Bill McClain
Bill McClain is an author and businessman who lives in Milford, CT. He consults on Strategic Planning and published the book “Strategic Planning In This Age Of Disruption.” Writing under the pen name William Kenly, he has published three books, including The Dogs of Cancer: Dancing with Medullary Thyroid Cancer, and is an editor and contributing author to After the Diagnosis: Medullary Thyroid Cancer Memoirs, and the new MTC book, The Butterfly Sings. He has co-facilitated past Conference roundtables with his wife Galina, and he is also on the Board of Directors of the Cornel Scott Hill Health Center in New Haven, CT. He was diagnosed with sporadic medullary thyroid cancer in 2008. Bill joined ThyCa’s Board of Directors in 2018.
Manhasset, NY, May 19, 2019— Four physicians specializing in endocrinology, nuclear medicine, and surgery, plus more speakers will headline the upcoming New York Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Workshop, on Saturday, June 15, 2019, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Northwell at North Shore University Hospital, 300 Community Drive, Manhasset, New York.
This FREE event is sponsored by the nonprofit ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. Sessions will meet in Tower Conference Rooms 1-3 on the First Floor of the Tower Pavilion.
“This free educational and supportive event is open to the public,” says Abby Melendez, Workshop Coordinator and Facilitator of the ThyCa Long Island Support Group, the host group. “Everyone interested in thyroid cancer invited to learn from experts and take part in discussion roundtables with other thyroid cancer survivors and families. We welcome patients, caregivers, their friends, and health care professionals.”
Attendees are invited to come for all or part of the day. Walk-in attendees are welcome, or register online in advance on the ThyCa Conferences/Workshops page.
Speakers include:
- Deirdre Cocks Eschler, M.D., Endocrinologist, Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, NY
- Donald Margouleff, M.D., Nuclear Medicine Physician Emeritus, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY; ThyCa Medical Advisor
- David Myssiorek, M.D., Head & Neck Surgical Oncologist-Otolaryngologist/ENT, Bronxcare Health System, Bronx, NY; ThyCa Medical Advisor
- Gene Tronco, M.D., Nuclear Medicine Physician, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY, and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY
- Nina Triolo, Yoga Instructor
- Plus Martha Griffin, Thyroid Cancer Care Collaborative, and Quinn O’Malley, Research Associate, both with THANC Foundation, New York
In addition, discussion roundtables will be led by thyroid cancer survivors and caregivers.
Hosting this free event is the ThyCa Long Island Support Group, facilitated by Abby Melendez for more than 17 years.
Visit ThyCa’s Conferences page for more details, including the workshop flyer and free online registration. For more information, e-mail longisland-ny@thyca.org or thyca@thyca.org or phone 516-608-5113.
ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. is an international nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization of thyroid cancer survivors, family members, and health care professionals, serving people worldwide since 1995 and advised by more than 50 internationally recognized thyroid cancer specialists. For information and free materials, e-mail to thyca@thyca.org; write to PO Box 1102, Olney, MD 20830-1102; call toll-free 1-877-588-7904; or visit our website.
Peter Angelos, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, is the Linda Kohler Anderson Professor of Surgery and Surgical Ethics, Chief of Endocrine Surgery, and Associate Director of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago. He completed his undergraduate degree, medical school, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Boston University. He completed his residency in General Surgery at Northwestern University and went on to complete fellowships in Clinical Ethics at the University of Chicago and in Endocrine Surgery at the University of Michigan. Dr. Angelos is a busy endocrine surgeon who has written widely on improving outcomes of thyroid and parathyroid surgery, minimally invasive endocrine surgery, and ethical aspects in the care of surgical patients. He served as President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons 2016-2017.
Jeffrey F. Moley, M.D., Surgeon, was Professor of Surgery, Chief of Endocrine and Oncologic Surgery, and Associate Director of the Siteman Cancer Center at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. He was also Chief of the Surgical Service, at the St. Louis VA Medical Center. Since 2005 he also served on the American Board of Surgery Surgical Oncology Advisory Committee. Dr. Moley was study chair and principal investigator of clinical trials and studies of treatments for metastatic medullary thyroid cancer and differentiated thyroid cancer. A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia University Medical School, he completed post-graduate training at Yale-New Haven Hospital and the National Cancer Institute. The author of dozens of articles as well as books and monographs, Dr. Moley also served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Clinical Oncology and the Journal of Surgical Oncology.
ThyCa Web Site (www.thyca.org) Offers Information and Support
Patients with thyroid nodules or the most common types of thyroid cancer, as well as their physicians, now have an informative new resource: The American Thyroid Association’s (ATA) updated guidelines for diagnosis of thyroid nodules and treatment of papillary and follicular thyroid cancer and their variants.
The guidelines, pre-published in January 2006 at
(http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/thy.2006.16.ft-1) and in the
ATA journal Thyroid in February 2006, give 85 recommendations, together with background information and more than 300 references.
