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Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is composed of members of the Medical and Donor Communities. Guaranteeing both financial and scientific expertise, this dual structure also ensures that donors have a direct impact on the allocation of funds.
| Board of Directors | |
| Co-Presidents: | Spencer Kaitz Lisa Hannegan |
| Vice president: | Angela Shing |
| Secretary: | Bobbi Lynn Jones |
| Treasurer: | Chrisopher F. Dowd, MD |
| Board Members | |
| Accreditation and Standards Chair: | S. Claiborne "Clay" Johnston, MD, PhD, MPH |
| Documentary Chair: | Monica E. Kaitz |
| Fundraising Chair: | Nancy J. Quinnine |
| Patient Support Services Chair: | Kerry W. Corcoran, RN, MS, CNS |
| Strategic Planning Chair: | Wade S. Smith, MD, PhD |
| Website Co-chairs: | Michael Lawton, MD Kieran Murphy, MD |
| Member at Large: | Charles B. Wilson, MD, MSHA, ScD |
Spencer R. Kaitz, Co-President
Mr. Kaitz is an attorney and for 32 years, President of the California Cable and Telecommunications Association. He has long experience and expertise in administrative and communications law, legislative representation, operation of non-profit organizations, fundraising and interfacing between the private sector and government, financial management. He has founded a successful non-profit foundation dedicated to the advancement of diversity in the management ranks of the cable and telecommunications industry. His dedication to The Aneurysm and AVM Foundation derives from the personal experience of family members who have suffered aneurysms.
Ms. Hannegan is both a Supervisor and Clinical Nurse Specialist within the Dept. of Neurological Surgery at University of California San Francisco as well as an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF School of Nursing. She received her nursing degree from Montana State University and her MS in Neuroscience Nursing from UCSF. In her 25-year nursing career, Ms. Hannegan has worked directly with over 5,000 patients with aneurysms or vascular malformations and brings her considerable expertise to the Foundation. Her work as Co-Leader of the SF Brain Aneurysm and Vascular Malformation Support Group provides the Foundation information on issues of importance to patients and their families dealing with aneurysm and vascular diseases.
In addition to her extensive clinical experience, Ms. Hannegan has given numerous invited lectures and presentations on both the national and the regional level to professional organizations such as the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, Nursing sessions of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the National Brain Tumor Foundation. Ms. Hannegan has authored or coauthored articles on topics as diverse as “Cognitive Changes After Craniotomy” and “Outcome Following Transssphenoidal Pituitary Surgery” in publications such as Critical Care Quarterly, Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism as well as the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.
Since 1983, she has worked as a Research Assistant or Study Coordinator on eight national studies dealing with strokes, aneurysms, vascular malformations or cerebrovascular drugs. Ms. Hannegan’s motivation to serve as board member is fueled by her appreciation of the challenges faced by cerebrovascular patients, the lessons she has been taught by their lives and her desire to give back to this community.
Ms. Shing is a management consultant with Deloitte Consulting LLP. Her primary areas of expertise include change leadership, IT systems implementation and project management focusing within the public sector industry. In 2001 she obtained a Masters degree in Public Policy from the University of Southern California. She has always maintained a strong interest in public sector and non-profit work, and involvement in various community activities. Angela began focusing her energies on brain aneurysm awareness, and promoting avenues of support and connection for caregivers and survivors after the loss of a loved one to a brain aneurysm in 2001.
Bobbi Lynn Jones, Secretary and Board Attorney
Ms. Jones is an attorney practicing in the fields of general business law and intellectual property protection. Her clients include for-profit corporations, non-profit organizations, limited liability companies, partnerships and individuals. She has substantial experience in new venture formation, corporate governance, equity compensation, contract negotiation and preparation, mergers and acquisitions and private equity offerings. Ms. Jones also advises her clients in intellectual property protection, including trademark prosecution and licensing.
Ms. Jones served as law clerk at the Federal Court of Canada from August 1998 to August 1999. She received her B.A. (Honors) from McGill University in 1994 and her L.L.B. from the University of British Columbia in 1998. She is admitted to practice in California and British Columbia, Canada. Ms. Jones is a member of the Nonprofit Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California.
Ms. Jones is a volunteer attorney with the AIDS Legal Referral Panel ("ALRP"), which assists persons living with HIV disease or AIDS who reside in the San Francisco Bay Area with legal matters. She is also an active member of the Golden Gate Running Club.
Ms. Jones lost her brother, Allan, to a brain aneurysm in 1996.
Christopher F. Dowd, M.D., Treasurer
Dr. Dowd is an Interventional Neuroradiologist at the University of California San Francisco and holds the title of Clinical Professor of Radiology, Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Anesthesia. He received his undergraduate training at Harvard College and his medical training at the University of Virginia. He completed a residency in Radiology at the University of California San Diego, and fellowships in Neuroradiology and in Interventional Neuroradiology at the University of California San Francisco. He has spent his entire professional career at UCSF treating aneurysms, vascular malformations, stroke, and other cerebrovascular conditions using endovascular techniques.
