Louis Papa, MD
Primary Care Physician
Partner, Olsan Medical Group
Strong Health, Rochester, NY

Louis J. Papa M.D., FACP is board certified in Internal Medicine and is a primary care physician and partner at Olsan Medical Group.  He is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Rochester, where he helps educate internal medicine residents on primary outpatient care. In 1989, Dr. Papa graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine and came to Rochester to complete his residency at Strong Memorial Hospital where he is currently an attending physician. Dr. Papa is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a former Delegate for the Young Physicians Section representing New York State to the American Medical Association, and was named by his peers to "Best Doctors in America" in 2001.  He was selected by "Rochester Business Journal" as one of the "Forty under Forty" young community leaders in 2001 and was named as one of only 25 physicians under 40 years old nationally to receive the "Excellence in Medicine Award" from the American Medical Association Foundation for leadership in 2003. Dr. Papa is involved in a number of medical, civic and community activities and boards including his role as a board member of the largest health foundation in Upstate New York - the Greater Rochester Healthcare Foundation, volunteer work with the uninsured, as a New York Council member for the American College of Physicians and is a past President of his local medical society.

Kathy Kastan, LCSW, MAEd
Social Worker
Immediate Past President, WomenHeart
Cordova, TN

Kathy Kastan, LCSW/MAEd, is Immediate Past President of the Board of Directors of WomenHeart; a national organization dedicated to reducing death and disability among women living with heart disease. Ms. Kastan is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Northwest Region of the American Heart Association. As a bypass survivor at age 42, Ms. Kastan understands the unique perspectives and challenges of women living with heart disease. In speaking with women's groups, the media, health care providers and political leaders across the country about heart disease, Ms. Kastan urges women to know their risk factors for heart disease and insist that their doctors partner with them in their health care and treat them seriously.

Ms. Kastan holds an MSW and MAEd from Washington University in St. Louis and is a certified LCSW and licensed family mediator. She has more than 14 years of clinical experience in hospital and private settings, specializing in individual, family and group therapy for children, adolescents and adults.

Ms. Kastan's first book "From the Heart: A Woman's Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease" was published March 30, 2007 by Da Capo Lifelong Books-a member of the Perseus Books Group. The paperback edition was published in January of 2008. WomenHeart's All Heart Family Cookbook was also published in January of 2008 and Ms. Kastan is a co-author.

Most importantly, Ms. Kastan has been married for 27 years and has 3 wonderful boys ages 21, 18 and 16. She resides in Memphis, Tennessee.

Kathy Peck
Executive Director and Cofounder of H.E.A.R.
Bass player for "The Contractions"
San Francisco, CA

Executive Director and Co-Founder of H.E.A.R. A bass player and singer/songwriter, Kathy was an original member of the successful San Francisco punk band The Contractions. The all-female band was a major part of the San Francisco music scene. Unfortunately, Kathy suffered damage to her hearing and her music career was cut short. Loud music exposure from excessive volume aggravated Kathy's hearing loss and tinnitus.
Now, Kathy directs her energies and talents full force into the education of children, teens, and young adults. She wants them to learn how to enjoy the music without damaging their hearing. Because of Kathy's work, H.E.A.R. is recognized around the world by the music and medical communities, by teachers, parents, and caring individuals wishing to support its goals.
In 1989, Kathy Peck received the National Leadership Award from National Council on Communicative Disorders in Washington, DC.for her pioneering efforts in hearing loss education and prevention advocacy.
In 1994, Kathy sued in a landmark class action settlement for the American with Disabilities Act which resulted in two discrimination suits Wheelchair Access (Arnold vs. UA) and Assistive Listening Devices (Peck vs. UA) against United Artists theaters that gave disabled people unimpeded access to its movie theaters across the nation.

Robert Frisina, Ph.D.
Associate Chair of Otolaryngology
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurobiology & Anatomy
University of Rochester Medical Center
Rochester, NY

Robert D. Frisina, Ph.D., is Professor of Otolaryngology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, and Biomedical Engineering, and Associate Chair of Otolaryngology at the University of Rochester Medical School. He also holds joint appointments as Professor and Associate Director for the International Center for Hearing and Speech Research at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf - Rochester Institute of Technology, and as Research Professor in the Biological Sciences Department, at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Dr. Frisina obtained his Ph.D. in Bioengineering and Neuroscience at Syracuse University's College of Engineering, and pursued post-doctoral research at the University of Rochester's Center for Brain Research in Sensory Physiology and Biophysics.  He has authored dozens of articles and book chapters on the biological bases of hearing and hearing impairment, including aging changes that occur in the ear and parts of the brain used for hearing.

Dr. Frisina's main research projects currently revolve around the neural and molecular bases of hearing loss and deafness, with translational goals of developing novel technological and biomedical engineering interventions and treatments for those suffering with various types of sensory deficits.  Contact him at Robert_Frisina@urmc.rochester.edu.

Eric Caine, MD
John Romano Professor & Chair
Department of Psychiatry
University of Rochester Medical Center
Rochester, NY

Dr. Caine joined the faculty of the University of Rochester in 1978, following medical school at Harvard, residency training at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and National Institute of Mental Health, and further postdoctoral research at NIMH.  He says he became fascinated with the relationships between organized brain functioning and behavioral disorders. In addition to his residency, he pursued additional training in neuropsychology and neurology as a means of exploring neuropsychiatry.
Dr. Caine's early research dealt with Huntington's disease, Tourette's syndrome and, to a lesser extent, Alzheimer's disease.This led to studies of depression and to the interface between mood disorders and general medical conditions. Since the late-1980s Dr. Caine, together with colleagues in what now has become the University of Rochester Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, has carried out research to understand the risk factors that lead to suicide, and has worked collaboratively with investigators in the U.S. and internationally to develop new public health and therapeutic approaches for suicide prevention.

Sujana Chandrasekhar, MD
Director of New York Otology
Clinical Associate Professor of Otolaryngology
Mount Sinia School of Medicine
New York, NY

Sujana S. Chandrasekhar, MD, FACS is a leading otologist and neurotologist – ear and skull base surgeon – in practice in New York City as physician-director of New York Otology. Her practice encompasses the breadth of ear care, including diagnosis and medical, surgical, and audiologic management of hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness and facial nerve problems. She is Clinical Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is a member of the Cochlear Implant Center at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in New York City. In these and other hospital capacities, she helps educate medical students and residents in basic and advanced otology and neurotology. From high school at Stuyvesant HS in Manhattan to a six-year combined BS-MD program at City College of New York and Mount Sinai School of Medicine finishing in 1986, Dr. Chandrasekhar went on to complete residency and chief residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (ear, nose, throat) at New York University Medical Center. She was selected for advanced fellowship training in Otology and Neurotology at the House Ear Clinic and Institute in Los Angeles, CA.

After her training was complete, Dr. Chandrasekhar taught on the faculty of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in Newark, NJ from 1994 to 2001, and at Mount Sinai School of Medicine as Associate Professor and Director of Otology/Neurotology from 2001 until 2004. In October of 2004, she switched to a voluntary faculty position, so that she could better devote her time to patient care and clinical research. Since February of 2005, she has been Director of New York Otology, a comprehensive center for ear care.

Dr. Chandrasekhar has been listed among the Best Doctors in America and has received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. She has written a number of book chapters and authored many peer-reviewed publications. She is a sought-after speaker both nationally and internationally, including in her medical outreach teaching and patient care work in the developing world. Her primary research interests focus on treatment of sudden hearing loss and surfactant therapy for ear infections.