Dr. Daniel F. Kelly is the Director of the Brain Tumor Center at John Wayne Cancer Institute at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica. He completed medical school at Georgetown University in 1986 and then his neurosurgical residency training at George Washington University Medical Center in 1993 and joined UCLA and Harbor-UCLA Medical Centers that same year. In 1998, he became director of the UCLA Pituitary Tumor and Neuroendocrine Program. He was a Professor of Neurosurgery and Vice-Chief of Clinical Affairs for the Division of Neurosurgery and Co-Director of the UCLA Clinical Brain Injury Program until June 2007 when he left to become Director of the Brain Tumor Center at the John Wayne Cancer Institute and Saint John’s Health Center, where he continues to focus his efforts on developing innovative treatments for patients with brain and pituitary tumors and providing fellowship training in minimally invasive intracranial surgery. He is the author or co-author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications and a dozen book chapters, and is a member of the editorial board of the journal Neurosurgery. He is an active member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the Pituitary Society. He was principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health funded study assessing pituitary hormonal loss after traumatic brain injury. Dr. Kelly has spent many years treating patients with brain metastasis, including breast and other types of cancer and therefore continues his research endeavors in identifying the underlying biological mechanism of how and why certain patients develop metastases while others do not.

        

        Amin Kassam, MD, serves as Director of the new Saint John’s Neuroscience Institute and faculty member of the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s. Dr. Kassam will lead the development of the new Neuroscience Institute which will offer an international minimally invasive neurosurgery center, as well as neuro-oncology, neuro-vascular sugery and other neuroscience services.

Prior to his arrival at Saint John’s, Dr. Kassam served as Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery, Professor of Neurological Surgery, and Director of the Minimally Invasive endoNeurosurgery Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). In this role, he directed one of the world’s leading neurological centers, consistently ranked as one of America’s best neuroscience facilities by US News & World Report.

Dr. Kassam joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 1997. During his tenure there, he held several positions and pioneered a number of novel procedures and techniques. He developed the multidisciplinary Minimally Invasive endoNeurosurgery Center which deals with the complex skull base pathology. Dr. Kassam also was a pioneer in the development of the expanded endonasal approach which uses the nostrils as natural portals to remove brain and skull base tumors rather than using a traditional craniotomy (surgical opening through the top of the skull). He also was Director of the Center for Cranial Nerve Disorders at UPMC. During his tenure, physicians at the center performed more than 1,000 microvascular decompressions for disorders such as trigeminal neuralgia and hemifacial spasm.

 

Paul Y. Song, MD, is a board-certified radiation oncologist practicing at Saint John’s Medical Center. He graduated with honors from the University of Chicago and received his Medical degree from George Washington University. He completed his residency in radiation oncology at the University of Chicago in 1995 where he also served as chief resident and was honored as an ASTRO research fellow for 1995-96 by the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology for his research in genetic radiotherapy. Dr. Song was also a visiting brachytherapy fellow at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France. He is board-certified.

Dr. Song has served as an attending physician in Inova Fairfax Hospital, co-chief of the brachytherapy service a the Center for Prostate Disease Research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and as medical director of the Little Company of Mary/University of Chicago Radiation Oncology Department. He was named one of the top doctors in Washington, D.C., by Washington Magazine and Consumer Checkbook in 2002 and 2005.

Dr. Song has established successful HDR (breast, prostate, and GYN) and prostate seed brachytherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery, and IMRT programs and has published several articles on the treatment of prostate cancer and brain tumors.

His current research interests involve identifying molecular markers in gliomas as correlates of tumor progression and prognosis. This is done in conjunction with the Molecular Marker Core of the BTRC. He also works in conjunction with Dr. Krys Bankiewicz to test small molecule inhibitors in brain tumors using the drug delivery technique of convection enhanced delivery. He is a co-investigator with Dr. John Park in UCSF's Comprehensive Cancer Center to develop immunoliposome-directed targeted therapy for treating gliomas that express EGF receptors. Other collaborations include functional mapping localization of language pathways in the brain in conjunction with Dr. Robert Knight and the Cognitive Neuroscience Graduate Program at UC Berkeley. Dr. Berger is currently the Principal Investigator of UCSF's SPORE Brain Tumor Program and the BTRC's Program Project Grant in Neuro-Oncology, both of which are funded by the National Cancer Institute and NINDS.

