The Cleveland Clinic Disease Management Project Editorial
Board Members

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

William D. Carey, MD

EDITORIAL BOARD

Abby Abelson, MD
Rheumatology

William D. Carey, MD
Gastroenterology/
Hepatology

Steven Gordon, MD
Infectious Disease

Robert E. Hobbs, MD
Cardiology

Byron Hoogwerf, MD
Endocrinology

Shakuntala Kothari, MD
Women's Health

Saul Nurko, MD
Nephrology/Hypertension

Raul Seballos, MD
Preventive Medicine

Mikkael Sekeres, MD
Hematology/Oncology

Patrick Sweeney, MD
Neurology

George Tesar, MD
Psychiatry/Psychology

Kenneth Tomecki, MD
Dermatology

Herbert P.
Wiedemann, MD
Pulmonary Disease

David M. Lang, MD, joined the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in July, 2002, as Head of the Section of Allergy/Immunology, Department of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, and Director of the Allergy/Immunology Fellowship Training Program. Previously, he was Section Chief of Allergy/Immunology in the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, and prior to that Division Chief of Allergy/Immunology and Co-Director of the Allergy and Asthma Center at Hahnemann University. In Philadelphia, Dr. Lang has directed studies of the epidemiology of urban asthma, which revealed an alarming rise in annual rates of asthma mortality -- disproportionately affecting African Americans and Hispanic Americans residing in poverty areas, and a dramatic underuse of inhaled steroid medications. Dr. Lang is continuing this work in Northeastern Ohio.

Dr. Lang has been active in national and regional medical organizations, and has published numerous articles, chapters, and abstracts. Dr. Lang's professional affiliations include fellowships in the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology; the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology; and the American College of Physicians. He has also served as president of the Pennsylvania Allergy and Asthma Association. Dr. Lang is currently Associate Editor of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, is a member of the Joint Council of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology's Practice Parameters Task Force, and contributes as a Sentinel Reader for the online journal Evidence-Based Medicine. Dr. Lang was the recipient of the Pharmacia Allergy Research Foundation Award at the International College of Allergology and Clinical Immunology in Stockholm in 1994, and also received the Hahnemann University Hospital Leadership Award in 1996.

Dr. Lang received his medical degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Dr. Lang also served an additional year as chief medical resident, prior to pursuing subspecialty training in Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla, California.

He is board-certified by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, the American Board of Internal Medicine, and the National Board of Medical Examiners.

Christopher T. Bajzer, MD, is the associate director of carotid and peripheral vascular intervention in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Heart Center. Dr. Bajzer is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, and has added qualifications in interventional cardiology. His areas of specialization include the endovascular treatment of carotid and peripheral arterial disease as well as coronary atherosclerosis.

Dr. Bajzer is a graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. He received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at The University of Michigan. Dr. Bajzer completed his residency at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan and served an additional year as Chief Medical Resident. He completed fellowships in clinical cardiology and coronary and peripheral intervention at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Dr. Bajzer has published abstracts, articles, and book chapters on topics in vascular intervention and cardiology. He is an active participant in clinical trials in coronary and peripheral intervention. Dr. Bajzer is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and is a member of the New York Academy of Science. He is a member of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Internal Medicine.

Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, graduated as the valedictorian from the Boston Latin School. Dr. Bhatt obtained his undergraduate science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while also serving as a research associate at Harvard Medical School. He received his medical doctorate from Cornell University. His internship and residency in internal medicine were performed at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His cardiovascular training was completed with Dr. Eric J. Topol at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He also completed fellowships in interventional cardiology and cerebral and peripheral vascular intervention, as well as serving as chief interventional fellow at the Cleveland Clinic. He is currently an interventional cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. He is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine, cardiovascular diseases, and interventional cardiology. He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, and the New York Academy of Sciences. Dr. Bhatt's research interests include the study of both oral and intravenous antithrombotic medications, as well as the optimal management of patients with acute coronary syndromes, including myocardial infarction. He also has research interests in advanced techniques in coronary, cerebral, and peripheral angiography and intervention. He has written numerous book chapters on these topics and has published several articles, including in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Journal, American Journal of Cardiology, American Journal of Medicine, and Journal of Invasive Cardiology. He has presented major research findings at the annual meetings of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the European Society of Cardiology. Dr. Bhatt is the Director of the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship and the Associate Director for the Cardiovascular Medicine Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Susan M. Begelman, MD, RVT, is an associate staff member in the Vascular Medicine Section, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. She is a graduate of the Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa, and completed her residency in internal medicine as well as her fellowship in vascular medicine at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Her interests include vascular ultrasound and physiologic testing, fibromuscular dysplasia, heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, and renal artery stenosis.

Andrew Boyle, MD, attended the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine in Ottawa, Canada. He completed an Internal Medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota followed by a Cardiology fellowship at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. He is currently a fellow in the Department of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Corinne Bott-Silverman, MD, is a staff cardiologist in the Section of Heart Failure/Transplant Center in the Department of Cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases, Dr. Bott-Silverman is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention. She has received the CCF's Cardiology Research Award and the Francis M. Grogan Award and is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha. Dr. Bott-Silverman has authored and co-authored numerous articles on heart failure, heart transplantation and heart disease, in general, that have appeared in scientific publications such as the Journal of Heart Failure, Circulation, Transplantation and the Journal of Heart Lung Transplantation. She has also authored and co-authored several chapters for books that focus on the treatment and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. A graduate of the St. Louis University School of Medicine, Dr. Bott-Silverman completed her residency (internal medicine) and fellowship (invasive cardiology) at the CCF.

Sorin J. Brener, MD, is an attending physician in the Department of Cardiology and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Ohio State University. He attends in the Coronary Intensive Care Unit and performs cardiac catheterizations and coronary angioplasties. Dr. Brener is the Director of the Angiography Core Laboratory at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Director of the acute myocardial infarction program.

Dr. Brener received his medical degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel and trained in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association and European Society of Cardiology.

Dr. Brener's main research interests are in the field of coronary artery disease, treatment of myocardial infarction and coronary angioplasty. He served as the principal investigator for the RAPPORT and INTRO AMI studies, which designed new strategies for treatment of patients with heart attacks. He authored numerous manuscripts and book chapters for cardiology journals and textbooks.

Michael S. Chen, MD, is currently a cardiology fellow at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and then completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Matthew G. Deedy, MD, is an Associate Staff in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Section of Clinical Cardiology in the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center. He is board-certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. He is a fellow in the American College of Cardiology, and member of the American Heart Association Council on Clinical Cardiology, the American College of Physicians, and the American Medical Association. Dr. Deedy's medical interests include the diagnosis, management and prevention of coronary artery disease, and the invasive and non-invasive evaluation of valvular heart disease.

He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University, and his medicine doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor before completing his cardiovascular medicine fellowship training at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He was appointed to the staff of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1999.

Dr. Deedy recently authored two book chapters for the Manual of Cardiovascular Medicine titled "Aortic Valve Disease" and "Non-invasive Stress Testing: Echocardiography."

Thomas Dresing, MD, is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Medicine, and completed his residency at the University of Minnesota Hospital, and Cardiology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is currently a fellow in Cardiac Electrophysiology at The Cleveland Clinic.

Keith Ellis, MD, is a cardiology fellow at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. A graduate of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Dr. Ellis completed his residency in internal medicine at Tulane University Medical Center, serving as a chief resident.

Brian P. Griffin, MD, is a staff cardiologist and director of the Valve Management Center and the Cardiovascular Training Program at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Board-certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases, he is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and a member of the Council on Clinical Cardiology for the American Heart Association, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the American Society of Echocardiography.
In 1997, he received the Teacher of the Year Award in The Cleveland Clinic Department of Cardiology. Dr. Griffin has authored and co-authored numerous articles for publications such as the American Journal of Cardiology, the American Heart Journal, Circulation, and the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. He has also been involved in a number of clinical investigations studying the function and management of valves as well as the use of echocardiography.

A graduate of the National University of Ireland, he did his internship and residencies at the University College Hospital in Galway, Ireland and St. Vincent's Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. He completed his clinical fellowships in cardiology at Mater Hospital in Dublin, Guy's Hospital in London, Boston University Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital (cardiac ultrasound) in Boston. He also served as a research fellow at the Irish Heart Foundation, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and Harvard Medical School.

Richard A. Grimm, DO, FACC, is a staff cardiologist and the Program Director for the Advanced Imaging Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is Board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease, as well as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and a member of the American Medical Association. He is also an editorial reviewer for Circulation, the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, the American Journal of Cardiology and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In 1993, he received the Cardiology Research Award from the CCF, in 1994 was awarded a fellowship grant from the American Heart Association to study the pathophysiologic mechanisms of atrial fibrillation which lead to stroke and in 2002 honored by the cardiology fellows with the Distinguished Teacher Award.

His numerous articles on such topics as cardioversion of atrial fibrillation and transesophageal echocardiography have appeared in publications such as the the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Heart Journal, Stroke, and Circulation. He has also participated in a number of clinical investigations intended to, among other things, assess the effectiveness of transesophageal echocardiography-guided anticoagulation management of patients with atrial fibrillation, assess mechanisms of cardioembolic stroke and to investigate the mechanisms of benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with heart failure utilizing echocardiography.

A graduate of the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio, he served his internship at Doctors Hospital in Columbus and his residency (in internal medicine) and fellowships (in cardiology and cardiovascular imaging) at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Emil Hayek, MD, received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University and went on to complete an internship and residency in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is currently a cardiology fellow at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Robert Hobbs, MD, director of clinical trials for the Heart Failure/Transplant Section, and a staff cardiologist at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Heart Center, is board-certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. His areas of specialization include heart failure, cardiac transplantation and heart failure clinical trials.

Dr. Hobbs is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, The American College of Chest Physicians, the American College of Angiology, the American College of Physicians and the Society for Cardiac Angiography. He serves on the editorial board of Angiology/The Journal of Vascular Medicine.

He is involved in nearly 40 clinical trials including a study that is analyzing the outcomes and complications after cardiac transplants, a trial that is examining "CHARM: candesartan cilexetil in the heart failure assessment of reduction in mortality and morbidity" and "The BEST Study: Beta blocker evaluation of survival trial." He recently authored an opinion piece on the therapeutic potential of nesiritide in the treatment of heart failure.

Dr. Hobbs has been listed in the Best Doctors in America, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare, the International Who's Who of Professionals and Who's Who In Science and Engineering. In addition, Dr. Hobbs was named the International Man of the Year by the International Biography Centre in 1997-98, received the Twentieth Century Award for Achievement from the International Biography Centre in 1998 and received the Distinguished Teacher Award from The Cleveland Clinic in 1982.

A graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, he completed his residency at Lankenau Hospital in Philadelphia and his fellowship at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Matthew Hook, MD, is a graduate of Columbia University, The Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and did his residency and chief residency at The University of Virginia Health Sciences Center. He is currently a chief fellow in cardiology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Anjli Maroo, MD, is currently a cardiology fellow at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She received her degree in medicine from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Maroo completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She plans to pursue further training in interventional cardiology.

Roger M. Mills, MD, FACC, is a practicing cardiologist in the Heart Center at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Dr. Mills, who specializes in congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease and perioperative cardiology, is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine and critical care medicine.
He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Chest Physicians. In addition, he is a senior Fellow of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Cardiology. Dr. Mills is also listed among the Best Doctors in America.

Dr. Mills, who has been involved in a variety of clinical trials, has authored and co-authored numerous articles in publications such as the American Journal of Cardiology, the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplant and Clinical Cardiology. He has also contributed and co-contributed chapters to the following books: "Intensive Care Medicine"; "Congestive Heart Failure: Pathophysiology, Differential Diagnosis and Comprehensive Approach to Therapy"; and "Diagnostic and Therapeutic Cardiac Catheterization." Dr. Mills is also the co-author of the book "Practical Approaches to the Treatment of Heart Failure."

Dr. Mills graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he received the John Clark Prize and the Lillie M. Erk Prize. He served his fellowship at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital/Harvard Medical School and his residency at the Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania.

Felipe Navarro, MD, FACC, is staff peripheral interventionalist and cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is board-certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease. His areas of specialization include peripheral vascular disease, peripheral intervention, and invasive cardiology.

Dr. Navarro is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Chest Physicians, the Society of Vascular Medicine and Biology, and a member of the Society for Cardiac Angiography & Interventions.

Dr. Navarro has published articles, abstracts, and book chapters on peripheral vascular disease. He is actively involved in clinical trials in peripheral vascular medicine and interventions.

A graduate of the University of California College of Medicine, Dr. Navarro completed his medical residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He completed fellowships in Vascular Medicine and Vascular Interventions at the Cleveland Clinic and his Cardiology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine.

Gian M. Novaro, MD, is a practicing cardiologist and Director of the Cardiac Function Laboratory at Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, FL, who specializes in valvular heart disease and echocardiography. He is board-certified in internal medicine, cardiovascular medicine, and by the National Board of Echocardiography.

Dr. Novaro's research interest include the genesis and role of medical therapies in calcific aortic valve disease, as well as congential aortic valve abnormalities and related aortopathies. He has published several articles on these topics, including in Circulation, New England Journal of Medicine, and the American Journal of Cardiology, as well as presented his research at the major national cardiology annual meetings.

Dr. Novaro completed fellowships in Cardiovascular Diseases and Advanced Cardiac Imaging at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He attended medical school at The Chicago Medical School in Chicago, IL, and completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

James O. O'Neill, MD, is a cardiology fellow in heart failure and transplant medicine at The Cleveland Clinic. He was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship in 2002 to study advanced management of endstage cardiomyopathy at the Clinic. He is a 1995 graduate of the National University of Ireland, Dublin. He completed his post graduate training at the Mater Hospital, James Connolly Memorial, Mullingar and Navan General hospitals.

Robert Schweikert, MD, is Associate Staff in the Section of Electrophysiology & Pacing, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio and completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at University Hospitals of Cleveland. He completed subspecialty training fellowships in both Cardiovascular Disease and Electrophysiology & Pacing at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He joined the staff at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in June 2000.

Special interests include catheter ablation of complex arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation and various types of ventricular tachycardia, as well as implantation and extraction of cardiac pacemakers and cardioverter defibrillators, including biventricular pacing systems for congestive heart failure. Dr. Schweikert is also involved with novel approaches to catheter ablation such as percutaneous instrumentation of the pericardial space for epicardial mapping and ablation of arrhythmias.

Dennis Sprecher, MD, joined The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center in 1995 as section head of the Preventive Cardiology Program.

Prior to coming The Cleveland Clinic, his most recent positions included section head of preventive cardiology at the University of Cincinnati Hospital and director of the Children's Hospital Lipid Clinic in Cincinnati.

Dr. Sprecher is board-certified in internal medicine and in the subspecialty of cardiovascular disease. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Heart Association, among others.

Dr. Sprecher is a prolific lecturer and author, and has received support grants and contracts for many research projects. His specialty and research interests include lipid disorders and cardiovascular genetic analysis. He spent five years at the National Institutes of Health as a senior research fellow where he received his formal training in lipoprotein metabolism and biochemical/genetic research.

Dr. Sprecher graduated from the Boston University School Of Medicine in 1978. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, and his cardiology fellowship at Duke University, Durham, NC.

Wilma Fowler Bergfeld, MD, FACP, is head of the Section of Dermatopathology in the Department of Pathology and head of the Section of Dermatological Research in the Department of Dermatology. Dr. Bergfeld is Director of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Dermatolopathology Fellowship and a dermatology consultant in Sports Medicine. She received her medical degree from Temple University Medical School. Dr. Bergfeld is a member of several professional societies and is a past president of the American Academy of Dermatology. She has received many local, national and international awards for her work, including being named as one of the Best Doctors in America for several consecutive years.

Charles Camisa, MD, graduated from The Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed his residency in dermatology at New York University Medical Center. He is the former director of dermatology and associate professor at Ohio State University. Dr. Camisa has been on staff at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation since 1987. Dr. Camisa is board-certified in dermatology and dermatological immunology and has been voted one of the "Best Doctors in America." He is the author of two textbooks on psoriasis published by Blackwell in 1994 and 1998. His areas of specialization include psoriasis, lichen planus, pemphigoid, pemphigus, and diseases of the mouth and lips.

Michelle Ehrlich, MD, is a graduate of Princeton University and the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine. She has completed her internship in internal medicine and is currently completing dermatology residency at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Ann Kooken, MD, graduated from the Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in molecular genetics. She continued her medical training at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, but spent three of the four years at The Cleveland Clinic. She is currently a dermatology resident in her second year, and plans to practice in Cleveland.

Sharon J. Longshore, RPh, MD, is a fellow in dermatology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. A graduate of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Dr. Longshore completed a medicine internship at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and she now serves as chief resident in dermatology.

Divya Singh-Behl, MD, is a graduate of the accelerated six-year B.S./M.D. program at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. She completed her internship and dermatology residency, which included appointment as the chief resident, at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She is currently a staff member of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation of Dermatology Department at the Beachwood satellite.

James S. Taylor, MD, is Head, Section of Industrial Dermatology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation since 1972. He is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine, and completed his fellowship in dermatology at the Cleveland Clinic followed by two years as an occupational dermatologist with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). He is certified by the American Board of Dermatology. He is currently an elected member of the Boards of Directors of the American Academy of Dermatology (2001-2005) and its Executive Committee (2003-2005) and the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland (1997-2000; 2001-2005); a member of the North American Contact Dermatitis Group (since 1976); the Committee on Gulf War and Health of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences (2003-2004) and the Allergic and Irritant Dermatitis Committee of NIOSH's National Occupational Research Agenda (since 1999); and Chair, Liaison Committee, American Contact Dermatitis Society (2003-2004). Dr Taylor is Past President of the American Contact Dermatitis Society (1992-1993), the Cleveland Dermatological Society (1993-1994), and the Ohio Dermatological Association (1996-1997); served as Editor-in-Chief of the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine (1981 -1992). and Associate Editor, American Journal of Contact Dermatitis (1989-1998). He is a consultant in occupational and environmental dermatology and has advised industry and governmental agencies (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, US Air Force, FDA, and the Australian Royal Commission on the Use and Effects of Chemical Agents in Vietnam). Additional clinical interests include general dermatology, contact dermatitis, patch testing and porphyria. He is the author or co-author of 223 scientific articles, including book chapters and abstracts. Honors have included the Samitz Lectureship in Cutaneous Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (1991); Fisher Lecturer, American Contact Dermatitis Society (1995); Moores Lecturer, Indiana University (1999); Presidential Citations (American Academy of Dermatology (2002) and American Contact Dermatitis Society (2003); and honorary/corresponding memberships in the Mexican Academy of Dermatology, the Colombian Dermatological Society, and the Finnish Dermatological Society.

Rebecca Tung, MD, is currently a Mohs surgery fellow in the Department of Dermatology. Prior to fellowship, she completed residency training in dermatology also at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Undergraduate and medical school were completed at Northwestern University. Current areas of interest include Mohs surgery for skin cancer, cosmetic dermatology, and hair restoration.

Allison T. Vidimos, RPh, MD, received her bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from Purdue University and her doctor of medicine degree from Indiana University. She completed her dermatology residency and Mohs surgery fellowship at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She is currently a staff member of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Department of Dermatology in the Section of Dermatologic Surgery and Oncology, and co-program director of the dermatology residency. Her professional activities include President of the Cleveland Dermatological Society, board member of the Ohio Dermatological Association and Ohio Dermatological Foundation, Vice Chairman of the CME Committee for the American Academy of Dermatology, member of the Online CME Committee for the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery and Chairman of the Applicant Review Committee for the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery.

Charles Faiman, MD, obtained his M.D. degree with Honors at the University of Manitoba Medical College at age 22. He did post-graduate training in Winnipeg, Canada, the University of Illinois in Chicago and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He returned to Canada to join the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba as a Medical Research Council of Canada Scholar in 1968. He rose through the ranks to become both a Professor of Physiology and Professor of Medicine and headed the Section of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University and the Health Sciences Center from 1977-1992. During his tenure, he was awarded a Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In 1992, he moved back to the U.S. to become Chairman of the Department of Endocrinology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation - a position which he held until 2000. He is currently a Senior Staff Physician in the Department.

He is a member of numerous societies in both the U.S. and Canada including the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the Endocrine Society and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Of note, he is a Past President of the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and the co-founder and a Past President of the Ohio State Chapter of A.A.C.E. He was given the prestigious award of Master of the American College of Endocrinology in 2002. He is listed in "Best Doctors in America" 2003-2004.

His extensive research career includes over 150 scientific presentations and over 190 publications mostly in peer-reviewed journals. His scientific interests include studies in diabetes mellitus, thyroid diseases and reproductive physiology and medicine.

Amir H. Hamrahian, MD, received his medical degree from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. He completed his internal medicine training at University of North Dakota, Fargo, ND, and his fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

He is a member of Endocrine Society, Pituitary Society and American Association of Clinical Endocrinology. He is board certified in internal medicine and endocrinology.

His area of interests are pituitary and adrenal disorders. He has initiated a pituitary clinic with collaboration of the Department of Neurosurgery at The Cleveland Clinic.

Milton M. Lakin, MD, FACP, is Head, Section of Medical Urology in the Urological Institute at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He has a joint appointment in the departments of Urology and Internal Medicine. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago Medical School, and board-certified in internal medicine and hematology. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

During his career at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, he has developed the area of erectile dysfunction and has been the author of numerous articles and book chapters dealing with the evaluation and treatment of erectile dysfunction. He has participated in national consensus panels that have published guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of erectile dysfunction. He is an ad hoc reviewer for the journal, Urology. His clinical and research interests include the evaluation and treatment of erectile dysfunction, with particular emphasis on non-surgical options.

Angelo A. Licata, MD, PhD, FACP, FACE, received his M.D. and Ph.D.(pharmacology) degrees from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and completed training in endocrinology and internal medicine at Washington University, National Institutes of Health, and the Georgetown V.A. Hospitals. He was a faculty member of the University of Rochester School of Medicine in the Department of Endocrinology-Medicine. Presently, he is a clinical endocrinologist in the Department of Endocrinology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Director of the Endocrine Clinical Research group and head of the Calcium and Metabolic Bone section. He is the former chairman of the Institutional Review Board. He also directs Clinical Research, Cleveland Clinic Foundation Metabolic Bone Center. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Osteoporosis Foundation, the editor-in-chief of the National Osteoporosis Foundation newsletter, and vice-chairman educational committee National Osteoporosis Foundation.

His research interests are in calcium disorders and metabolic bone disease. He is the author of more than a hundred publications in these areas. He has been a principal investigator in clinical trials of drug therapies for osteoporosis, which include the bisphosphonates, estrogens, fluoride, parathyroid hormone and other drugs.

Dr. Licata is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, the American College of Physicians, and the American College of Clinical Endocrinologists. He is listed in the Guide of the Top Doctors in America. He has spoken extensively at local and national meetings about osteoporosis, calcium and bone disorders, and other aspects of endocrine and metabolic disorders.

S. Sethu K. Reddy, MD, FRCPC, FACP, FACE, is Chairman and Program Director in the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Dr. Reddy's areas of medical interest are the epidemiology of diabetes and its complications, and clinical endocrinology (particularly obesity and thyroid disorders). Dr. Reddy has received more than $1,000,000 in research grants and support for studies related to diabetes, and cardiovascular risk factors. He has written or co-authored more than 60 articles and book chapters on various aspects of endocrinology and has prepared abstracts of more than 40 research projects he has undertaken. In addition, he has lectured extensively on the management of diabetes and its complications, as well as heart disease, obesity, and thyroid disease, and other topics.

After earning his medical degree at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, Dr. Reddy completed fellowships in clinical endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Toronto. He was then a research fellow in cellular and molecular physiology at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Reddy is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Canada) in internal medicine and in endocrinology and metabolism and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American College of Endocrinology.

Dr. Reddy has received several honors and awards, including two awards for teaching. In 1990 he was chosen First Alternate for the American College of Physicians Teaching & Research Award, and in 1992 he received the Department of Medicine Excellence Award in Teaching. He was also the Nova Scotia Medical Research Foundation Scholar from 1991 - 1994.

He is Chair of the Coding Committee for American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and an associate editor of The Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. The Clinic has ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. for hormonal disorders.

Mario Skugor, MD, is a fellow in department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is board certified in internal medicine.

He is member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

A medical school graduate of University of Zagreb, Croatia, he completed his Internal Medicine training at Saint Luke's Medical Center - Saint Vincent's Charity Hospital in Cleveland. His fields of interest include osteoporosis, other disorders of calcium and mineral metabolism, obesity and endocrine hypertension.

Robert S. Zimmerman, MD, is an endocrinologist at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. Previously, he was director of the Ochsner Diabetes Institute and medical director of the Division of Nutrition at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, Louisianna. Dr. Zimmerman received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore, Md. He served an internship and residency in internal medicine at Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC. He then completed a fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Dr. Zimmerman's research interests include stress and hypertension, hypothyroidism and metabolic abnormalities. He has authored and co-authored more than 100 journal articles, book chapters and abstracts. Dr. Zimmerman is a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology, American Diabetes Association, Endocrine Society and a Fellow of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American Heart Association.

Talal M. Adhami, MD, is a fellow in the Department of Gastroenterology, Section of Hepatology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is board-certified in internal medicine. Dr. Adhami is a member of the major gastroenterology societies including the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Gastroenterologic Association. Dr. Adhami's interest is treatment of hepatitis C after liver transplantation. He presented his study at the Digestive Disease Week conference in San Francisco in May 2002. Dr. Adhami graduated from the American University of Beirut School of Medicine and completed his medical residency at MetroHealth Medical Center/Case Western Reserve University.

H. Nail Aydin, MD, is currently a Research Fellow in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He has got his medical degree in 1996 from Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty in Istanbul Turkey. Dr. Aydin completed his surgical training in General Surgery at Haseki State Hospital in Istanbul Turkey.

He is currently working on the diverticular database project of the Department of Colorectal Surgery.

David S. Barnes, MD, FACG, is a staff member in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is currently the acting head of the Section of Hepatology. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. His areas of specialization include cholestatic liver disease and liver transplantation.

Dr. Barnes is a fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology and is a member of the major gastroenterology and hepatology societies including the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Association for Study of Liver Disease and the American Gastroenterologic Association.

Dr. Barnes has published articles, abstracts and book chapters on various aspects of liver disease. He is actively involved in clinical trials in viral hepatitis and cholestatic liver disease. He has longstanding clinical and research interests in primary biliary cirrhosis and other cholestatic liver diseases.

Dr. Barnes graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and completed his medical residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He completed his fellowship in gastroenterology at University Hospitals of Cleveland of Case Western Reserve University.

Carol Ann Burke, MD, is the director of the Center for Colon Polyps and Cancer in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She is board-certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology. Her areas of specialization include management of the inherited colon cancer syndromes, the use of agents for chemoprevention of colorectal adenomas and cancer, and the effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening.

Dr. Burke is a Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology and the American College of Physicians. She serves on many committees of the American College of Gastroenterology and is a reviewer for a variety of gastroenterologic journals. She is on the scientific advisory board of the Hereditary Colon Cancer Association.

She is involved in multiple clinical trials assessing the effectiveness of agents to prevent colorectal adenomas and cancer. She is also studying the use of new modalities to image the gastrointestinal tract including a swallowable video capsule and CT colonography. She has authored numerous articles and book chapters on the inherited colon cancer syndromes and colorectal cancer screening techniques.

Dr. Burke is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine and completed her residency at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Her gastroenterology fellowship was completed at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

William D. Carey, MD, is a gastroenterologist/hepatologist at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation where he has practiced since he finished his gastrointestinal medicine training at the Mayo Clinic. He served as Hepatology Section Head from 1991 to 2001. He currently is the Director of The Cleveland Clinic's Center for Continuing Education.

Dr. Carey has served on many prestigious national GI committees including the Practice Guidelines Committee of the American College of Gastroenterology, and the American Society for the Study of Liver Diseases.

He is past President of the American College of Gastroenterology and currently serves as a delegate to the American Medical Association.

Darwin L. Conwell, MD, is Director, The Pancreas Clinic. He attended medical school at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed his GI fellowship at Cleveland Clinic Foundation. His research interest include the diagnosis, treatment and management of acute and chronic pancreatritis.

Gary W. Falk, MD, received his medical degree from the University of Rochester in 1980. He went on to do his medical residency at the George Washington University Medical Center from 1980-1983. From there he went on to the University of Michigan for his gastroenterology training. He has been a staff gastroenterologist at The Cleveland Clinic since 1986 where he is Director of the Center for Swallowing and Esophageal Disorders. Dr. Falk's clinical and research interest focus on esophageal diseases, in particular gastroesophageal reflux disease and Barrett's esophagus. He is currently Treasurer of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Gastroenterology.

Bret A. Lashner, MD, MPH, is the Director of the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is a graduate of Haverford College and New York University School of Medicine, and completed a residency in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital, a fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of Chicago, and a master's degree in public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. After 7 years on the faculty of the University of Chicago involved with a busy clinical practice and IBD clinical research, Dr. Lashner joined The Cleveland Clinic in 1993.

Dr. Lashner has conducted numerous clinical studies in IBD on such topics as cancer prevention with folic acid, optimization of cancer surveillance techniques, risk factors for malignancy, nicotine gum for treatment of ulcerative colitis, IBD risk in families, the use of preoperative total parenteral nutrition, and epidemiologic determinants of disease. Dr. Lashner is an Associate Editor of The American Journal of Gastroenterology and has recently served on the grant review committees of the American College of Gastroenterology, the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.

Ronnie R. Pimentel, MD, FACP, FACG, is a graduate from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña in the Dominican Republic, and completed his post graduate medical training in internal medicine, gastroenterology and advanced endoscopy at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is board-certified in the specialties of internal medicine and gastroenterology. Currently, he is a Staff in the department of gastroenterology at The Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston campus. Dr. Pimentel's interest focus on advanced endoscopic treatment of gastrointestinal diseases.

Feza H. Remzi, MD, is a Staff surgeon in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He received his medical degree in 1983 from Hacettepe University School of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey. Dr: Remzi completed both his residency and fellowship at The Cleveland Clinic in the Departments of General Surgery and Colorectal Surgery, respectively.

His clinical interests include inflammatory bowel disease, surgery for the cancer of the colon and rectum, diverticultis, reoperative pelvic surgery, sphincter sparing procedures for rectal cancer, pelvic pouch procedures for mucosal ulcerative colitis and familial adenomatous polyposis. registry.

Dr. Remzi is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and the American Society for Colorectal Surgeons. He is also board certified in both of the societies. Dr. Remzi is member and officer in many professional societies, and a reviewer to many journals. Dr. Remzi is the head of the Cleveland Clinic Ileal Pouch Registry and the editor of Pouch-O-gram, a quarterly magazine published by the Cleveland Clinic Department of Colorectal Surgery.

Madhusudhan Sanaka, MD, has graduated from Osmania Medical College in India and did his residency in combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics at New York Medical College, New York, NY. He is board-certified in internal medicine and pediatrics. Dr. Sanaka has been working as a Research Associate in the Department of Gastroenterology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation since December 2000.

Edy Soffer, MD, FACG, graduated from the Technion Medical School in Haifa, Israel. He completed his residency in Medicine at the Coney Island Hospital in New York City, and his fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of Tennessee. He also completed research fellowships in gastrointestinal motility at the University of Iowa, and the University of London.

His clinical and research interests include gastrointestinal motility disorders.

Anthony S. Tavill, MD, is Consultant Hepatologist to The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Professor of Medicine and Nutrition at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He occupies the Mathile and Morton Stone Chair of Digestive and Liver Disorders at MetroHealth Medical Center.

Dr.Tavill earned his M.D. (with Gold Medal) from the Victoria University of Manchester, England and took his postdoctoral training and fellowship with the late Professor Dame Sheila Sherlock at the Royal Free Hospital, University of London. He has served on the editorial boards of the journals Gut and Hepatology and has reviewed for many clinical and basic science journals. He has authored over 100 original clinical and scientific articles, chapters, reviews and abstracts on hepatological and digestive disease topics with a special interest in inherited diseases of the liver, particularly hemochromatosis.

Dr. Tavill has served as Secretary-Treasurer, Councillor and President of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), as a member of Board of Directors of the American Liver Foundation, and as a consultant to the NIH and FDA. He was the recipient of the 2001 Distinguished Service Award from the AASLD. Other honors include the 1989 Kaiser-Permanente Teaching Award at CWRU School of Medicine and the 1995 Maurice Saltzman award from Mt. Sinai Medical Center for outstanding service to health care in Cleveland.

Prashanthi Thota, MD, is a fellow in the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She received her medical degree from Gandhi Medical College in India. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. She is a member of American College of Gastroenterology, American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and American Gastroenterological Association. Her research interests include unsedated endoscopy and biliary complications after liver transplantation.

Jason Vollweiler, MD, is a graduate of Northwestern University Medical School and completed his internal medicine residency at Duke University Medical Center. He is currently a gastroenterology fellow at The Cleveland Clinic.

Jason M. Wolf, MD, is a gastroenterology fellow at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He graduated from Southwestern Medical School in Dallas in 1997. He completed his internal medicine residency at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis in 2000. Dr. Wolf then began his gastroenterology fellowship in 2000.

Dr. Wolf has been active in inflammatory bowel disease research since starting at The Cleveland Clinic. He has written articles for the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. He has also conducted a clinical research study during his first year of fellowship on the relationship of ursodeoxycholic acid and cancer risk in ulcerative colitis. He then presented this at the Digestive Disease Week conference in Atlanta in 2001.

Gurjit Kaur, DO, holds an associate staff position in the department of General Internal Medicine. She received her medical degree from the University of North Texas Health Science Center and then completed her internal medicine residency at Metro Health Medical Center. She is board-certified in internal medicine. Dr. Kaur has an avid interest in women's health issues and her areas of interest include premenstrual syndrome/premenstrual dysphoric disorder, preventive medicine and chronic disease management.

James C. Pile, MD, is a staff physician in the Department of General Internal Medicine, Section of Hospital Medicine. He received his undergraduate medical degree from the Ohio State University College of Medicine, and did his residency training at Georgetown University Hospital and University Hospitals of Cleveland. He completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the National Naval Medical Center. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and currently serves as editor of The Hospitalist, the official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine. His interests include inpatient medicine, perioperative medicine, and infectious diseases.

Kresimira Milas, MD, is an Associate Staff in the Department of General Surgery. She received her medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, Texas. Her specialty interests include endocrine and breast surgery.

Anjali S. Advani, MD, is an associate staff physician in the Department of Hematology/ Medical Oncology and Assistant Professor in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Advani is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. Her area of specialization is hematologic malignancies: leukemia, myelodysplasia, and lymphomas. Her clinical research interests include investigating new biological targeted therapies for the treatment of myelodysplasia and acute leukemias.

Dr. Advani is a graduate of Duke University Medical School. She also completed her internal medicine residency and hematology/ oncology fellowship at Duke Medical Center. She is a member of the Southwest Oncology Group Leukemia Committee, American Society of Hematology, and American Society of Clinical Oncology. She has published work examining biological differences in the Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic and acute leukemias, using microarray technology. She is currently pursuing clinical trials in the areas of myelodysplasia, acute lymphoid leukemia, and acute myelogenous leukemia.

Robert Dreicer, MD, FACP, is the director of the Genitourinary Medical Oncology Program and associate director of Experimental Therapeutics at the Taussig Cancer Center of the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Dreicer is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. His areas of specialization are the management of genitourinary malignancies and the design and conduct of clinical trials in oncology.

Dr. Dreicer is a graduate of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He completed an internal medicine residency at Indiana University in Indianapolis, followed by a medical oncology fellowship at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. He was an Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Division Director of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa until his arrival at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Dr. Dreicer has published widely in genitourinary oncology, and is the principle investigator of a large number of ongoing studies in genitourinary neoplasms. He is the Chair of the Bladder Subcommittee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, a member of the American Urologic Assoication, Society of Urologic Oncology, American Society of Clinical Oncology and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Alan E. Lichtin, MD, is a staff physician in the Department of Hematology & Medical Oncology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Ohio State University. Dr. Lichtin is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology.

Dr. Lichtin is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati Medical School. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Case Western Reserve University Hospitals, Cleveland, Ohio and his fellowship in hematology-oncology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. He is the Chairman of the Institutional Review Board at The Cleveland Clinic; Co-Chair, Erythropoietin Guideline writing committee, ASH & ASCO; and serves on the Cancer Committee at The Cleveland Clinic. He is a member of American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Society of Experimental Hematology, International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis, American Medical Association and Applied Research Ethics National Association. Dr. Lichtin is widely published and is a principal investigator in a number of ongoing studies.

