Speakers
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
ASHFAQ MARGHOOB, MD is Associate Professor of Dermatology and an expert in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancers of the skin. He received his MD degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1987 and completed residencies in family medicine and dermatology at SUNY-Stony Brook’s University Hospital. He completed a fellowship in melanoma at the New York University Hospital. Dr. Marghoob is currently working at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and is the director of the outpatient Memorial Sloan-Kettering Skin Cancer Center in Hauppauge, Long Island.
In addition to seeing patients, he is also involved in clinical research and has published numerous papers on topics related to malignant melanoma, dysplastic nevi, congenital melanocytic nevi, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. His main research focus is in the early detection of cancer through the use of imaging instruments such as dermoscopy and confocal microscopy. He frequently lectures on these topics both nationally and internationally.
Dr. Marghoob is a member of the Nevus Science Group and Scientific Advisory Board of Nevus Outreach, Inc. He has addressed the Nevus Outreach International Conference since 1998 in Orlando.
BRUCE S. BAUER, MD, FACS, FAAP is the Head of the Division of Plastic Surgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital and is a Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University Medical School. Dr. Bauer received his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School and also completed both his General Surgery and Plastic Surgery training there. He was certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery in 1980 and is both a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and Sub Specialty Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Bauer came to Children’s in 1979 as a full time specialist in Pediatric Plastic Surgery and became Chief of the service in 1986. He specializes in cleft lip and palate, craniofacial deformities, congenital and acquired ear deformities, and the reconstruction of birthmarks, both vascular and pigmented. He has a particular interest in treatment of large and giant pigmented nevus and pediatric tissue expansion for treatment of congenital and acquired deformities.
In addition to his work at Children’s, Dr. Bauer is active in numerous professional organizations including the American College of Surgeons, American Society of Plastic Surgery, American Association of Plastic Surgery and American & Internal Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Associations. He was President of the American Association of Pediatric Plastic Surgery and Chairman of the Plastic Surgery Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics for 2005 – 2006 and continues on the Executive Board.
Dr. Bauer is a member of the Nevus Science Group and Scientific Advisory Board of Nevus Outreach, Inc. He has addressed the Nevus Outreach International Conference since 2000 in Denver.
MIGUEL REYES-MUGICA, MD graduated from the National University of México (UNAM) and completed his training in Pathology in that institution in 1986, attending the most competitive training program in his native country. He served as Attending Pediatric Pathologist at the National Institute of Pediatrics in México City for four years.
In 1990, Dr. Reyes moved to Chicago to continue postdoctoral training and research studies at the Children’s Memorial Hospital, Northwestern University. In 1994, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Pathology at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he launched the program of Pediatric and Developmental Pathology. Currently, he serves as Director of that program. He is Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics at Yale, and also Editor in Chief of the Journal “Pediatric and Developmental Pathology,” the official vehicle of the Society for Pediatric Pathology and the Pediatric Pathology Society.
Dr. Reyes has a long-standing interest in neural crest disorders, of which melanocytic lesions in children are at the center of his academic and research efforts. He has published close to 100 articles, lectures extensively around the world, and is a member of Nevus Outreach’s Nevus Science Group and Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. Reyes has addressed the Nevus Outreach International Conference since 1998 in Orlando.
SESSION SPEAKERS
YASMIN KHAKOO, MD 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. As a neurologist/neuro-oncologist, Dr. Khakoo has an interest in neurocutaneous syndromes, including neurofibromatosis and neurocutaneous melanosis. In collaboration with colleagues, she is involved in several clinical trials to treat recurrent brain tumors in children and young adults. Dr. Khakoo is the Director of the Pediatric Neuro-oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
BERNHARD WEHRLE-HALLER, PhD 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. Dr. Wehrle-Haller has put forth great effort in his work to control the replication cycle of melanocytes – the cells that make pigment and the cells that make up a nevus. Nevus Outreach began funding his work in 2005, and in 2006 Nevus Outreach committed to funding a 3 year project which will result in a better understanding of the science of melanocyte replication and the ability to control it. Dr. Wehrle Haller is a member of the Nevus Science Group of Nevus Outreach, Inc. He has addressed the Nevus Outreach International Conference since 2006 in Dallas.
GREG BARSH, MD PhD is a Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine. Formally trained as a clinical geneticist, Dr. Barsh’s research group uses the genetics of pigmentation as a model system to study cell signaling and mammalian development, with a specific interest in pathways that are relevant to human biology and disease. Most of the work in Dr. Barsh’s group is based on laboratory mice, although more recent work uses new resources and tools of genomics to study natural populations, including humans. Dr. Barsh is the President-elect of the Pan American Society for Pigment Cell Research.
KELLY MCGOWAN, MD PhD is a research fellow at Stanford University. Dr. McGowan is a board-certified dermatologist with a research interest in congenital disorders of pigmentation. Dr. McGowan carried out her graduate work in Dr. Barsh’s research group, where she led a project to identify and characterize mutations in laboratory mice that cause dominant inheritance of epidermal melanocytosis. Dr. McGowan’s recent work has identified a new pathway leading to proliferation and accumulation of epidermal melanocytes.
JOAN FLEITAS, EdD, RN is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Lehman College of the City University of New York. She attended Charity Hospital School of Nursing in New Orleans, then Florida State University in Tallahassee, then Emory University in Atlanta, then Teacher’s College at Columbia University in New York… as she says: “Phew!” She has been working with children and teens in hospitals for over 30 years, plus teaching college students to be the best nurses in the world. She maintains an ward-winning web site called “Band-Aides and Blackboards,” a site about “growing up with medical problems … any ole type.” Dr. Fleitas has been addressing the Nevus Outreach International Conference since 2000 in Denver.
MARY POWELL is the President of Powell and Associates Healthcare Consulting, in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Prior to starting her consulting practice, she served as the administrator of both government and private medical groups. Her healthcare experience spans 25 years and has given her a broad understanding of the diversity in organizations. She served as a Commissioner for the Arkansas Minority Health Commission and she is adjunct professor for the Business Division at John Brown University. Ms. Powell holds an MBA in Leadership and Ethics from John Brown University, a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Science in Physiology from Oklahoma State University. She currently serves Nevus Outreach Inc. as medical advocacy consultant, and has addressed the Nevus Outreach International Conference on medical insurance matters since 2006 in Dallas.