“On behalf of thyroid cancer patients and families, we congratulate and thank the American Thyroid Association for this valuable new resource for physicians and patients,” said Gary Bloom, Board Chair of ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc.
“ThyCa was proud to provide a grant to ATA to help support the development of these important guidelines,” he added. “Education is central to ThyCa’s mission, and these guidelines will greatly aid patient and caregiver education. We invite thyroid cancer patients and family members to read the guidelines, to aid their communication with their physicians about their diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up monitoring, based on their individual needs.”
The ATA first published guidelines on this topic in 1996. The new guidelines take into account the significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of both thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer since then.
ATA’s 10-member Guidelines Task Force, composed of experts in endocrinology, surgery, and nuclear medicine from leading academic and research institutions from across the United States, included five of ThyCa’s medical advisors, as well as three additional thyroid cancer specialists who have spoken at ThyCa conferences. In addition, the authors of the medical literature reviewed to develop the guidelines included more than 40 specialists who have spoken at ThyCa’s annual international conferences and other educational events.
“These new guidelines will help physicians not well-versed in thyroid cancer to better manage their patients,” said ATA Task Force Chair and ATA President-Elect David S. Cooper, M.D., Director of the Division of Endocrinology at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Maryland, and Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “In addition, for those who are very experienced thyroidologists, the guidelines should help them manage complex cases as well as understand the controversies better and where further research needs to be done.”
The guidelines also address many controversial treatmentissues. These include identifying the most cost-effective approach for diagnostic evaluation of thyroid nodules, the extent of surgery needed for small thyroid cancers, the appropriate use of thyroxine suppression therapy, the role of recombinant human thyrotropin, and the use of radioactive iodine to ablate remnant tissue following
thyroidectomy.
The recommendations also address the importance of the timely and accurate diagnostic evaluation of thyroid nodules to rule out thyroid cancer and on therapeutic strategies for differentiated thyroid cancer, which represents approximately 90 percent of the estimated 26,000 cases of thyroid cancer diagnosed each year in the United States.
The guidelines include hands-on information for the follow up and treatment of thyroid nodules, including the role of medical therapy. The goals of therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer, strategies for staging thyroid tumors, the role of adjunctive external beam radiation and chemotherapy, and long-term management issues are also provided.
“I am gratified that the ATA had the foresight to develop evidence-based guidelines that will enable physicians who care for patients with thyroid disease to do so rationally, judiciously, and cost effectively,” said Dr. Cooper.
The American Thyroid Association is a nonprofit professional medical society composed of physicians and scientists dedicated to enhancing the understanding of thyroid physiology and pathophysiology, improving diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases, and promoting the education of physicians, patients, and the public about thyroid disorders.
ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. is a national nonprofit 501( c) (3) organization providing person-to-person support, support groups, a free downloadable low- iodine cookbook, a free online newsletter, awareness materials, and other resources to thyroid cancer survivors, their families, and the public at no charge. ThyCa also funds thyroid cancer research grants, sponsors Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month in September, and will hold its 9th annual international conference in Orlando, Florida, on October 27-29, 2006.
For more information, visit www.thyca.org, write PO Box 1545, New York, NY 10159-1545, call toll-free to 877-588-7904, fax to 630-604-6078, or e-mail to thyca@thyca.org.
On Sunday, June 8, the first New York/New Jersey/Southern Connecticut regional workshop for thyroid cancer survivors and families will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Beth Israel Cancer Center, Phillips Ambulatory Care Center, 10 Union Square East, New York City, New York.
The workshop is FREE and is open to people at all stages of testing and treatment for thyroid cancer, as well as their families, friends, and caregivers.
The day will begin at 9 a.m. with registration and an opportunity for survivors with thyroid cancer, the most common endocrine cancer, and their families to meet informally with other survivors and family members.
The physician speakers include Kenneth D. Burman, M.D., Endocrinologist, Director of Endocrinology, Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC, one of ThyCa’s medical advisors, and Roy Sessions, M.D., Otolaryngologist, Beth Israel Medical Center.
In addition, Gerry Gedrick, M.S.W., will speak on Relaxation Techniques for Coping with Tension, Stress, and Worries. Christine Rice, Thyrogen Clinical Science Associate, Genzyme Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA, will discuss Thyrogen. Roundtables on Living with Thyroid Cancer will be led by ThyCa volunteers Christine Lanotte, Abby Melendez, and Kim Repola.
The workshop is sponsored by ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association. ThyCa, a voluntary nonprofit, 501(c) (3) organization, provides support services and resources, free of charge, to thyroid cancer survivors and their families.
Transportation directions by car, subway, and bus, plus further details about the workshop are on the ThyCa web site in the Conferences/Workshops section. For more information about the workshop, e-mail toNYC_NY@thyca.org or longisland@thyca.org or call 973-962-1802 or 516-868-8151.
For information about ThyCa’s other free support services and special events, e-mail to thyca@thyca.org, call 1-877-588-7904, or visit the ThyCa web site at www.thyca.org.