Patricia Garcia-Prieto Chevalier, PhD

Prof. Garcia Prieto is the Chair in Organisational Behaviour at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Geneva. She was diagnosed with melanoma on European Melanoma Day in 2008, when her sons were 3 and 8. She has been stage IV since November 2009. She fought for access to clinical trials. After a long struggle, she obtained the E112 form to allow her to participate in one of the first BRAF inhibitor trials in Paris. She was assigned to the chemotherapy ‘arm’ of the phase-III randomized non-blind trial, but given low disease burden was allowed to leave the study. She has also been blocked from a cancer vaccine study in the UK for not being a UK citizen. After this she decided to found the Melanoma Independent Community Advisory Board (M-ICAB)  http://www.m-icab.org  to establish a political voice for all EU melanoma patients in Brussels.

Jonathan Friedlaender, PhD 
 
Jonathan first contracted melanoma in 1996, and is a stage 4 survivor active in the patient community.  He has become active as a patient advocate through the MIF forum, and with the Food and Drug Administration. He is Emeritus Professor of Biological Anthropology at Temple University, and previously taught at Wisconsin and Harvard. He was also Director of the Physical Anthropology Program at the National Science Foundation, and served on the Advisory Board of the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

Lois McCarthy, PhD

Lois McCarthy is a medical writer for a contract research organization. In this role, she drafts and submits to the FDA regulatory documents for oncology clinical trials. Previously she worked as a medical writer drafting journal articles, poster presentations, monographs, and patient education material for neurology clinical trials. Lois also has experience in basic biomedical research. She holds a doctorate in immunology from The Medical College of Pennsylvania, and completed post-doctoral research fellowships in immunology, hematology, and neuroscience at Temple University School of Medicine and Thomas Jefferson University College of Medicine. A melanoma survivor, she promotes the importance of increased public awareness, education, and research in combating melanoma.

Peter Rasmussen

Peter is the former Tacoma Deputy Mayor and City Councilman, and is deeply involved in civic activities. He is a member emeritus and past chairman of the Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Development Board, past chairman of the Tacoma Civic Arts Commission, and past chairman of the Tacoma Planning Commission. He has served on the Pierce County Historic Preservation Commission and is a past board member of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce. He was selected to participate in the American Leadership Forum and is a Senior Fellow. He was appointed to a six-year term on the state Architects Registration Board by Governor Mike Lowry and was re-appointed to another six-year term by Governor Gary Locke. Currently he serves as the elected Secretary on the Executive Board of the National Council of Architects Registration Board. Peter was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. In recognition of Peter’s civic dedication, he was honored with the 2005 Charles T. Pearson Community Service Award by the Southwest Washington Chapter of the AIA. Peter lost his daughter Shelley to melanoma, who was 34 when she passed away September, 2002.


Sally Reis, PhD

Sally M. Reis is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor a Teaching Fellow of Educational Psychology Department at the University of Connecticut where she also serves as a Principal Investigator for the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. She was a teacher and administrator in public schools for 15 years, 11 of which were spent working with academically talented students on the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. She has authored more than 150 articles, 12 books, 55 book chapters, and numerous monographs and technical reports. She has been a consultant to numerous schools and departments of education throughout the U. S. and abroad and her work has been translated into several languages and is widely used around the world. Her most recent work is a computer-based assessment of student strengths integrated with an Internet based search engine that matches enrichment activities and resources with individual student profiles [www.renzullilearning.com]. Her husband had a stage 1 melanoma that recurred as a stage 3 metastatic intransit. Following surgery, he is doing very well!


UPDATE:  January 4, 2012