CME Snack

Dr. Erica E. Marsh is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor and the S. Jan Behrman Collegiate Professor of Reproductive Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Michigan Medical School as well as Chief of the division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the department of OBGYN. She also serves as the Associate Director of the Michigan Institute of Clinical and Health Research (MICHR), and she is the founder and director of Health and Reproductive Disparities (onWHARD!) Collaborative. Dr. Marsh attended Harvard College from which she graduated magna cum laude, and Harvard Medical School where she graduated cum laude. She then completed her residency at the Integrated OBGYN Residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility fellowship at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. After completing fellowship in 2008, Dr. Marsh joined the faculty at Feinberg, and then in 2016, she joined the University of Michigan.

Dr. Marsh has received millions of dollars in funding to support her research, which focuses on health disparities in reproductive medicine. She takes a 360° approach to her research with a focus on leveraging the strengths and expertise of community and community engagement to investigate research questions. Dr. Marsh has published significantly in the areas of fibroids, abnormal uterine bleeding, infertility, and most recently, COVID-19. Her work is currently funded by the NICHD, NIMHD, and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation.

Dr. Ayman Al-Hendy is currently a tenured professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as advisor to the Dean of Medicine at Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago (UC). Dr. Al-Hendy is a gynecologist and endoscopic surgeon at UC Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois with a busy practice that focuses on serving women with symptomatic uterine fibroids and premature ovarian insufficiency. Dr. Al-Hendy is double board certified by the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Al-Hendy’s medical research interests focus on developing novel therapies, including gene and stem cell therapy, for premature ovarian insufficiency, endometriosis, and particularly uterine fibroids. Dr. Al-Hendy has published more than 242 peer-reviewed publications in high-tier scientific journals, participated in more than 360 presentations in national and international meetings, and edited 5 medical books. Dr. Al-Hendy has also been elected as the 71^st President of the Society for Reproductive Investigation.

Tanika Gray Valbrun is an award-winning journalist, educator, and non-profit founder with a passion for women’s health. After her personal struggles with uterine fibroids, including two myomectomies, Tanika’s passion for women’s health inspired her to create The White Dress Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support for women suffering from fibroids and to raise awareness through fibroid education. As the founder of The White Dress Project, Tanika has successfully worked with doctors, health advocates, and elected officials across the country to get legislation passed declaring July as “Fibroids Awareness Month.” Recognized as a thought leader and patient advocate for uterine health, she has also spoken around the world encouraging women to be their own best health advocate. Many women with symptomatic fibroids never dream of wearing white because of their heavy menstrual bleeding or bloating. The white dress is a “symbol of hope” that women with fibroids can feel supported and know that they do not have to suffer in silence. In addition to encouraging women to be their own health advocates, Tanika works as a senior content producer for a global news organization where she has been awarded three coveted Peabody Awards for her contributions in journalism.

Dr. Lauren Powell is a board-certified family medicine physician and media personality, and she is frequently called upon by local & national television, print, radio, and online media to give a fresh perspective and new information on nutrition and health. Dr. Powell travels throughout the U.S. speaking at churches, corporations, conventions, and colleges and sharing her knowledge and insight regarding disease prevention and cure utilizing food, earning her the title of The Culinary Doctor® by her peers and patients. Dr. Powell combines practical, responsible academic knowledge with her humor and high-energy personality, making her a highly sought-after national speaker.

Dr. Powell became extremely passionate about nutrition and health after her father suffered a major health scare. Her objective is to educate the Black community about diet and how food preparation affects health. Her goal is to end generational patterns of adverse health outcomes in the African American community through teaching healthy cooking techniques.

Dr. Ayman Al-Hendy is currently a tenured professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as advisor to the Dean of Medicine at Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago (UC). Dr. Al-Hendy is a gynecologist and endoscopic surgeon at UC Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois with a busy practice that focuses on serving women with symptomatic uterine fibroids and premature ovarian insufficiency. Dr. Al-Hendy is double board certified by the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada and The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Al-Hendy’s medical research interests focus on developing novel therapies, including gene and stem cell therapy, for premature ovarian insufficiency, endometriosis, and particularly uterine fibroids. Dr. Al-Hendy has published more than 242 peer-reviewed publications in high-tier scientific journals, participated in more than 360 presentations in national and international meetings, and edited 5 medical books. Dr. Al-Hendy has also been elected as the 71^st President of the Society for Reproductive Investigation.

My name is Carla S. Garland Negron, and I was born on February 6, 2002 and raised in Puerto Rico between Carolina and Aibonito. Happy, energetic, and positive are the words that describe my personality. It doesn’t leave out the fact that I also am a responsible, committed, and determined person when talking about my goals. Currently, I am coursing my fourth year in the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus in a BS with major in Molecular and Cell Biology. Throughout my life, I have been decided that my dream is becoming a Doctor in Medicine, for which I have been preparing these 3 years. Between bachelor classes, family, and personal care, it has been a tough but wonderful path. These next years are going to be even more challenging, but I know that excellent things will come with it.

