ThyCa’s web site. She is a member of ThyCa’s Medical Advisory Council.
Samuel A. Wells, M.D., Surgeon, is Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and Executive Director of the International Thyroid Oncology Group, following his prior positions at Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina. Currently he is directing a clinical trial for children with medullary thyroid cancer, at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. His research and clinical trials focus on medullary thyroid cancer. A graduate of Emory University and Emory University School of Medicine, he completed further training at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Maryland; Barnes Hospital, Missouri; Duke University, North Carolina; and Karolinska Institute, Sweden. Author of more than 180 articles, Dr. Wells is past president of the Society of Surgical Oncology, has served on numerous national and international committees, been an invited lecturer/professor for many institutions and meetings, and has received special recognition from many organizations.
Kenneth A. Woeber, M.D., Endocrinologist, is Chief of Endocrinology at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center at Mount Zion, where he sees patients in the Endocrinology and Thyroid Clinic at Parnassus and in the Endocrinology Group at Mount Zion. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in endocrinology and metabolism and is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. A native of South Africa, he received his undergraduate and medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand. He went to the Harvard Medical Unit in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory for postgraduate training, later serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. Since 1975, Woeber has been a professor and vice chair of Medicine at UCSF. Woeber’s research has been principally concerned with transport and peripheral metabolism of thyroid hormone. He was a recipient of the Van Meter Prize of the American Thyroid Association and also served as chairman of the Subspecialty Board of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Pat Wolfe, R.N., M.B.A., is Director of Patient Care Services, Pathways Home Health and Hospice in Sunnyvale, California.
Michael W. Yeh, M.D. directs the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Endocrine Surgical Unit in Los Angeles, California. He is also Assistant Professor in the UCLA Division of General Surgery. After pursuing his studies at Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, he trained in general surgery at University of California, San Francisco. During this time he developed an expertise in clinical and scientific aspects of endocrine diseases, specifically, those involving the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands. Dr. Yeh then completed the T.S. Reeve International Fellowship in endocrine surgery at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, Australia. He is the recipient of numerous awards for research and contributions to medical education. He also is a Reviewer for the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation.