CAP-Hepatitis C Medical Brainstorming Team
The Caring Ambassadors Hepatitis C Program has formed a team of health care professionals from a variety of disciplines along with patient advocates. They are our world-class Hepatitis C Brainstorming Team. The Team meets twice yearly for 3-day meetings to discuss important issues facing the hepatitis C community and to come up with new, creative ways to address these issues.
Meet the Hepatitis C Brainstorming Team
(in alphabetical
order)
Terry Baker
Executive Director, Veterans Aimed Toward Awareness
Middletown, Delaware
Terry Baker is a patient advocate for military veterans
and Executive Director of Veterans Aimed Toward Awareness (VATA). Mr.
Baker and VATA work to educate veterans about the need to be tested for
hepatitis, and advocate for veterans' rights regarding hepatitis C and
other illnesses related to military service.
Misha Cohen, OMD, LAc
Clinical Director, Chicken Soup Chinese Medicine
San Francisco, California
Misha R. Cohen is a doctor of oriental medicine and a
licensed acupuncturist. She is an internationally recognized practitioner
and lecturer in the field of Chinese medicine. Dr. Cohen is the author of The
Chinese Way to Healing: Many Paths to Wholeness (Perigee 1996), The
HIV Wellness Sourcebook (Holt 1998), and The Hepatitis C Help Book (St.
Martin's Press 2000, 2001). She has also authored numerous professional
articles and book chapters on Chinese medicine and research subjects. Dr.
Cohen is Clinical Director of Chicken Soup Chinese Medicine, Research and
Education Chair of Quan Yin Healing Arts Center, Research Specialist at
the University of California Institute for Health and Aging, and Research
Consultant to the University of California, San Francisco School of
Medicine Cancer Center.
Stewart Cooper, MD, MB, ChB, MRCP
Dir. of Liver Research, California Pacific Medical Ctr.
San Francisco, California
Dr. Stewart Cooper is an expert in immunology
and hepatology with special clinical and research interests in viral
hepatitis. He has been a pioneer in liver immunology research for more
than a decade. At California Pacific Medical Center, Dr. Cooper is
overseeing the development of the Liver Immunology Laboratory and his
research will investigate hepatic immunity, focusing on the determinants
of HCV clearance. Dr. Cooper has served as Assistant Professor of
Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology at University of California San
Francisco and as a Research and Gastroenterology Fellow at Stanford
University School of Medicine. He has an international reputation in viral
hepatitis research and management, and is listed in Who's Who of Medical
Science Educators.
Randy Dietrich
Patient Advocate
Aurora, Colorado (Randy's Story)
Randy Dietrich was diagnosed with hepatitis C in January
1999 following a routine physical examination. Randy is a successful
executive in the finance arena. As a result of his diagnosis, Mr.
Dietrich, together with his employer Republic Financial Corporation,
founded the Caring Ambassadors Hepatitis C Program.
Gregory T. Everson, MD
Professor of Medicine and Director of Hepatology,
Univ. of Colorado Health
Sciences Center
Denver, Colorado
Dr. Everson is Professor of Medicine and Director of
Hepatology in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department
of Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado. Dr. Everson is a
recipient of both NIH and industry sponsored research grants and contracts
to study and treat patients with hepatitis C. Dr. Everson is an author and
contributor to many scientific and clinical publications related to
hepatitis C and liver disease. He and his coauthor Hedy Weinberg have
written three editions of Living with Hepatitis C: A Survivor's Guide, one edition of My Mom has Hepatitis C, one edition of Living
with Hepatitis B: A Survivor's Guide, and Hemochromatosis:
Answers to Your Questions About Iron Overload. Dr. Everson is a fellow
of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the American
Gastroenterologic Association, the American Association for the Study of
Liver Disease, and the American Society of Transplantation.
Robert Gish, MD
Medical Director of the Liver Disease
Management & Transplant Program
California Pacific Medical Center
San Francisco, California
In addition to being the Medical Director of the Liver
Disease Management & Transplant Program at California Pacific Medical
Center, Dr. Gish is an associate professor at the University of
California, San Francisco and the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Gish has
conducted extensive research on treatments for hepatitis B and C, and has
authored more than 100 original articles, review articles, abstracts, and
book chapters. Along with being a co-principal investigator or
sub-investigator on a number of grants from the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), Dr. Gish has also received the NIH physician scientist
award. He is actively involved in numerous professional societies
including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the
American Society of Transplant Physicians, and is a fellow of the American
College of Physicians and the American Association for the Study of Liver
Disease.
Randy Horwitz, MD,
PhD
Medical Director, Program in Integrative Medicine,
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Dr. Horwitz is the Medical Director of the Program in
Integrative Medicine and assistant professor of Clinical Medicine at the
University of Arizona. He earned his medical degree from the University of
Illinois and a PhD in immunology and molecular biology from the University
of Florida. Dr. Horwitz did his postdoctoral training at the National
Institutes of Health, and completed a three-year fellowship in Allergy and
Clinical Immunology at the University of Wisconsin. He is board certified
in internal medicine, and allergy and clinical immunology. Dr. Horwitz
also participated in a two-year fellowship program in integrative medicine
at the University of Arizona with a focus on mind-body approaches to
illness.
Douglas LaBrecque, MD
Professor and Director of Liver Services,
University of Iowa Hospitals and
Clinics
Iowa City, Iowa
Dr. LaBrecque received his medical degree from Stanford
Medical School, Stanford, California. He is currently a Professor in the
Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa College of
Medicine. Dr. LaBrecque was Chief of Gastroenterology-Hepatology at the
Veterans Administration hospital in Iowa City, IA from 1982 to 2001. He
has won a number of awards including the Lange Book Award, the J. D. Lane
Research Award, and the Medical Residents Teaching Award at the University
of Iowa. Dr. LaBrecque is internationally recognized for his expertise in
liver diseases, particularly the field of hepatitis. Dr. LaBrecque has
written key chapters on clinical subjects in standard internal medicine
and hepatology textbooks, and co-edited a textbook on liver diseases.
Lyn Patrick, ND
Private Naturopathic Physician
Durango, Colorado
Dr. Patrick graduated from Bastyr University was in
private practice as a state-boarded naturopathic physician in Tucson, Arizona for 17 years. She is currently
in private practice in Durango, Colorado and specializes in chronic
hepatitis C and environmental medicine. She is a member of the American
College for the Advancement in Medicine, the American Association of
Naturopathic Physicians, and the Colorado Association of Naturopathic
Physicians. She has provided care for HIV
positive and HIV/HCV coinfected patients through federally
funded programs that incorporate complementary medicine in a primary
care treatment model. She is currently an Associate Editor for Alternative
Medicine Review. She has published over 20 scientific reviews in the
field of complementary and alternative medicine and has presented
information on CAM and hepatitis C at numerous medical meetings.
Lorren Sandt, Program Director
Hepatitis C Caring Ambassador Program
Oregon City, Oregon
Lorren Sandt has managed the Caring Ambassadors Hepatitis C Program since its inception in 1999. She is responsible for
the implementation of the organization's structure and spearheads its
ongoing mission. In August 2001, Ms. Sandt was honored with the Ronald
Eugene Duffy Memorial Award for Patient Activism award from the Hepatitis
C Global Foundation. Ms. Sandt is the founder of the National Hepatitis C
Advocacy Council, a coalition of 20+ hepatitis C advocacy organizations
working in concert to improve hepatitis C patient outcomes. Ms. Sandt has
been instrumental in hepatitis C policy work in the Pacific Northwest and
nationally.
Emeritus
Sylvia Flesner, ND
Private Naturopath
Denver, Colorado
Dr. Flesner is a naturopathic doctor, a graduate of the
former American Holistic College of Nutrition (now the Clayton School of
Natural Healing). She has maintained clinical practices in Houston, Texas
and Denver, Colorado for the past 23 years. Her training as a doctor of
naturopathy included the study of several alternative medical disciplines
including homeopathy, nutrition, pressure points, herbology, massage,
acupressure, reflexology, iridology, psychology, degenerative diseases,
allergic diseases, immune deficiency problems, and techniques for survival
in the 21st century. Dr. Flesner is also certified in
psychoneuroimmunology. She is a member of the American Naturopathic
Medical Association and the American Holistic Medical Association.
Margaret McCarthy, MBA
Founder, McCarthy Medical Marketing & Innovative Medical Education
Consortium
Vancouver, Washington
Ms. McCarthy received her MBA in health administration
from National University in San Diego, California. She was previously an
immunology researcher at the University of California at San Diego, and
has published in peer-reviewed journals. Ms. McCarthy worked in the
pharmaceutical industry before founding her companies, McCarthy Medical
Marketing (1987) and Innovative Medical Education Consortium (1992). She
also founded the Alliance for Lung Cancer Advocacy, Support, and Education
(ALCASE) in 1995 and served as Executive Director until 2000. Along with
Dr. Claudia Henschke and Ms. Sara Wernick, Ms. McCarthy co-authored the
2002 award-winning book Lung Caner: Myths, Facts, Choices, and Hope.
Qing-Cai Zhang, LAc, MD (China)
Zhang's Clinic
New York, New York
Dr. Qing-Cai Zhang graduated from Shanghai Second Medical
University. Dr. Zhang has conducted clinical work and research to
integrate Chinese and western medicine. In 1980, he was awarded a World
Health Organization scholarship, which supported his two-year fellowship
at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Zhang
received a one-year appointment from the University of California, Davis
as a visiting professor. Since 1986, Dr. Zhang has been the primary
researcher at the Oriental Healing Arts Institute where he conducts
research on treating HIV/AIDS with Chinese medicine. He has published two
books on this topic. Dr. Zhang went into private practice in 1990, first
in Cypress, California, and now in New York City. He focuses on treating
chronic infectious diseases such as viral hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, Lyme
disease, and autoimmune diseases. He is the author of Healing Hepatitis
C with Modern Chinese Medicine.
The Team has written a book along with other invited authors - Hepatitis C Choices. The book presents information about various treatments and therapies currently being used by people living with hepatitis C. The book is available for browsing or downloading free of charge. We encourage you to take advantage of this excellent resource. Click here to go to Hepatitis C Choices.
For
additional information about the formation and functions of the CAP-Hepatitis C
Medical Brainstorming Team, click here.