Dr. Inés Esquilín Rivera is a professor at the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine and the director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

She obtained her doctorate degree in Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in 1989 and 1992, respectively. Subsequently, she completed a Pediatric Infectious Disease Fellowship at the Jackson Memorial Hospital affiliated with the University of Miami in Florida in 1995.

She is involved in clinical research projects involving vaccine development, epidemiology of arboviral diseases, HIV-related conditions, and antiretroviral medications.

Dr. Esquilín Rivera  worked as the principal investigator of two phase II studies for investigational dengue vaccines from 2007 to 2017. The results of these studies were published in peer-reviewed journals and have multiple citations.

She was a member of the CDC ACIP Dengue Vaccines Workgroup from October 2018 to 2022 and works with the Puerto Rico Health Department in the development of strategies to facilitate dengue vaccination on the island. She has been a member of the WHO/PAHO Arboviral Group Advisory Board since 2017 and has participated in multiple educational activities related to the prevention of dengue and other arboviral diseases.

Prof. Sáfadi is the Head of the Department of Pediatrics at the School of Medical Sciences of Santa Casa de São Paulo and serves as the Coordinator of the post-graduation course on Health Sciences there. Following his medical degree and a residency in pediatrics, he continued his training in pediatric infectious diseases at the Federal University of São Paulo, receiving a master’s and a PhD degree.

Prof. Sáfadi has been a member of the Permanent Advisory Board on Immunization Practices for the Secretary of Health in the State of São Paulo and the Ministry of Health in Brazil for more than 10 years. He is the current Chairman of the Department of Immunization for the Society of Pediatrics, São Paulo as well as the Chairman of the Department of Infectious Diseases for the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics.

Prof. Sáfadi is an active member of several societies focusing on infectious diseases, including SLIPE, ESPID, and WSPID. He is also a member of the Steering Committee from the Global Meningococcal Initiative and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group of the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO), which is part of the Meningitis Research Foundation. Prof. Sáfadi is an expert member of the SAGE Working Group on Meningococcal Vaccines and Vaccination from WHO and a liaison representative for the Brazilian NITAG in the SAGE Immunization Group from WHO. He was nominated as a member to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) Scientific Advisory Committee.

Prof. Sáfadi is a member of the editorial board from Jornal de Pediatria, Pneumonia BMC and The Journal of Pediatrics. Over the course of his career, he has made significant contributions to the field of infectious diseases, particularly in the areas of immunization, meningococcal and pneumococcal infections, congenital toxoplasmosis, influenza, rotavirus gastroenteritis, HPV, and community-acquired infections. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and has presented his research at numerous international conferences. He is passionate about sharing his expertise with others and is committed to advancing the field through education and research.

Dr. Rakowski is a senior cardiologist at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, and a world-renowned specialist in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. He is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and has taught hundreds of cardiology residents as a former Director of Clinical Cardiology and former Deputy Director for the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre over his past 40 years of service.

Dr. Rakowski has served as the past Chair of the Royal College of Medicine Cardiology Board exams as well as the President of the American Society of Echocardiography and the National Board of Echocardiography and has been the Chair of the Council of Cardiovascular Organizations. Currently, he is the Director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinic and its research program. Additionally, he serves as Chair of the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre Innovation Committee. Dr. Rakowski is a widely published prolific scientist and has written many guideline papers that have been instrumental in educating cardiologists internationally.

In addition, over the last 24 months he has taken his clinical knowledge and writing acumen to the public. He has been one of the leading voices on the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, sharing his thoroughly researched and well-written perspective with readers at many national publications including the National Post, Healthline.ca, and at the Hub.ca – a project by the Centre for Civic Engagement run by members of the Munk School for Global Affairs and nationally acclaimed journalists.

Dr. Martin Maron is Director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center and Research Institute at Tufts Medical Center and the Chanin T. Mast Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center in Morristown Medical Center. His research interests are the diagnosis and management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy including the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in assessment of patients with HCM and novel drug therapy to modify the disease. Dr. Maron has co-authored over 200 original publications on HCM including in New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Circulation and Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Dr. Coleman completed his Obstetrics & Gynecology residency at Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, and completed his fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1993. Prior to joining the M.D. Anderson faculty in 2004, he served as Vice-Chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. At M.D. Anderson, Dr. Coleman was a Professor and served as the Executive Director for Cancer Network Research, holding the Ann Rife Cox Chair in Gynecology. In March 2020, he joined US Oncology Research (USOR) as their Chief Scientific Officer and currently serves as Chief Medical Officer for Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI), a joint venture research organization between USOR and SCRI.

