Joseph Civetta, M.D.

Professor and Vice-Chairman, Department of Surgery at the UConn Health Center

Beyond Technology: The Principles of Medicine

Dr. Joseph M. Civetta received a 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Critical Care Medicine for his numerous scientific and clinical advances in critical care medicine. A leader in his field, Dr. Civetta has worked continuously to improve the quality of care delivered to critically ill patients. He has been an innovator in the areas of cardiovascular monitoring in critical care and ventilatory support, among others. His research focuses on prevention of multiple organ system dysfunction.

Dr. Civetta served as the Program Director of the Integrated General Surgery Residency at the UConn Health Center. He has authored or edited more than 350 publications and has received numerous awards and honors. A graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Civetta is a dedicated teacher who has held posts at Harvard Medical School and the University of Miami School of Medicine. His professional and honorary memberships include: the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the American College of Surgeons: Palliative Care Workgroup, and the American Surgical Association.

View Dr. Civetta’s presentation.

 

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Wendy Everett, Sc.D.

President, New England Healthcare Institute

Partnering with Patients in the 21st Century

Dr. Wendy Everett was appointed as the first President of the New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) in July 2002. NEHI was established to identify realistic strategies for improving health care quality while reducing health care costs. Dr. Everett directs a team that conducts independent research leading to evidence-based public and private health policy recommendations. With over thirty years of experience in the health care field, Dr. Everett brings a unique perspective to NEHI. She has held executive positions at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. In the 1980s, she directed a national demonstration program for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and subsequently was the Program Director for the National Program in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Dr. Everett has served as a consultant to many state and national philanthropic foundations. In the mid 1990s, she became a Director of the Institute for the Future, leading the Health and Health Care research team for six years and overseeing the creation of ten-year, national forecasts in health/health care. She is a Trustee of many health care and philanthropic boards and currently chairs the board of the Health Technology Center.

 

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Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D.

Director, Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Answer to Cancer…

Carolyn Runowicz, M.D., is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in women’s health, specifically gynecologic cancer. Her research career has been highlighted by developing innovative clinical trials in gynecologic oncology, with more than 200 publications. She is currently the Cancer Center Director at the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, holds the Northeast Utilities Chair in Experimental Oncology, and is Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT.

Dr. Runowicz has held many leadership positions in national organizations. She was the first female president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists in 2000. In November 2005, she was the national President of the American Cancer Society. She was recently appointed by President Bush to serve as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board for a six year appointment and then, in August 2006, President Bush appointed her to serve as Chair on the National Cancer Advisory Board for a two year appointment. She has established the gynecologic follow-up protocols for women with breast cancer who are on selective estrogen receptor modulators, for treatment, adjuvant, and preventive settings. She has also testified before the Senate on mammographic screening.

As an educator, Dr. Runowicz has a long track record of teaching and mentoring medical students, residents, and fellows. Her career has demonstrated a focus and commitment to clinical practice, research, teaching, and administration. She is the author of several books for the public, including her most recent book, “The Answer to Cancer”.

 

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Joan Y. Reede, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.

Dean, Diversity and Community Partnership, Harvard Medical School

Remembering the Past While Creating the Future

Appointed as the first Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School (HMS), Joan Y. Reede is responsible for the development and management of a program that provides leadership, guidance, and support to promote the increased recruitment, retention, and advancement of under-represented minority faculty. In addition, she holds the appointments of Associate Professor of Medicine at HMS, Associate Professor of Society, Human Development, and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Assistant in Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Reede has created and developed more than 16 programs at HMS that aim to address pipeline and leadership issues for minorities and women who are interested in careers in medicine, academic and scientific research, and the healthcare professions. In addition, Dr. Reede founded the Biomedical Careers Program in collaboration with the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Board of Higher Education.

Dr. Reede’s numerous awards include the Boston NAACP Health Award, the Community Service Award from the Epilepsy Association of Massachusetts, the American Association of University Administrators Exemplary Models of Administrative Leadership Award, and was named a Center for Disease Control and Prevention/University of California Public Health Leadership Institute Scholar. She was recognized by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of “the top 25 minority executives in healthcare” and by Ebony magazine as a “medical mover and shaker”.

On the national level, Dr. Reede was appointed to the Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Minority Health, and has served on the Board of Governors for the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, the National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Council of the National Institutes of Health, the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society, and as a Commissioner of The Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce. Locally, former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift appointed Dr. Reede to the Board of Directors of the John Adams Innovation Institute of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

 

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Robert Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.

Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Public Health

Autism: Myth, Legend, and Science

March 30, 2010, 7:00 pm, Student Union Theatre

Dr. Robert Galvin was appointed Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health on December 1, 2003. He has broad experience in the field of medicine and public health. Dr. Galvin has been a physician since 1965, and over the course of his career has practiced primary care, emergency, and aviation medicine. As Commissioner, Dr. Galvin’s priorities include public health preparedness, children’s health, and eliminating health disparities. He is also committed to ensuring quality health care for all Connecticut residents.

View Dr. Galvin’s presentation.

 

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Steven Strongwater, M.D.

Chief Executive Officer of Stony Brook University Medical Center

Health Care Reform and the Future of Medical Education

Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 7:00 pm, Student Union Theatre

Dr. Steven Strongwater became the Chief Executive Officer of Stony Brook University Hospital in 2007. Prior to this, he served as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, the Director of Clinical Operations, and Hospital Director for the University of Connecticut Health Center from 1996 to 2006.

Over the years, Dr. Strongwater has worked on a broad range of issues including performance improvement, faculty governance, clinical resource management, patient safety, and clinical outcomes. He trained at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Internal Medicine and the University of Michigan in Rheumatology. He is boarded in both Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, serving as a founding fellow of The American College of Rheumatology, and is actively engaged nationally through a variety of professional associations.

Deeply committed to quality and performance improvement as well as models to improve patient satisfaction and employee morale, Dr. Strongwater has been recognized for incorporating the latest medical innovations into the academic medical center. He was instrumental in Stony Brook University Medical Center receiving the Healthcare Association of New York’s (HANYS) Pinnacle Award for Quality and Patient Safety and the Nassau Suffolk Hospital Council’s inaugural Excellence in Patient Safety Award, both in 2009.

View Dr. Strongwater’s presentation or lecture (video courtesy of UCSPAN).

 

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Vlad Coric, M.D.

Associate Clinical Professor, Yale University

New Clues to Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease

Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 7:00 pm, Student Union Theatre

Dr. Coric completed his undergraduate degree as an Honors Scholar in Physiology and Neurobiology at the University of Connecticut and earned his medical degree at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He completed his internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital and his residency at Yale University School of Medicine’s Psychiatry Residency Training Program. He served as Program-Wide Chief Resident in the Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and as Chief Resident at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System’s National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Coric completed sub-specialty training at Yale University School of Medicine’s Division of Law and Psychiatry in Forensic Psychiatry.

Dr. Coric is currently Group Director of Neuroscience Global Clinical Research at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he directs late stage clinical research trials focused on the use of gamma secretase inhibitor (GSI) studies in Alzheimer’s Disease. His research interests also include the neurobiology and treatment of mood/anxiety disorders, OCD, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychobiological indices of stress, psychotic disorders, and substance abuse/dependence.

Dr. Coric has served as the Chief of Inpatient Services at the Yale Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit and is a founding partner of New Haven Forensic Consultants, LLC. Dr. Coric is the Immediate-Past President of the Connecticut Psychiatric Society (a district branch of the American Psychiatric Association) and is currently President of the Yale Psychiatry Alumni Association. Dr. Coric has over 45 peer-reviewed journal and book publications, and interviews with him have appeared in Scientific American, Time, and Men’s Health.

 

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Gregory Tsongalis, Ph.D., H.C.L.D., C.C.

Professor of Pathobiology; Director, Molecular Pathology;
Co-Director, Translational Research Program;
Co-Director, Pharmacogenomics Program;
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and The Audrey
and Theodor Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

The Digital Human: How Genomics is Impacting You

Wednesday, April 3, 2013, 7:00 pm, Student Union Theatre

Dr. Tsongalis completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in Zoology and Chemistry. After receiving his BS degree, he attended Quinnipiac College where he received a Masters of Health Science as a PA in Pathology.  He received his Ph.D. in Pathology from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and completed his postdoctoral training in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

After completing his training, Dr. Tsongalis became the first Director of Molecular Pathology at Hartford Hospital. During his tenure there, he became an adjunct faculty member in the School of Allied Health at the University of Connecticut and taught lectures and labs in the Diagnostic Genetic Sciences program.

Dr. Tsongalis’s area of expertise is in clinical molecular diagnostic applications for genetic, hematologic, infectious, and neoplastic diseases. His research interests are in the pathogenesis of solid tumors, disease association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) genotyping, and personalized medicine.

Dr. Tsongalis has been the recipient of numerous investigator/scientist awards. He is a past president of the Association of Molecular Pathology. He is on the editorial board of Clinical Chemistry, the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Virology, Experimental and Molecular Pathology, and several others. He also serves on numerous corporate scientific advisory boards.

 

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