 

Dr. Laws received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University with honors in Economics and Sociology in the Special Program in American Civilization, and then attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland receiving the MD in 1963. He did his surgical internship and neurosurgical residency at Johns Hopkins under A. Earl Walker. After completing his residency, he joined the faculty at the Johns Hopkins medical school with a primary appointment in pediatric neurosurgery. He subsequently joined the staff of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where ultimately he became Professor of Neurosurgery and developed major interests in pituitary surgery and epilepsy surgery along with a continuing interest in the metabolism and pathophysiology of primary brain tumors. In 1987 he became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and in 1992 joined the faculty of the University of Virginia as Professor of Neurosurgery and Professor of Medicine, establishing a Neuro-Endocrine Center there. He joined the faculty at Stanford University in 2007 where he served as Surgical Director of the Pituitary/Neuroendocrine Center there. Currently, he is Director of the Pituitary Tumor Center at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. During his surgical career he has operated upon more than 7,500 brain tumors, of which more than 5,000 have been pituitary lesions.

Dr. Laws completed his term as President of the American College of Surgeons, and has served as President of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies, President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Editor of Neurosurgery, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for International Education in Neurosurgery, Director of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, President of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and President of the Pituitary Society. He has authored over 500 scientific papers and book chapters, and with Andrew Kaye is co-editor of the encyclopedic volume, “Brain Tumors”, now in its third edition.

In 2005 he was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science. He remains actively involved in surgery and in brain tumor and Neuroendocrine research.

 

Linda M. Rio is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in practice for over twenty-three years. She was the first mental health professional to serve on the Pituitary Network Association Board of Directors, and currently serves the PNA as Deputy Director. She has been an invited speaker for local, statewide and national association conferences, graduate and post-graduate educational institutions and others including: The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), The Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (CFHA), and The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), and the California Family Counseling Center.

In addition to her work with the PNA taught as adjunct professor at California Lutheran University in the graduate department of psychology. She served as president of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, California Division (AAMFT-CA), and Secretary of the board for the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT). She is a member of the Association for Collaborative Medical Care, AAMFT, CAMFT, Association for Play Therapy (APT), International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (iaedp), and more. She has authored professional journal articles on the topics of pituitary disorders, child and adult trauma, and play therapy with children, as well as articles for the popular press.

        

In 1990, shortly after being diagnosed with the pituitary disorder acromegaly, Robert Knutzen saw an enormous need for an organization to help pituitary patients, so he created the non-profit, Pituitary Network Association. Since that time, he has worked as an advocate on behalf of pituitary patients.

Mr. Knutzen’s unrelenting pursuit of public awareness has led him to get involved in a number of ways. His many speaking engagements at the world’s top universities and institutions of pituitary education and patient care include: The National Institutes of Health, The University of California at Los Angeles, The University of Pennsylvania, The University of San Francisco, The University of Erlangen (Germany), Westmeade Hospital (Australia) and The Meeting of Pediatric Endocrinologists (Switzerland). In addition, he arranged for the American Medical Association to co-sponsor a day-long press briefing with the PNA in 2003 to raise awareness of hormonal issues. He has made many media appearances, including recent segments on the Today Show and Inside Edition.

In 2004, Mr. Knutzen organized the Family Hormonal Health Symposium in cooperation with the Office of Research on Women’s Health, the Pediatric and Reproductive Endocrinology Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. This symposium was broadcast worldwide on the web.

Mr. Knutzen serves on the advisory panel for both U.S. Endocrine Disease and European Endocrine Disease magazines and is a regular contributor to these publications. His work has also been published in the journal Neuro-Endocrinology, the Growth Monitor, and other medical publications.

        

Philip S. Barnett, MD, PhD is Director of the Anna and Max Webb & Family Diabetes Outpatient Treatment and Education Center at Cedars-Sinai. Dr. Barnett also is a Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Actively involved in medical education, Dr. Barnett teaches clinical medicine to interns, residents and fellows, as well as UCLA students. He is a strong advocate of empowering patients to be involved in their own healthcare management through lectures, patient symposia, support groups and web-based programs. Dr. Barnett has published articles in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Diabetes Care, Clinical Endocrinology, Diabetes Metabolism Review, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, Cytogenetic Cell Genetics and Autoimmunity.

