ITP Conference 2005

Speakers

Additional speaker biographies will be added as they become available.

 

George Buchanan, MD

Department of Pediatrics University of Texas, Southwest Medical Center
Dallas, Texas

George R. Buchanan, M..D.: Dr. Buchanan is Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Hematology-Oncology Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and Children's Medical Center Dallas. In addition to ITP, his interests include hemophilia and other bleeding disorders as well as sickle cell disease. Dr. Buchanan is a graduate of the University of Chicago School of Medicine, and did his Pediatric Residency at Northwestern University and his Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship at Children's Hospital Boston and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. After a short time as a junior faculty member at Harvard Medical School, he came to Dallas in 1977, where he has remained ever since. He has been interested and involved in ITP for 25 years. His particular research focus has been on defining optimal treatment for children with ITP and in characterizing outcomes other than platelet count. He is particularly known for championing a "minimalist" or "non-interventionist" drug therapy strategy.

 

Edward Conley, DO

Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine
Michigan State University

Dr. Edward Conley is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University and the director for the Preventative Medicine Center and later Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Clinic of Michigan. He is a best-selling author and host of two Public Television Specials.

 

Thomas DeLoughery, MD

Oregon Heath and Science University
Portland, Oregon

 

Patrick Fogarty, MD

Hematology Division
University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Patrick Fogarty is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. His research interests include immune system dysregulation and reconstitution in the context of ITP, and general bleeding and clotting disorders. While at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, Dr. Fogarty was an investigator on several clinical studies on the treatment of ITP, including monoclonal antibody and transplantation approaches. He has performed laboratory studies on immune system disturbances in ITP. He is the author of original papers in peer-reviewed journals, review articles, and chapters in reference literature such as The Bethesda Handbook of Clinical Hematology, on the above topics.

 

Marilyn Hanchett, RN, PhD

Director of Clinical Affairs
IgG America

Marilyn Hanchett RN PhD is a renowned infusion nurse who has published and presented extensively on many IV therapy topics and issues. She is currently employed near Baltimore, Maryland.

 

Meredith McCarty

Diet Counselor and Nutrition Educator
San Francisco, California

Meredith McCarty, DC, NE, is a holistic nutritionist. The founder of the website, www.healingcuisine.com , she has authored three cookbooks and produced a video.. Her most recent book, Sweet and Natural—More than 120 Naturally Sweet and Dairy Free Desserts, won the Versailles World Cookbook Fair Award. Formerly the associate editor of Natural Health magazine, Meredith co-directed a macrobiotic natural health center in northern California for 19 years, during which time she catered weekly dinner parties and annual residential seminars for up to 150 people. She has consulted, taught and lectured internationally since 1977.

 

John Semple, PhD

University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada

John W. Semple received his PhD in Immunology from Queen's University in 1986 and trained as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research of the C.H. Best Institute, University of Toronto from 1986-90. He joined St. Michael's Hospital in 1990 as a Staff Scientist. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology, Medicine and Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. He is also an Adjunct Scientist with the Canadian Blood Services. His research activities include several areas of platelet immunology including: the anti-platelet T cell responses in children with acute and chronic ITP, the analysis of platelet- and GPIIbIIIa-reactive T helper cell lines and clones, the role of anti-inflammatory mediators in controlling humoral and cellular immune responses in recipients receiving platelet transfusions and the antigen processing and presentation pathways of platelet allo- and auto-antigens within macrophages. In the last 10 years, he has published over 50 articles relating to platelet immunology and particularly ITP.

 

Joan Young

Founder and President, PDSA

Joan Young is the founder and president of the Platelet Disorder Support Association (PDSA). Prior to her involvement with PDSA she was an elementary school teacher, a systems analyst, a systems manager, and a systems consultant for several large pharmaceutical companies. She was diagnosed with ITP in 1992 at the age of 46. After seven treatments failed to provide a sustained safe count, she turned to complementary medicine. Her platelets have been over 200,000 for 8 years. She attributes her good health to herbs, diet, energy treatments and many other small and large lifestyle changes.