MS Forum & Expo Panelists
Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis Presents
MS FORUM and EXPO
Saturday, May 8, 2010
10:00 am
Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel
Center Without Walls Doctors and Researchers:
Michelle Cameron, M.D.
Dr. Cameron has special interests in physical disability in multiple sclerosis. Dr. Cameron is a neurologist and a physical therapist. She received her medical degree in 2003, and her physical therapy degree in 1989, both from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Cameron is currently a fellow in the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at OHSU.
Stephen L. Hauser, M.D.
Dr. Stephen Hauser, Neurologist, immunologist and chair of Neurology, is a leader in the international effort to identify genetic causes of multiple sclerosis (MS). He is the first physician-researcher to demonstrate a promising weapon in the battle against progressive MS. He identified the benefit of immunosuppression that prevents the body’s immune system from attacking the myelin sheath, the insulation that surrounds the nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
Dr. Hauser, who joined the University of California, San Francisco in 1992 as chair of Neurology, is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. He trained in internal medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and in immunology at Harvard Medical School and the Institute Pasteur in Paris. He is a fellow of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences and American Association of Physicians. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, a former president of the American Neurological Association and an editor of the medical textbook, “Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine.” Hauser is the Robert A. Fishman Distinguished Professor of Neurology in the UCSF School of Medicine
Adam Kaplin, M.D.
Dr. Kaplin is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Kaplin focuses on the psychiatric complications of neurological diseases. He researches the immune-mediated mechanisms of depression and cognitive impairment in transverse myelitis, multiple sclerosis and related autoimmune neurologic disorders, and the role of cytokines in these processes.
Dr. Kaplin is on the board of medical advisors to the Transverse Myelitis Association (TMA) and the Montel Williams MS Foundation.
Richard M. Ransohoff, MD
Dr. Ransohoff is Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center in the Department of Neurosciences of Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic; Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University; and Staff Neurologist in the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.
He is a member of the National MS Society’s Medical Advisory Board. He is the Co-Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory’s special topics course on “Pathogenesis of Neuroimmunologic Disease” held biennially at Wood’s Hole, Mass.
Emmanuelle L. Waubant, M.D., Ph.D
Dr. Emmanuelle Waubant is a neurologist and specialist in the treatment of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). A native of France, she earned her medical degree at the University of Medicine in Lille, France, and completed her residency and chief residency at Toulouse University Hospital. Waubant completed fellowships in neuroimmunology at UCSF Medical Center and in clinical neuroimmunology at UCSF‘s Multiple Sclerosis Center at Mount Zion. She then returned to France to head a clinical research center at the Pitie-Salpetriere University Hospital. After returning to UCSF, she joined the staff of UCSF‘s Multiple Sclerosis Center and is an assistant professor in neurology. Dr. Waubant is one of the leading Neurologist in Pediatric MS.
Stephen G. Waxman, M.D., PhD
Dr. Stephen G. Waxman has served as Professor and Chairman of Neurology at Yale since 1986. He exemplifies the bridge between basic science and clinical medicine, and the transition from laboratory to bedside. He is the founding director of the PVA/EPVA Neuroscience Research Center, located at the VA Medical Center, West Haven. Dr. Waxman holds concurrent appointments as Professor of Neurobiology and Pharmacology at Yale, and Visiting Professor of Clinical Neurology, Anatomy and Biology at University College London and the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London. He is the Co-Director of the
Yale-London Collaboration on CNS Repair.
Howard L. Weiner, M.D.
Dr. Weiner is Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program and Co-Director of the Center for Neurological Diseases at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He holds the Robert L. Kroc Chair in Neurological Diseases at the Harvard Medical School for his work in multiple sclerosis. His major research interests include the immunology and immunotherapy of multiple sclerosis,
Dr. Howard Weiner has spent nearly three decades trying to find answers to the mysteries of multiple sclerosis, a disease that afflicts almost half a million Americans. Curing MS is his moving, personal account of the long-term scientific quest to pinpoint the origins of the disease and to find a breakthrough treatment for its victims.
