Andrew G. Gianoukakis, M.D.

Dr. Gianoukakis is a Professor of Medicine of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and an expert in Thyroid Disorders with particular expertise in Advanced Thyroid Cancer and Clinical Trials for Advanced Thyroid Cancer. He directs the Thyroid Clinic and Thyroid Oncology Clinic at Harbor-UCLA where he also serves as Fellowship Training Program Director. Dr. Gianoukakis is a member of the International Thyroid Oncology Group (ITOG) and the Southern California Thyroid Cancer Consortium (SCThyCC).

Gilbert J. Cote, Ph.D., Researcher, is Professor in the Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. In 2010 he was named F1000 Faculty Member of the Year. He is co-author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles on molecular and genetic aspects of medullary thyroid cancer.

Maria E. Cabanillas, M.D., Endocrinologist, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Dr. Cabanillas’s clinical focus is metastatic thyroid cancer, and her research interests include targeted therapy for metastatic thyroid cancer, as well as supportive care in cancer. She is a graduate of The University of Puerto Rico Medical School. She completed a Residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, and a Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. She has authored many peer-reviewed journal articles.

Naifa L. Busaidy, M.D., is an Endocrinologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. She is a graduate of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. She completed postgraduate training at The Royal Hospital and the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas; and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. She is the author of numerous research articles and book chapters. Dr. Busaidy is also the recipient of a ThyCa thyroid cancer research grant.

Keith C. Bible, M.D., Ph.D., is Chair of the Endocrine Malignancies Disease-Oriented Group at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Rochester, Minnesota. He combines clinical practice as a medical oncologist with basic, translational, and clinical research initiatives directed toward the ultimate goal of improving therapies for patients with cancer. He is a member of the Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma Management Guidelines Task Force and Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma Management Guidelines Task Forces of the American Thyroid Association. He received his M.D. degree at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, followed by residency and clinical and research fellowships at the Mayo Clinic.

Andrew J Bauer, M.D. is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and serves as the director of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Thyroid Center. Dr. Bauer retired from the United States Army after 29 years of service, to include two combat tours in Iraq. Dr. Bauer’s clinical and research interests are focused on the study of pediatric thyroid disorders, including hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, thyroid nodular disease, thyroid cancer, and familial thyroid tumor syndromes. Dr. Bauer serves as chair of the American Thyroid Association’s (ATA) pediatric thyroid cancer guidelines and as a member of the ATA’s Board of Directors. In 2018, Dr. Bauer served on the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer expert group that published guidelines on thyroid screening after nuclear disasters. He has spoken at many ThyCa events.

Ernest L. Mazzaferri, M.D., M.A.C.P. was an Endocrinologist and past president of the American Thyroid Association (ATA), as well as a member of ATA’s Guidelines Task Force that developed ATA’s official clinical guidelines (2006) for managing thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer. Dr. Mazzaferri was a Master of the American College of Physicians, an award given to approximately 300 people in the US. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and served as Chair of the ABIM Subspecialty Board in Endocrinology. Dr. Mazzaferri had a long and distinguished career in thyroid cancer treatment and research at Ohio State University and in recent years at the University of Florida. He was a graduate of Ohio State University College of Medicine, chaired the National Cancer Center Network panel that issued guidelines for managing thyroid cancer, and was author and editor of over 200 peer-reviewed publications as well as textbooks on endocrinology and thyroid cancer. He was editor of Clinical Thyroidology and received many awards. He wrote the foreword for the patient reference book, Thyroid Cancer: A Guide for Patients.

Samuel A. Wells, M.D., Surgeon, is Senior Clinician and Director of the Thyroid Clinical Research Program in the Medical Oncology Branch at the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. His career has focused on research and treatment for medullary thyroid cancer, including Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndromes. His primary focus is the study of molecular targeted therapeutics. Dr. Wells received his M.D. from Emory University, followed by a residency at Duke University. From 1981 to 1998 he was Chair of the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine. He was a Clinical Associate, and later a Senior Investigator, in the Surgery Branch of the NCI. He was also a Guest Investigator at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Leonard Wartofsky, M.D. is an endocrinologist at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington D.C. He is also editor of the medical textbook Thyroid Cancer: A Comprehensive Guide to Clinical Management and is co-editor of a thyroid cancer patient education book in progress. In addition to his position at the Washington Hospital Center, Dr. Wartofsky is a professor of medicine, anatomy, physiology and genetics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD, professor of medicine at Georgetown University and clinical professor of medicine at the University of Maryland, Howard University and George Washington University Schools of Medicine.  He is a past president of both The Endocrine Society and the American Thyroid Association and a recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award of The Endocrine Society.  An internationally renowned expert in clinical thyroid disease with emphasis on patients with thyroid cancer, Dr. Wartofsky has published more than 300 articles and book chapters and has lectured across the globe. 

Steven G. Waguespack, M.D., Endocrinologist, is an associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. A native of Louisiana, Dr. Waguespack graduated Summa Cum Laude from Loyola University in New Orleans, where he also participated in the presidential scholars honor program. He graduated from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School with honors and pursued training in internal medicine/pediatrics at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis. He completed a combined adult and pediatric endocrinology fellowship at Indiana University and is board certified in both subspecialties. Recognized as one of “America’s Top Doctors for Cancer” in pediatric endocrinology, his major clinical and research interests are thyroid cancer, pituitary tumors, and metabolic bone disease. At MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Waguespack provides endocrine care to patients of all ages.