ITP Conference 2006

Speakers

 

James Bussel, MD

Dr. James Bussel is Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. His training was initiated at Yale, continued at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, then Pediatric Residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and Fellowship at Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the combined Cornell/Memorial Sloan Kettering program. Dr. Bussel began his first research study of ITP on October 2, 1981 and has continued to work actively in this field. The great majority of his publications are centered around diagnosis and especially management of patients with ITP including children with ITP, adults with ITP, pregnant women with ITP, HIV infected patients with thrombocytopenia, and fetuses affected by auto and allo immune thrombocytopenia. He chairs the annual ITP symposium on corporate Friday at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and speaks in the Education session at ASH as well. Currently he is the director or Platelet Research in the division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the Cornell campus of The New York Presbyterian Hospital.

 

Douglas Cines, MD

Dr. Douglas Cines received his medical degree from New York University in 1972, did his training in internal medicine at the University of North Carolina from 1972-5 and his fellow-ship in Hematology-Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1975-8, where he has remained since that time. He has had a long-term interest in the pathogenesis and treatment of ITP. Most recently, he has been interest in the genetic origin of ITP antibodies. He has participated in developing the ASH guidelines and has written several recent reviews on management. He is current a Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine where directs the Coagulation Laboratory. He maintains a consultative practice that includes patients with ITP.

 

Edward Conley, DO

Dr. Edward Conley is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Michigan State University, the best-selling author of “America Exhausted: Breakthrough Treatments of Fatigue and Fibromyalgia” and “Safe Estrogen: 20 Secrets to Reducing Your Breast Cancer Risk” and the host of 2 national PBS health specials. He has been the director of the Preventive Medicine Center of Michigan and the Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Clinic of Michigan since 1987.

 

Cynthia Dunbar, MD

Dr. Cynthia Dunbar is the Head of the Molecular Hematopoiesis Section and Director or the Hematology Fellowship Program, at the Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. She received both her undergraduate degree in the History of Science and her medical degree from Harvard University. She is currently a tenured Senior Investigator in the Hematology Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Besides directing her laboratory research program focusing on gene therapy, hematopoiesis, transplantation and stem cell biology, Dr. Dunbar is an active clinician focusing on autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation, particularly for novel indications such as for autoimmune disease. She also serves as the director of the clinical training program in hematology at the NIH. Dr. Dunbar serves as an Editor of the premier hematology journal “BLOOD”. She is the author or coauthor of over 160 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

 

Amy Geddis, MD, PhD

Dr. Amy Geddis is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Diego specializing in the genetics of platelet disorders. She received her MD and PhD from Jefferson Medical College/Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. She practiced and conducted research at the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA and the University of Washington in Seattle before moving to UCSD. During her career she has received numerous academic honors. Her many publications have added to our understanding of the role of thrombopoietin in platelet production and the nature of inherited thrombocytopenias.

 

Terry Gernsheimer, MD

Dr. Gernsheimer is Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Medical Director of the Platelet Antibody Laboratory at the Puget Sound Blood Center, and Director of Transfusion Services at the University of Washington Medical Center and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Dr. Gernsheimer’s major research interests include the diagnosis, treatment and pathophysiology of autoimmune platelet disorders as well as several aspects of transfusion medicine and medical education.

 

Craig Kessler, MD

Craig M. Kessler, M.D, Professor of Medicine and Pathology is the Director of the Hemophilia and Thrombosis Comprehensive Treatment Center and Director of the Division of Coagulation in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Georgetown University. His research interests include development and analysis of treatment strategies for the prevention and treatment of blood borne viral diseases transmitted to the hemophilia population, development of an animal model to study alloantibody formation to factor VIII coagulant protein, and the development of automated devices to measure factor VIII coagulant activity rapidly in hemophilia patients at home or at the bedside. Dr. Kessler has also been involved in numerous clinical trials to study the pathophysiology and treatment of thrombophilic states, such as venous thromboembolism and cancer. He has written over 250 papers and chapters and is currently co-editing a new textbook on hemostasis.

 

Michael Tarantino, MD

Michael D. Tarantino, MD is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Peoria. He received a doctoral degree in medicine from the University of Wisconsin School in 1987. He completed an internship and residency at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center and a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. Dr. Tarantino first became interested in ITP in during his residency in 1988. Since that time he has designed and/or participated in numerous clinical investigations related to ITP and other platelet disorders. Dr. Tarantino has authored numerous publications relevant to the diagnosis and management of ITP, especially as it occurs in children. Dr. Tarantino is also active in hemophilia and other bleeding disorders research. Currently he is the Medical Director of the Comprehensive Bleeding Disorders Center in Peoria, Illinois