Dr. Barnett is a member of the prestigious professional organizations, American Endocrine Society, American Diabetes Association, American Federation of Clinical Research, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and the Pituitary Society. Dr. Barnett is also a member of numerous organizations in the United Kingdom, including the Royal College of Physicians, Royal Society of Medicine, Diabetes UK, British Society for Endocrinology and the British Society for Immunology.

Dr. Barnett received his bachelor's and medical degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He completed his internship and residency at General Hospital, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School. Dr. Barnett completed fellowship training in endocrinology, diabetes and internal medicine at Heath Hospital, University of Wales College of Medicine, King's College Hospital, School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine in London. Dr. Barnett received his specialist medical training and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London. In addition, he received his doctorate from the University of London.

        

Dr. Blevins' main clinical interests are in the evaluation and management of patients with various disorders of the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. He has particular expertise with regards to Cushing's syndrome and has edited a book on the subject. He also has extensive experience in treating patients with acromegaly, prolactinoma's, other pituitary tumors, diabetes insipidus, and hypopituitarism. He has extensive experience in the management of patients with growth hormone deficiency. Dr. Blevins is medical director of the California Center for Pituitary Disorders at UCSF.

His current research interests involve diagnostic testing in patients with hypercortisolism. He is currently evaluating new ways to test for the presence of Cushing's syndrome. He is also interested in clinical predictors of surgical and medical success with regards to the management of patients with different types of pituitary tumors. Some of this work involves collaboration with neuropathologists at UCSF. Dr. Blevins is also involved with industry sponsored trials to evaluate new pharmacologic therapies for patients with pituitary tumors.

 

Dr. Pejman Cohan attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for his undergraduate and medical training. He remained at UCLA for his Internal Medicine internship and residency and Endocrinology fellowship. He is currently Assistant Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine and shares a busy private practice with Dr. Anne Peters in Beverly Hills, California. His clinical interests are pituitary and neuroendocrine disorders, and his research interest include the effects of head injury on pituitary function. He is married to Dr. Melinda Hakim, an ophthalmologist who continues to inspire him to be a better doctor and person. Their one-year-old daughter, Scarlett, is their constant reminder of the miracle of life.

        

Amy A. Eisenberg, MSN, ARNP, CNRN has been practicing for 27 years with neuroscience patients and is currently the Nurse Practitioner at Neuroscience Institute & Brain Tumor Center at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. Prior to her arrival at Saint John’s; Amy worked at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida. Amy is an active member of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses & World Federation of Neuroscience Nurses, Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society, Southern Nursing Research Society, Florida Nurses Associations, Philippines Nurses Association of America. She had received several awards including Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Service to Miami Dade Community College, Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Service and Dedication to the Profession of Nursing, Florida League for Nursing Scholarship, Advance Practice Award District V Florida Nurses Association and Advance Practice Award Florida Nurses Association in 2001. She was also featured in The American Nurse Profile by ANA in 2002. She had presented numerous presentations and publications. Her article “Caring for a patient after resection of pituitary adenoma was selected the” Article of the Year Award” in Nursing 99.

        

Laurence Katznelson, MD received his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and performed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He then performed a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston and, following his endocrinology training, became a faculty member in the Neuroendocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Katznelson is currently the Medical Director of the Pituitary Center at Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California. Dr. Katznelson is a Professor of Medicine and Neurosurgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine. At Stanford University, he is the Program Director for the Endocrine fellowship training program. He is a member of the Editorial Board for Pituitary and currently an ad hoc member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. In the Endocrine Society, Dr. Katznelson is Chair of the Special Programs Committee and is a member of the Scientific and Educational Programs Core Committee. Dr. Katznelson has been chair for the past four years of the Endocrine Society’s Clinical Investigators Workshop, an annual three day training for endocrinology fellows in the fundamentals of clinical research. He has served as an ad hoc member of NIH study sections. Dr. Katznelson has a long standing interest in patient education in pituitary disorders, and clinical and research interest in the pathophysiology and treatment of pituitary disease.

