Board of Directors
George R. Tingwald, M.D., A.I.A., A.C.H.A.
Chairman of Board
Director of medical planning for Stanford Medical Center
Dr. Tingwald is a surgeon, physician, architect, and founding member of the American College of Healthcare Architects. For many years he led the health care design practice at Skidmore Owings and Merrill.
Andrew J. Drexler, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Co-Chief, Division of Clinical Endocrinology, Diabetes and Hypertension
Director, Gonda (Goldschmied) Diabetes Center, UCLA, Los Angeles.
Dr. Andrew Drexler received his M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine in 1972, completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital (1975-1976) and fellowship in Endocrinology at Washington University School of Medicine (1976-1978) in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent two years at the National Institutes of Health in the Public Health Service at the Laboratory of Immunology, NIAID (1973-1975). He joined the faculty of New York University School of Medicine, as Clinical Associate Professor in 2003. He was the Director of the Diabetes Clinic in Bellevue Hospital and the Director of the Mount Sinai Diabetes Center in New York (1998-2002).
John D. Golenski, Ed.D.
Executive Director, George Mark Children's Fund
Dr. John Golenski came to George Mark Children's House in July 2004 after a career in clinical services, healthcare ethics and health policy. Early in his career he was executive director of the Shanti Project (1978-79), and chaplain and director of psychological services for the PICU at Children's Hospital, Oakland (1980-85). In 1982, he founded PediatriCare, one of the first pediatric home care hospices in the United States From 1969 until 1992, he was a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and was ordained as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in 1980 while in the Jesuit Order. He founded the Health Priorities Group in 1986. As president of that interdisciplinary group, he has advised community hospitals, university medical centers, hospital systems, armed services hospitals, medical groups, health plans and insurers, employer groups, large employers, every level of government in the United States and foreign insurers and governments in the areas of healthcare delivery and health policy. Dr. Golenski designed and facilitated the Medicaid Prioritization Project in the State of Oregon (the "Oregon Plan") in 1989, facilitated the Governors' Blue Ribbon Panel on Cost Containment for Hawaii in 1992, and has provided consultation to state healthcare reform projects in California, Arizona, Florida, New York, Kentucky, Rhode Island, and Utah. He has also worked with private insurers and government health programs in Italy, France, Belgium, Sweden, Russia, and Albania, both directly through USAID and the World Bank.
Mike McShane
Actor
Currently appearing in Little Shop or Horrors in London (Audrey II), previous theater credits include Taller than a Dwarf at the Longacre Theatre; What Became of Owen Beavers and The Amazing Kozmo at the Actors Gang; Waiting for Godot at Berkeley Repertory; A Bright Room Called Day at the Eureka Theatre; and Golden Boy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Twelfth Night, Feathers and Diamond Lil at ACT. He has also appeared in the West End productions of The Pocket Dream and Exact Change. Film credits include Big Trouble, Gold Cup, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Office Space, Tom and Huck, Richie Rich, Robin Hood, Tucker and Peggy Sue Got Married. Television credits include series regular roles on "Brotherly Love" and "Whose Line is it Anyway?" and a recurring role on "Seinfeld."
Carolyn Robertson, R.N.
Secretary of Board
Clinician; New York Diabetes Program
Ms. Robertson is a certified diabetes educator (CDE), board certified in Advanced Diabetes Management. She has over 28 years of experience in diabetes education in intensive/flexible diabetes management, with active patient caseload for more than 20 years. She was a pioneer in the intensive management of diabetic pregnancies as well as an early pioneer in insulin pump therapy. At the present time, Ms. Robertson is the Associate Director of the New York Diabetes Program.
Scientific Review Committee
Richard N. Bergman, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Physiology & Biophysics, Medicine, Biomedical Engineering; Keck School of Medicine; University of Southern California
Richard N. Bergman, professor and chair of the department of physiology and biophysics and director of the Metabolic Research Laboratory at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, received the 2006 Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association.
The award, given to a single researcher each year, is the ADA’s highest honor for scientific achievement. Named after Frederick G. Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin, it recognizes highly meritorious career achievement in the field of diabetes research. He is being honored for his lifetime achievement in diabetes research. Among Bergman’s many accomplishments in diabetes research is the development of the “minimal model,” a metabolic test that provides a scientific window into how the hormone insulin functions in human beings while simultaneously allowing clinicians to predict which patients are at increased risk. Bergman, holder of the Keck Chair in Medicine, also studied the relationship between insulin secretion and insulin resistance. He found that if individuals are insulin resistant, the pancreas must increase its function to compensate.
Andrew J. Drexler, M.D.
Director of the Gonda Diabetes Center; David Geffen School of Medicine; University of California, Los Angeles
Member of Board of Directors (see above)Jonathan R. T. Lakey, Ph.D.
Director of Research, Department of Surgery, University of California, Irvine
The field of diabetes and islet cell transplants has been Dr. Jonathan Lakey's focus since 1986. He received a doctorate from the University of Alberta in 1990 for his thesis on human islet isolation and cryopreservation. In 1995, Dr. Lakey became the Assistant Professor of Surgery; Co-Director of the JDF Human Islet Distribution Program; Director of the Comprehensive Tissue Center, Capital Health Authority; and of the Clinical Islet Isolation Laboratory at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. His research efforts have focused on cell and tissue transplantation, with specific focus on the isolation and cryopreservation of pancreatic islets. His contributions towards the improvement of islet isolation techniques were part of The Edmonton Protocol that resulted in a consecutive series of successful islet transplants in brittle diabetics. Dr. Lakey has been awarded scholarships for his research on islet cell transplantation from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and the Canadian Diabetes Association.
Carolyn Robertson, R.N.
Clinician, New York Diabetes Center
Member of Board of Directors (see above)A. M. James Shapiro, M.D. PhD
Director of the Clinical Islet Transplantation Program; University of Alberta-Edmonton
Dr. James Shapiro is the Director of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. He was recruited to this position in 1998 based on his expertise in the management of transplant patients, and on his extensive laboratory background in the field of anti-rejection drug treatments for islet transplantation. Born in Leeds, England, Dr. Shapiro was trained at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and further trained in surgery at the University of Bristol. He also trained in liver transplant surgery, including a period of time at the University of Kyoto in Japan, where he learned live donor transplantation techniques. He has recently been awarded a PhD in experimental islet transplantation at the University of Alberta, based on experimental research studies exploring immunosuppressive drug treatments for islet transplantation. Dr. Shapiro's contributions to the Clinical Islet Transplant Program led to the development of the “Edmonton Protocol” for clinical islet transplantation Dr. Shapiro has received many awards for his experimental studies on islet research, including the Hunterian Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Gold Medal in Surgery from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Shapiro has published numerous papers on islet and liver transplantation in such journals as the New England Journal of Medicine, Transplantation, Transplant International, and the British Journal of Surgery.