Dr. Coleman has authored or coauthored over 700 scientific publications, including over 410 peer-reviewed articles, along with numerous book chapters, monographs, invited articles, and textbooks. In 2019, he received the 2019 APGO-CREOG award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a co-Director for GOG-Partners and serves on the Board of Directors for GOG-Foundation, Inc. He is the immediate Past-President of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) and was recently inducted into MJH Life Sciences 2020 class of “Giants in Cancer Care.”

Dr. Banu Arun is Professor in Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Co-Medical Director of the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program, and Section Chief Breast Genetics, Prevention and Screening at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research focuses on identifying risk biomarkers for breast cancer and prevention and characterizing risk factors in a cohort of high-risk women with hereditary gene mutations (BRCA and others) as well as assessing breast cancer biology in these patients. Dr. Arun has served as the Principal Investigator on several clinical trials evaluating agents such as letrozole, imatinib, gemcitabine, R115777, and PARP inhibitors for metastatic breast cancer and celecoxib, atorvastatin, dasatinib, and Tamoxifen Gel in short-term breast cancer prevention trials. Her research also includes outreach and education, as well as cascade genetic testing of family members.

Given her national and international expertise, she has served on several committees, including The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Prevention committee ASCO Prevention Education Committee and currently serves as the Co-Chair for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) Prevention and Epidemiology Committee and member of the NCCN Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Guideline Committee as well as the NCCN Breast Hereditary Genetics Guideline Committee, member of the ASCO Germline Genetic Testing Guideline Panel, and member of the  National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Prevention Steering Committee. She served as grant reviewer for Susan Komen and NCI P01 and reviewed for journals including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer, British Medical Journal, Cancer Prevention and Epidemiology, amongst others. She has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and received research grants from the NCI, DoD, Susan Komen Foundation, and CPRIT.

She was featured in Forbes (December 2017) as one of the top 30 Breast Medical Oncologists in the United States. She has received FASCO award recognition in 2020 from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and is the recipient of the ASCO–American Cancer Society Award 2021.

Dr. Stella Lee is a fellowship-trained rhinologist and director of the Brigham Sinus Center. She is a clinician scientist developing novel management strategies for the care of patients with inflammatory upper airway disease as well as a leader in the development of therapeutics for airway inflammation. Her philosophy is to provide multi-disciplinary care with experts in the field for the best outcome possible for her patients.

Dr. Lee earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience from Duke University before attending the Chicago Medical School. She completed her residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Yale University, followed by a fellowship in Rhinology and Skull Base Surgery at Johns Hopkins University. Before joining the Brigham faculty, Dr. Lee served as the Division Chief for Sinonasal Disorders and Allergy in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for ten years.

Her research interests include understanding the inflammatory endotypes of chronic rhinosinusitis, the impact of environmental pollution on airway inflammation, and development of basic to translational approaches to solve chronic inflammation (www.solvecrs.org). She is a leader in the investigation of targeted therapeutics and creation of new paradigms of how we conceptualize and treat upper airway disorders.

Dr. Joseph Han is a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He is the Chief for the Division of Rhinology & Endoscopic Sinus and Skull Base Surgery. He is also the Chief for the Division of Allergy. Previously, Dr. Han was the Director for the Division of Rhinology and Endoscopic Sinus Surgery at University of Virginia School of Medicine. Dr. Joseph Han is currently the Immediate Past President for the American Rhinologic Society. He was the President for the Virginia Society of Otolaryngology, President of the Tidewater Otolaryngology & Ophthalmology Society, President of the Korean American Otolaryngology Society, and Chair of the Rhinology and Paranasal Sinus Committee within the American Academy of Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery. He is the Chair for the Rhinitis, Rhinosinusitis, and Ocular Allergy Committee within the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.

Dr. Han was an Associate Editor and is on the Editorial Board for the International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology. Dr. Han is currently a guest examiner for the American Board of Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery. Dr. Han is the Editor for the book Practical Medical and Surgical Management of Chronic Rhinosinusitis and Rhinology Section Editor for the Ballenger’s Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. He has over 118 scientific publications, over 157 national and international scientific presentations, and over 148 guest lectureships.

Dr. Han is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology & Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS), American Rhinologic Society (ARS), Triological Society, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI), American College of Surgeons (ACS), and American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy (AAOA). He was involved in the Guideline Task Force. Dr. Han is one of the few physicians who is a fellow of the ARS, AAAAI, and AAOA. Dr. Han has received numerous awards including Best Doctors of America and Top Doctors by US News & Report.

Dr. Han is very active in both basic science research as well as clinical research studies. His thesis was on subclassification of CRS, which is endotyping and phenotyping CRS. He has been awarded NIH funding for the study of chronic sinusitis and has been the lead investigators for several multi-national, multi- institutional, prospective clinical trials on chronic sinusitis and nasal polyposis.