 

Ms. Kerr has over 20 years of experience in Healthcare and Business Management. She is currently the Vice President of Operations for 360° MIND (Minimally Invasive Neurosurgical Development) - a medical partnership where she is responsible for billing operations and revenue cycle management, clinical operations and business development. She is also the Director of Research for the Neuroscience Institute and Brain Tumor Center (NSI-BTC) at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John’s Health Center where she oversees the management of NSI-BTC research and educational activities.

Prior to her arrival at Saint John’s Health Center this past year, Ms. Kerr spent the last 15 years at UCLA where she was the Chief Administrative Officer for a large academic surgical department in the David Geffen School of Medicine. There, she was responsible for a 22 million dollar budget, clinical operations, oversight of 55 faculty and over 200 staff, revenue cycle management, strategic planning, business and service line development, research administration, surgical training programs and external affairs, i.e. fund raising and marketing.

She received her Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California. Ms. Kerr lives, works and plays in beautiful Santa Monica.

 

Sharmyn McGraw speaks up and speaks out because she knows firsthand how a hormonal imbalance can turn your life upside down. Her story speaks about the barriers that kept her searching for seven years for an answer to an insidious illness that nearly took her life, and the importance of persistence which led her to a correct diagnosis for Cushing’s disease, a life-threatening hormonal imbalance caused by a pituitary brain tumor. For the past 10 years Sharmyn has been dedicated to helping medical professionals as well as the public to understand the importance of education and public awareness about the critical role hormones play in our quality of life.

Over ten years ago after Sharmyn’s own pituitary surgery, she and her neurosurgeon Dr. Daniel Kelly founded a pituitary tumor patient support group. Currently the group has grown to mailing out over 800 invitations to attend their bi-monthly patient and family support and educational meetings. The meetings are video taped and put on online at www.brain-tumor to help support patients from all around the world.

Sharmyn’s in-depth understanding of pituitary disorders comes from not only being a patient herself but as well as knowing personally hundreds of patient throughout the years and from many parts of the world. Sharmyn is privileged to attend many courses designed for neurosurgeons and endocrinologist, which gives Sharmyn quite a unique advantage to understanding a pituitary disorder from the neurosurgeons, endocrinologists and patient’s perspective.

Sharmyn’s focus has been and will continue to be to encourage other patients to realize how the power of even just one determined person can help change lives and to empowers others to find their passion by encouraging new thinking when life presents you with challenges. Sharmyn knows first hand, it only takes one person to get the ball rolling; and with a strong team you can change the world.

Sharmyn’s Highlights:
The Discovery Health channel- “Mystery Diagnosis” airing all around the world. The Montel show NBC and Medstar News Specials CNN, Woman’s Day magazine, Woman & Home magazine-London. Pearson/Prentice Hall Publishing, “Biology of Humans” Medical Book, American Medical Association Media Conference-NY and the National Institute of Woman’s Health (NIH) and more.

          

One of the most popular male figure skating stars in the world, Scott Hamilton is also a network TV skating commentator, an actor, performer, producer, Emmy Award nominee, best-selling author, role model, humanitarian, philanthropist, and a cancer and brain tumor survivor. As a humanitarian and philanthropist he avails himself to any plight that will improve mankind. As a cancer and brain tumor survivor, he is constantly reminding others that, with fortitude and determination, anything is possible.

When he is not performing or participating in a wide variety of charitable events, or acting as an official spokesperson for Target House at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as his own *Scott Hamilton C.A.R.E.S. Initiative (Cancer Alliance for Research, Education and Survivorship) at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Center in Cleveland, Ohio, or promoting his web site Chemocare.com (in conjunction with the Cleveland Clinic and CARES), the Honorary Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Pituitary Network Association, or serving on the Board of Directors for Special Olympics, Scott can be found on the golf-course and enjoys spending time with his wife Tracie and their sons Maxx and Aidan at their home in Tennessee.

Scott won four consecutive U.S. championships (1981–1984), four consecutive World Championships (1981–1984) and a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics. In 1990 he was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
 

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