2012 Nevus Conference and Reunion Speakers
Bruce Bauer
Bruce Bauer, formerly Head of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital and Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University Medical School, has recently joined NorthShore University HealthSystem in the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery as Director of Pediatric Plastic Surgery. He has joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, as Clinical Professor of Surgery. (read more)
Mark Beckwith
Mark is the Executive Director of Nevus Outreach, a post he has held since 2003 when Nevus Outreach was 6 years old. The father of a young woman with a giant nevus (Megan Stewart, who just turned 16 years old), and husband to Kathy Stewart, he brings the experience of his career in non-profit performing arts management and fundraising to bear on his life’s work of helping Nevus Outreach accomplish its mission: Improving awareness and providing support for people affected by congenital pigmented nevi and finding a cure. (read more)
Heather Etchevers
Heather Etchevers is a research scientist with the French National Institutes of Health (INSERM). A native of Massachusetts and graduate of Wellesley College, she obtained her doctorate jointly from the University of California at Berkeley and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris. (read more)
Megan Fields
Megan Found Nevus Outreach when she was 22 years old by running into another young woman with Nevus in a Memphis mall who looked just like her! They shared their stories with each other and have been facebook friends ever since! Megan has a giant nevus that has been removed from her back as well as hundreds (maybe thousands) of satellites. (read more)
Thomas Hornyak
Dr. Hornyak is currently Chief of Dermatology for the VA Maryland Health Care System as well as Associate Professor of Dermatology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. He began work as an independent investigator in the Department of Dermatology at the Henry Ford Health System, where he also initiated a pigmented lesion clinic to evaluate patients with melanoma and with numerous and unusual melanocytic nevi. He then became an investigator in the Dermatology Branch of the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH. At the NCI, he continued his studies of basic melanocyte biology, expanding to laboratory studies of melanoma. (read more)
Allison Hurwitz
Allison Hurwitz is a Psychotherapist and Art Therapist who has a private practice in Princeton, NJ where she works with clients of all ages. Allison has a Master’s degree in Social Work from The Hunter College School of Social Work, a Master’s degree in Art Therapy from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from The University of Pennsylvania. (read more)
Yasmin Khakoo
Dr. Khakoo is a pediatric neurologist with expertise in diagnosing and treating the neurological complications of cancer in children and young adults. She also diagnoses and treats primary brain tumors in pediatric patients, and cares for children who have the rare neurologic condition called neurocutaneous melanocytosis (NCM), seen in some patients with large congenital melanocytic nevi.
Sven Krengel
Dr. Krengel’s interest in large congenital melanocytic nevi began during his stay at the Children’s Hospital in Mexico City (1998) when her first met children with this condition. Dr. Ramon Ruiz-Maldonado and his colleague Lourdes Tamayo were formidable teachers in pediatric dermatology. (read more)
Wendy Kushner
Wendy has attended five Nevus Outreach conferences, and currently serves as a member of the Nevus Outreach Board of Directors. Mother to Ariella and Maya, and wife to Michael, she teaches school in New Jersey, and does all she can to raise awareness about large congenital melanocytosis and neurocutaneous melanocytosis. (read more)
Matt Luke
Born with a large nevus on his face, Matt Luke rose to become a successful Major League Baseball player. During his career he played for The New York Yankees, Anaheim Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, as well as playing internationally in Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada and the Dominican Republic. (read more)
Ornella Masnari
Ornella Masnari is a research associate at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychosomatics at the University Children’s Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. She obtained an MSc degree in Psychology from the University of Zurich and is currently pursuing a PhD in Pediatric Psychology. Her research focuses on social stigmatization of children with facial differences (i.e. burn scars, port-wine stains or large congenital melanocytic nevi), its impact on quality of life and the psychological functioning of affected children. (read more)
Judith O’Haver
Judith O’Haver serves as a pediatric nurse practitioner at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in pediatric dermatology where she is also the research coordinator for the department. She received her PhD in Nursing from the University of Arizona in 2007, and is retired from the Air Force Reserves after 20 years of service. (read more)
Harper Price
Harper Price completed her dermatology training at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and her pediatric dermatology fellowship at New York University Medical Center, New York. She has served at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH) since 2009 where she provides the latest medications and technology available for the specialized treatment of infants, children, adolescents and young adults affected by large nevi. (read more)
Miguel Reyes-Múgica
Born in México City, Miguel Reyes-Múgica received his M.D. from the UNAM School of Medicine in México City, where he also carried out his pathology residency under Ruy Pérez-Tamayo, an internationally known pathologist and researcher. Dr. Reyes-Múgica completed his residency in pediatric pathology at the National Institute of Pediatrics, México City. He practiced pediatric pathology in that institution (the largest pediatric hospital in México), in collaboration with Ramón Ruíz-Maldonado, an international authority on pediatric dermatology with renowned expertise in large congenital melanocytic nevi and associated disorders. (read more)
Shawn Reynolds
Dr. Reynolds is a father who became involved with Nevus Outreach after the birth of his daughter, Kalina, who was born with a bathing trunk GCN. He is a clinical child psychologist currently working in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. He works there on a child assessment clinic and an autism clinic, in addition to maintaining a private practice. (read more)
María Sáez de Ocariz
María Sáez de Ocariz is a widely published pediatric dermatologist who manages the largest clinic for people with large congenital melanocytic nevi in Mexico. María del Mar de Ocariz Sáez (read more)
Cláudia Salgado
Cláudia Salgado is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics for the School of Medicine at the Federal University of Goiás in Brazil, where she is a pediatrician and epidemiologist. (read more)
Kathy Stewart
Kathy is best known in nevus circles as the mother of Megan Stewart and one of the six co-founders of Nevus Outreach. Since Megan was born in 1996, and Kathy, along with co-founders Tina Wilman and Kelly Powers, developed the dream of getting families together for nevus conferences. (read more)
Jodi Unsworth
Jodi Unsworth is the founder and chair of trustees for Caring Matters Now - the UK Congenital Melanocytic Naevus Support Group. Jodi has CMN and was asked to support other people who are affected by CMN by Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1996. (read more)
Bernhard Wehrle-Haller
Bernhard Wehrle-Haller is Assistant Professor or Research in the Department of Cellular Physiology and Metabolism in the University Medical Center at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. As a research scientist at the cutting edge of pigmented cell research, he has published over 20 original papers. (read more)