Mikkael A. Sekeres, MD, MS, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and Staff in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, and his medical degree as well as a Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. His internship and residency were performed at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and his fellowship in hematology-oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he was a clinical fellow in medicine at Harvard Medical School.

His clinical and research interests include clinical trials, prognostic factors, and quality of life in leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes. He has written a number of book chapters and reviews on these topics, published several articles, and recently published a book, Facing Cancer, for the lay public. He is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Joseph B. Abdelmalak, MD, is currently a research fellow in the Urological Institute, section of Voiding Dysfunction and Female Urology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He received his medical degree from Assiut University, School of Medicine in Assiut, Egypt and completed his residency in Urology in Egypt. His areas of interest include the diagnosis, treatment and management of voiding dysfunction and pelvic floor disorder.

Dr. Abdelmalak has published abstracts, articles, & book chapters on interstitial cystitis, management of urinary incontinence with injectables, Botulinum A toxin (Botox) injection, slings, TVT, PVT and Laparoscopic Augmentation Cystoplasty.

Wendy S. Armstrong, MD, is an associate staff physician in the Department of Infectious Disease at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She received her bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1989 and is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine and her fellowship in Infectious Disease at the University of Michigan. There she served as a clinical instructor in the HIV/AIDS Treatment Program before joining the staff at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 2001. Dr. Armstrong has published several original articles on topics related to HIV infection and continues to conduct research in this area. She also maintains an interest in infections of the central nervous system and tropical disease.

Robin K. Avery, MD, is an infectious disease staff physician at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation with a special interest in infections in transplant recipients and other immunocompromised patients. She is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious disease and is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency training and fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Avery has served on the Infectious Disease Committee and the Membership Committee of the American Society for Transplantation and has contributed to guidelines for transplant infectious disease for the Immunocompromised Host Society. She has participated in many clinical trials of infection prevention and treatment for transplant recipients, and has also written frequently on the subject for primary care physicians as well as specialists. She is the recipient of a 2001 "Distinguished Women in Healthcare" award from the Visiting Nurse Association of Cleveland, and also has received several awards for community service.

Steven Gordon, MD, is Hospital Epidemiologist at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and a member of the Department of Infectious Diseases. He has an interest in prevention of nosocomial infections, including device-associated, and opportunitistic infections in immunocompromised patients. He is a Fellow of the American College of Internal Medicine and a member of the Infectious Disease Society of America. He went to medical school at Cornell University Medical College and did his internship and residency at University of Chicago Hospital and Clinics. He was an Epidemic Intelligence Officer in the Hospital Infections Program at the Centers for Disease Control and did a fellowship in infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine.

Thomas F. Keys, MD, is currently Interim Chairman of the Department of Infectious Disease at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Dr. Keys received his Bachelor's Degree in Science from Beloit College in 1959 and graduated from Northwestern University Medical School in 1963. He had subsequent training at Philadelphia General Hospital, The Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Medicine and The University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. Keys joined the Staff of The Cleveland Clinic in 1983, and served as Hospital Epidemiologist and Chairman of the Infection Control Committee until 1994. He also was Director of the Office of Quality Management for the Foundation from 1990-1999. He is a Fellow of The American College of Physicians and of The Infectious Disease Society of America. His research interests includes Hospital Acquired Infections; Antibiotic Prophylaxis; Infective Endocarditis and Quality Improvement Projects.

Steven P. LaRosa, MD, received his degree in 1992 from the Boston University School of Medicine. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in 1996 and a clinical and research fellowship in infectious disease at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1998. Following his fellowship, Dr. LaRosa spent 3 years as a Clinical Research Physician at Eli Lilly and Company. In this capacity, he was the lead physician for the successful Phase III trial of Recombinant human Activated Protein C (rhAPC) in severe sepsis (PROWESS trial). Dr. LaRosa authored a protocol amendment for the study, trained investigators, monitored the day-to-day conduct of the study, served as the global safety officer for the study, and authored many of the sections of the Biologic License Application (BLA) submitted to the FDA.

Dr. LaRosa went on from Lilly to join the Infectious Disease Department at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation as an Associate Staff Physician in April 2001. In this capacity, Dr. LaRosa is involved in patient care and clinical research, serving as a principal investigator on 2 multi-center late-stage sepsis trials.

Steven Dwight Mawhorter, MD, a board-certified specialist in infectious diseases, internal medicine, and pediatrics, is Director of the Travel Clinic and an Infectious Disease Consultant in the Department of Infectious Disease at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Mawhorter received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC, and the diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene (DTM&H) at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool, England. He completed a combined internal medicine and pediatric residency at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, where he also served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine. He completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University Hospitals of Cleveland at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He also did post-fellowship research at the National Institutes of Health in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases in the area of parasitic immunology.

Active in clinical care and research, Dr. Mawhorter has been published in such journals as the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, Journal of Immunology, Clinical Infectious Disease, Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, AIDS, Journal of Infectious Diseases, Chest, Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, and the Journal of Travel Medicine. He is a member of the American College of Physicians, American Society of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, The Wilderness Medical Society, and the International Society of Travel Medicine.

Sherif Mossad, MD, is graduated from Cairo University Medical School in Cairo, Egypt. He completed his internal medicine residency training and infectious diseases fellowship at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He has been on staff at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation since 1996. His interests are upper respiratory tract infections, including the common cold and influenza, and infections in solid organ and bone marrow transplant recipients. He has published over 30 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals.

Dr. Mossad is an Assistant Professor of Medicine [Educator Track], CCF/OSU Health Sciences Center of Ohio State University, and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University. He is the Quality Officer for the Department of Infectious Diseases at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Dr. Mossad is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and a member of the American Medical Association. He is also a life member of Who's Who in Medicine.

Thomas P. Noeller, MD, FACEP, is an emergency medicine physician at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. After graduating from the University of Michigan Medical School, he completed his emergency medicine residency at MetroHelath Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Noeller is board-certified in emergency medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has published articles on biological and chemical terrorism and has recently served on an NIH SBIR/STTR special study section grant review committee, examining grant proposals related to biological and chemical terrorism.