BOARD MEMBERS
Dr. S. Claiborne "Clay" Johnston, MD, PhD, MPH, Accreditation and Standards Chair
Dr. Johnston is Director of the UCSF Stroke Service. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School and completed residency training in Neurology at UCSF. He completed a fellowship with the Neurovascular Service at UCSF and received a PhD in Epidemiology from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Dr. Johnston studies and treats patients with cerebral aneurysms, vascular malformations, and stroke.
Dr. Johnston studies stroke treatment and prevention using the tools of computer science and epidemiology. His particular areas of interest include:
- Transient ischemic attack (TIA) evaluation, prognosis, and treatment
- Cerebral aneurysm and subarachnoid hemorrhage treatment
- Cognitive dysfunction and stroke risk factors
- Infection and stroke risk
- Optimizing the prevention of stroke
Dr. Johnston is the principal investigator for a grant from the Centers of Disease Control to develop a prototype stroke registry for the state of California ($1.4 million). He is also principal investigator for a project to determine who is at risk for stroke after TIA sponsored by the American Heart Association and National Institutes of Health ($814,000), a grant from industry to study whether current treatments for intracranial aneurysms are effective ($714,400), a grant from the Sandler Family Foundation to study the predictors of maintaining the highest level of cognitive function into old age ($150,000), and a grant from the American Heart Association to plan a trial of direct-to-consumer advertising to increase treatment of hypertension ($50,000).
Dr. Johnston has authored 65 publications in scientific journals, including important articles in JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine. In the area of TIA, he has published a series of articles that have shown that TIAs are much more ominous than previously believed, with a high risk of stroke in the first few days afterwards. He is now interested in findings better treatments to prevent these strokes. In the area of intracranial aneurysms, several of his studies have been instrumental in advancing endovascular treatment is the safest therapy for treating aneurysms. Ongoing studies will help determine whether the benefit of endovascular therapy is lasting.
In the community, Dr. Johnston has contributed in a number of respects. First, he is Chairman of the California Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Advisory Council, which advises the Department of Health Services. He is Co-Director for Prevention Education Programs for the National Stroke Association and is an appointed member of the American Heart Association National Affiliate Liaisons Committee.
Dr. Johnston has won several national awards for his research and teaching, including the Siekert New Investigator Award in Stroke from the American Heart Association, the Pessin Stroke Leadership Prize from the American Academy of Neurology, the Winkelstein Epidemiology Prize from the University of California Berkeley, and election to Alpha Omega Alpha for medical student teaching.
Monica E. Kaitz, Chair of Documentary Committee
Ms. Kaitz is a magna cum laude graduate of Amherst College with concentrations in Geology and French, a recipient of the STEMTEC scholarship for teaching of science, and was elected to the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. After her mother suffered an aneurysm, in 2002 she founded The Aneurysm Foundation, the precursor to TAAF, along with Dr. Charles Wilson, Dr. Wade Smith and Dr. Clay Johnston. She acted as its Executive Director from 2002 to 2005, created the non-profit corporation, handled its administration, governmental interface, and spearheaded fundraising to finance a documentary film project, on which she is moving into production in 2006. In addition, she researched the medical literature on aneurysms and created, under the direction of Dr. Wilson, Smith and Johnston, the most comprehensive website on aneurysms. Ms. Kaitz has completed the post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at Johns Hopkins University and is currently a research associate working on a vaccine for meningitis at CHORI, the medical research institute associated with the Children's Hospital of Oakland, where she has been invited to collaborate on this research in Siena, Italy in 2006.
Ms. Kaitz enjoys sports and music and has studied opera at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Giuseppi Verdi Conservatory in Milan.
Nancy J. Quinnine, Chair of Fundraising Committee
Ms. Quinnine, RN and administrative nurse II at UCSF, brings 26 years of nursing experience to The Aneurysm and AVM Foundation, the past six years have been devoted to Cerebrovascular Research, http://avm.ucsf.edu
Studies include:
-Predictors of Cerebral Hemorrhage
-Centers of Excellence in Patient Research: Hemorrhagic Diseases of the Brain
-Mathematical Modeling of Flow and Pressure in Cerebral Aneurysms
-Tetracycline-Derivatives for Treatment of Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations and Aneurysms
-The Interaction of Genotype on Outcome in Patients with Strokes and Brain Injury
In 2002, she helped organize The Aneurysm and AVM Support Group at UCSF, which continues to meet monthly. Her commitment to this patient population speaks for itself. She serves on the Medical Advisory Board for Ikana Media, creating a Website: Understanding Health.
Kerry W. Corcoran, RN, MS, CNS, Chair of Patient and Caregiver Support Committee
Ms. Corcoran is a Clinical Nurse Specialist for the Interventional Neuroradiology service at UCSF. She received her BSN at the University of Pennsylvania and her MSN at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2002 she co-founded the UCSF Brain AVM / Aneurysm support group.
