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.

Dianne Savastano
President and Founder of Healthassist
Personal Healthcare Consultant
Manchester by-the-Sea, MA

Dianne Savastano is a healthcare professional with the unique perspective and experience of both a clinician and administrator. During her 25-year career in healthcare, Ms. Savastano has worked as a nurse providing direct patient care, as a hospital manager, as a director of managed care for an insurance company, as a manager of workers' compensation programs, and also as the primary caregiver for a close family member diagnosed with multiple cancers. She is now the principal and founder of Healthassist, a personal healthcare consulting service based north of Boston.

Ms. Savastano received her nursing degree from Rhode Island College and her MBA from Simmons College in Boston. She has worked as a clinical director and registered nurse for hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, helping to coordinate care for more than 100,000 patients each year. She has also served as director of managed care for The Chickering Group and as relationship director at CitiStreet for 200,000 health plan participants. Throughout her professional career, Ms. Savastano has been a champion for patients' rights, recognizing that at the center of every healthcare decision is a person who may be overwhelmed by a diagnosis, treatment plan, or insurance dilemma.

In 2004, Ms. Savastano established Healthassist to provide individual, customized consulting services to patients and their families. Understanding the perspective of all stakeholders in the healthcare system allows Ms. Savastano to work purposely on behalf of her clients, while, at the same time, teaching them how to become better advocates for their own healthcare.

Joel Seligman
President, University of Rochester
Rochester, NY

On July 1, 2005, Joel Seligman became the tenth president of the University of Rochester.

A 1971 magna cum laude graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles and a cum laude graduate of Harvard University School of Law in 1974, he served on the law faculty of Northeastern University (1977–1983), George Washington University (1983–1986), and the University of Michigan (1986–1995). He was named dean of the University of Arizona College of Law (and Samuel M. Fegtly Professor of Law) in 1995, and, in 1999, became dean of the Washington University School of Law (and Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor), where he is credited with masterminding a strategic plan that helped raise the law school's national and international profile.

One of the nation's leading experts on securities law, Seligman is the coauthor, with the late Louis Loss, of the eleven-volume Securities Regulation (supplemented, Aspen Publishers, 2005), the leading treatise in the field, and author of The Transformation of Wall Street: A History of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Modern Corporate Finance (third edition, Aspen Publishers, 2003). He also is the author or coauthor of twenty books and more than forty articles on legal issues related to securities and corporations. 

He also has served as reporter for the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, Revision of Uniform Securities Act; as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Market Information; and as a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Professional Ethics Executive Committee. He is currently a member of the board of the National Association of Securities Dealers. In the Greater Rochester community, he serves on the JPMorgan Chase Regional Advisory Board and on the boards of George Eastman House, Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE), and Rochester Business Association.

Richard I. Fisher, MD
Director, James P. Wilmot Cancer Center
Director, Hematology/Oncology Division
University of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital
Rochester, NY

Richard I. Fisher, M.D., Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center and Director of Cancer Services for Strong Health, is an internationally known expert in biological research and treatment of lymphoma and is a nationally renowned cancer clinician, scientist and educator. In 2008, Dr. Fisher was appointed CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Faculty Group, Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, as well as Vice President of the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Fisher, also the Chief of the Hematology / Oncology Unit in the Department of Medicine and the Samuel E. Durand Professor of Medicine, oversees clinical cancer services at Strong Memorial Hospital and Highland Hospital, which together provide comprehensive care for cancer patients throughout Western and Upstate New York. Dr. Fisher's research centers on the biology and treatment of lymphoma, cancers derived from white blood cells, and has led national and international studies on Hodgkin's disease and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Dr. Fisher came to Strong Memorial Hospital from the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, where he served as director since 1984. During his tenure at Loyola, he helped create the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center and has worked to build a program supported by the National Cancer Institute. He established a state-of-the-art laboratory space for research and the led the way to a $35 million facility for cancer prevention, treatment and research.

He earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and did his internship and residency in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Dr. Fisher served as clinical associate in the Immunology Branch of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and completed an Oncology fellowship in Medicine.

Fisher currently serves as chairman of the Lymphoma Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group and is a member of various groups such as; the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Hematology, American Joint Committee on Cancer's Lymphoma Task Force, American Association of Immunologists, Clinical Immunology Society, Central Society for Clinical Cancer Research and the American College of Physician Executives. He has authored over 300 publications and chapters in national and international publications.

Elizabeth A. Holly, PhD, MPH
Principal Investigator, Molecular Epidemiology of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

Professor and Head, Division of Cancer Epidemiology
Former Interim Associate Director of Epidemiology, Prevention and Control, UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center

Dr. Holly received her MPH in Health Education, and MS and PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.  She completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Washington.  For 25 years, she has studied the epidemiology of cancer.  Dr. Holly is PI of large NCI grants to study the Molecular Epidemiology of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and the Molecular Epidemiology of Pancreatic Cancer, and the PI of other NCI grants.  She is an author of more than 200 scientific reports and book chapters and was a co-author of the second edition of the text, Designing Clinical Research.

Karen Syrjala, PhD
Director, Survivorship Program
Director, Biobehavioral Sciences
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle, WA

Dr. Syrjala is Director of the Survivorship Program and of Biobehavioral Sciences at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Her clinical expertise includes: psychology, cancer survivorship, symptom management, non-drug methods to reduce symptoms, and improving long-term outcomes after a cancer diagnosis. Dr. Syrjala received her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College and later received her doctorate from Boston University.

"My care is focused on helping people to recognize their strengths and take charge of their health during treatment and long-term survival. When useful, I offer specific skills to assist people in being as comfortable as possible both during and after treatment."