Susan J. Rehm, MD, is a staff physician in the Department of Infectious Disease and serves as an Associate Chief of Staff for The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She holds clinical faculty appointments at the Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University, and Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Rehm received both her bachelor's and her medical degrees with high distinction from the University of Nebraska. Her residency training in internal medicine and her fellowship in infectious diseases were both completed at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. She is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases.

Dr. Rehm is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American College of Physicians. She is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, the American College of Physician Executives and the American Medical Association and she serves as President of the Board of Directors of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Dr. Rehm has been active in physician education, having served as the Director for the Cleveland Clinic's Medical Student Education Program, the Infectious Disease Fellowship, and the Internal Medicine Residency. She is a past member of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation's Board of Governors.

Evaluation of new antibiotics and studies of antimicrobial use are Dr. Rehm's clinical research interests. As a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America's subcommittee on clinical practice, she co-authored guidelines for appropriate use of community-based parenteral antimicrobial therapy.

Steven K. Schmitt, MD, is a staff physician in the Department of Infectious Diseases at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He graduated from Haverford College in 1982 and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1988. He completed his specialty training in internal medicine and his subspecialty training in infectious diseases at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, joining the professional staff in 1994. He is president-elect of the Infectious Diseases Society of Ohio. Dr Schmitt's clinical and research interests rest in general infectious diseases, especially community-acquired pneumonia and infections from medical devices. Dr. Schmitt also maintains an active interest and involvement in healthcare epidemiology and emerging infections, including bioterrorism.

Alan J. Taege, MD, received his B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Nebraska in 1979 and his M.D. from St. Louis University in 1979. After an internship in Family Practice 1979-1980 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center he completed his Internal Medicine Residency at St. Louis University Hospitals 1980-1983 and was Board Certified in Internal Medicine in 1983. After 13 years in private practice, he entered and completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He is currently a a staff physician, active in education and codirector of the ACTU subunit with a special interest in HIV and fungal diseases.

Richard Fatica, MD, is an associate staff member in the Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, with a joint appointment in the Department of Transplantation. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and a fellowship in nephrology at the University of Michigan. He served on staff at the University of Michigan before joining The Cleveland Clinic in July of 2000. His special interests are chronic renal diseases, hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis, nutrition in renal failure, and kidney transplant.

Adele Fowler, MD, completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Michigan. She is an internist in the Department of General Medicine.

Phillip Hall, MD, has been a member of the Department of Nephrology and Hypertension since 1972. He completed medical school at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in 1965. Training in internal medicine and nephrology and hypertension research were all completed at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation between 1965 and 1970.

Dr. Hall started the Renal Function Laboratory at The Cleveland Clinic in 1973 and continues to supervise that effort. He has special interest in kidney stone disease, glomerular disease, renal physiology, and hypertensive diseases. He has served as Program Director for Internal Medicine Residency for 10 years at The Cleveland Clinic. He continues as an associate program director.

John Kevin Hix, MD, attended the University of Michigan as an undergraduate student. He continued in medical school at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, electing to attend the Cleveland Clinic Foundation for the majority of his rotations. Subsequently he completed his medical residency in Internal Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic.

He is currently a Fellow in the Department of Nephrology and Hypertension at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Joseph V. Nally, Jr., MD, completed his medical training at The Ohio State College of Medicine, and his specialty studies in Nephrology at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, in Philadelphia, PA. His areas of interest are renal disease, transplantation, hypertension, and renovascular disease. Dr. Nally has been the Director of the Department of Nephrology and Hypertension's Fellowship Program at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation for more than 12 years.

Donald Vidt, MD, is a graduate of Seton Hall University followed by postgraduate training in the departments of physiology at New York University and the Ohio State University from which he received his Master of Science degree in 1954, and his Doctor of Medicine in 1959. Internship and residency training at University Hospitals in Cleveland led to an appointment as a U. S. Public Health Service Fellow in metabolism and renal disease at Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital (now MetroHealth). In 1964 Dr. Vidt joined the Department of Nephrology and Hypertension at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, where he has devoted 37 years to an active consulting practice in hypertension and renal disease, combined with medical education and clinical research.

At The Cleveland Clinic Foundation he established the peritoneal dialysis program and the first Physician’s Assistant Program in the state of Ohio. He served on the Clinic’s Board of Governors and chaired the Department of Nephrology/Hypertension. He is currently a Consulting Physician for that department and a professor of Medicine at Ohio State University. In addition to the High Blood Pressure Council of Cleveland, Dr. Vidt has held leadership positions in the Heart Association of Northeastern Ohio, the Kidney Foundation of Ohio, and the Ohio Blood Pressure Coordinating Council, the Renal Physician’s Association and the National Kidney Foundation. He is a past president of the Ohio Society of Internal Medicine and the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and therapeutics. He served for 12 years in the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates, representing clinical pharmacology.

Continuing Medical Education has represented a major focus throughout Dr. Vidt’s career. He has lectured extensively, organized and presented symposia nationally and internationally. Entering the era of new drug development for hypertension, he has chaired or served as a member of the education committees of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, the Interamerican Society of Hypertension, the American Heart Association Council for High Blood Pressure Research, the American College of Chest Physicians, and currently serves as Chairman of the Medical Education Committee for the American Society of Hypertension. He has been a member of the Coordinating Committee of the National High Blood Pressure Education Program, served on the program committee for three national high blood pressure conferences, and has been a member of the writing group for the last four reports of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.

Dr. Vidt’s research interests have focused primarily on the clinical development of antihypertensive therapies, renal failure, and renovascular hypertension. He has contributed more than 250 publications and book chapters to the scientific literature. He is a member of numerous editorial boards and serves as a reviewer for more than a dozen scientific journals. He is a fellow of the American Heart Association Council on High Blood Pressure Research, the American College of Physicians, the American College of Cardiology, and the American College of Chest Physicians.

Anwar Ahmed, MD, is a clinical associate in the Department of Neurology at The Cleveland Clinic. He received his medical degree from Dow Medical College at the University of Karachi in Pakistan and completed his residency in neurology at Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State University. He also completed a fellowship in movement disorders at Columbia University in New York. He is a board-certified neurologist and has special interests in movement disorders including tremor and Parkinson's disease.

Robert J. Fox, MD, received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University. His medical degree included a one-year appointment as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH Research Scholar in the Cloister Program, Bethesda, Md. He pursued residency training in neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Ph