Dr. Wade S. Smith, MD, PhD, Strategic Planning Chair
Director, UCSF Neurovascular Service
Dr. Smith received his MD from the University of Washington and his PhD in neurophysiology at the same institution in 1989. He came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989 for residency training in the UCSF Department of Neurology and later completed a critical care medicine fellowship in 1994. He helped establish the UCSF Neurovascular Service assumed its Directorship in 2002.
Dr. Smith is a neurointensivist, a neurologist who is trained in critical care neurology. He directs the UCSF Neurological Intensive Care unit, a 16 bed ICU dedicated to the care and resuscitation of patients with neurological injury. The majority of patients treated at UCSF have diseases of the brain's arteries or veins, including stroke, cerebral aneurysm, and other conditions. Dr. Smith and his colleagues believe that a patient with a neurological problem significant enough to require intensive care deserves treatment by a neurointensivist. Dr. Smith is also expert in stroke and transient ischemic attack and sees patients as well in the outpatient clinic. Dr. Smith has been voted as one of the Best Doctors in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 5 years by San Francisco Focus Magazine, and UCSF Medical Center now ranks #5 in the nation for Neurology and Neurosurgery by US News and World Report. He helped found the UCSF Academy of Medical Educators, an ambitious organization founded to foster and promote excellent teachers of medical students. Nationally, he helped found the Neurocritical Care Society, to establish training standards across America to help train the next generation of neurointensivists.
Dr. Smith's research interests include cerebral aneurysm and subarachnoid hemorrhage, including the treatment of cerebral aneurysm and establishing centers of excellence for aneurysm treatment. He is intimately involved in research on brain imaging of a patient while they are having a stroke using CT angiography and CT perfusion. He received a major AHQR grant ($2.1M- 10% effort) for the study of the utility of CT imaging in acute stroke, and recently a $365,000 grant for a study to prevent intracranial stent stenosis. Additionally, he has focused on researching the causes of stroke in young people, and published a major paper implicating chiropractic neck manipulation as a cause of stroke in young people. Currently, he has published over 30 scientific papers in the field of stroke and neurological intensive care.
Dr. Michael Lawton, MD, Co-Chair of Website Committee
Dr. Michael Lawton is Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and Chief of Cerebrovascular Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He holds the Tong Po-Kan Endowed Chair. He completed his undergraduate studies in biomedical engineering at Brown University. He attended medical school at Johns Hopkins University, where he also stayed for his internship in general surgery. He completed his neurosurgical residency at the Barrow Neurological Institute, as well as a fellowship in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery with Dr. Robert Spetzler.
Dr. Lawton has been at UCSF for over eight years, developing a clinical practice specializing in cerebrovascular and skull base surgery. He conducts NIH-funded research focused on the biology and therapeutics of arteriovenous malformations and aneurysms, as part of the Center for Cerebrovascular Research. He has published over 150 articles in neurosurgical and other medical journals, in addition to over 20 book chapters and a neurosurgical textbook. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Neurosurgery, and contributes editorial reviews to numerous other neurosurgical journals.
Dr. Lawton has been recognized with the Young Neurosurgeon Award from the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies and the International Congress of Neurological Surgery, and the Rosegay Teaching Award at UCSF.
Dr. Kieran Murphy, MD, Co-chair of Website Committee
Dr. Kieran J. Murphy graduated from The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1986, completed residency in diagnostic radiology at the Albany Medical Center, NY, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He completed a fellowship in neuroradiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a fellowship in interventional neuroradiology at the University of Geneve, Switzerland. He was head of Neuroradiology and Director of Research at Albany Medical Center, NY before moving to Johns Hopkins as Director of Interventional Neuroradiology.
His research interests are in neurovascular imaging and image guided brain and spine interventions. He is the author of over 100 papers, 12 computer programs, and several book chapters.
Dr. Charles B. Wilson, MD, MSHA, ScD, Member at Large
Dr. Wilson is Professor Emeritus of Neurosurgery at UCSF, a Senior Fellow in the Institute for the Future, and a Senior Advisor in the Health Technology Center. He obtained his medical degree and neurosurgical training at Tulane University before coming to the University of California in San Francisco. For 25 years he served as Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Brain Tumor Research Center at UCSF.
In 1996 he obtained a Masters degree in Health Administration. He has authored 600 scientific publications and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He serves on the Governing Board of the Tulane University Health Sciences Center and Tulane University’s Board of Administrators.
The Institute for the Future is a long-range forecasting organization located in Menlo Park, which he joined in 1997. As a member of the Health Care Team his areas of expertise are emerging medical technologies, academic medical centers, the health care workforce, and the impact of genomic medicine on health and health care. The Health Technology Center, where he functions as a Senior Advisor, is located in San Francisco. The Center creates forecasts of future medical technologies and the impact of their introduction into the health care system. In addition, he co-directs HTC’s Hospital and Health Care Environments of the Future project for designing hospitals and other health care delivery facilities to make optimal use of future medical technologies.