Leslie Weiner, MD
Dr. Leslie Weiner is Chairman of the Department of neurology at USC and former Visiting Associate of Biology at California Institute of Technology. He has been involved in many areas of MS research. Newer work has been concentrated on the molecular and genetic mechanisms of degenerative disease of the nervous system. His most recent effort is in restoring tolerance to myelin antigens in human and mouse models. We are administering a USC T cell vaccine to multiple sclerosis patients and studying the induction of tolerance by gene therapy.
Panellists with MS:
Nancy Davis
Nancy Davis, one of five children, was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. In 1987 she moved to California and now resides in Los Angeles. Nancy is an active individual with an incredible zest for life. She skis, plays tennis, has a black belt in karate, exercises, and travels – living her life to the fullest. She is an extremely dedicated philanthropist, author of Lean On Me and most importantly, she is a full-time mother who is devoted to her five children. Nancy was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the young age of 33. She decided that she was too young and too busy to let the disease slow her down. After being told by doctors that she was “lucky” that she could afford live-in assistance when the disease progressed and she became homebound – she was determined to devote her time, relationships and resources to finding a cure. Nancy’s hope, courage and strength continue to inspire her to maintain a vibrant quality of life despite this chronic disease, but most of all, she remains positive, continues to live her life to the fullest and is tireless in her efforts to finding the cure for MS.
Mark Barondess
Mark Barondess, a rrecipient of the American Jurisprudence Award has been a trial lawyer for over 19 years, Barondess earned a reputation as one of the most aggressive civil advocates in Washington, D.C. and has served on the Board of Directors of the Larry King Cardiac Foundation. In addition, Barondess serves as General Counsel for the Montel Williams MS Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Governors of the Anti-Defamation League. He is a legal commentator for Larry King Live; CNN; Fox Morning News; MSNBC; Law Weekly. Attorney, author, husband and father,. Barondess deals with his MS while living a very full and busy life.
Teri Garr
One of Hollywood’s most popular players of the ‘70s and early ‘80s, Garr brought effervescence, crackerjack timing and an air of daffy neurosis to the girlfriends and working moms that she played. Garr had MS symptoms as early as 1983, when she started to trip while jogging, her case was so unusual that she wasn’t diagnosed until 1999. Indefatigably upbeat, Teri Garr keeps busy as a lecturer for MS LifeLines, an educational support service funded by drug companies Serono and Pfizer. Serono and Pfizer are manufacturers of Rebif, a form of interferon designed to slow the progress of MS that Garr injects three times weekly. Author, mother, actress and MS activist, Teri still finds the humor in everyday life.
David Osmond
David Osmond has music running through his veins, literally. The 4th son of Alan Osmond, oldest of the performing Osmond Brothers, David began performing as the lead singer with his own brothers when he was only four years old. Known in the early years as The Osmond Boys, David and his brothers Michael, Nathan, and Douglas were discovered by the late Bob Hope and appeared on his 1986 Christmas show in their national television debut, singing a barbershop novelty number. By the 1980s, The Osmond Boys evolved into The Osmonds: 2nd Generation, signed with both Curb Records in the U.S. and Epic/Sony in Europe, had three songs in the Top 40 in the U.K., and played to sold-out stadiums and arenas in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Forced to put music on hold for several years due to a physical battle with the West Nile Virus which in turn triggered Multiple Sclerosis, David has dedicated himself to raising awareness and resources for non-profit charities over the last several years.
Claudia Curry Hill (Moderator)
Claudia Curry Hill was diagnosed with chronic progressive MS 22 years ago. She is very active in founding and serving on non- profit boards, including the Nancy Davis Foundation for MS and is a spokesperson for Breast Cancer and MS. Claudia is the owner of CCH Connections, a non profit and event consulting group in Colorado. She believes that exercise, a positive attitude and empowering yourself with all the information you can find will improve your quality of life until a cure is found.
Facebook.
Twitter.
RSS feed.