Louis J. Papa, M.D.
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.  He is also an attending physician at Strong Memorial Hospital. 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.  He is a member of the American College of Physicians.   Dr. Papa was elected a Fellow of the American College of Physicians at age 33, is 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 a member of numerous medical, civic and community committees and boards including volunteer work with the uninsured, and as Vice- President of the local medical society.

Deborah A. Kuban, M.D.

Professor

Department of Radiation Oncology

The University of Texas

M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Deborah A. Kuban, M.D., is Professor of Radiation Oncology, Genitourinary Section Chief, and Medical Director of the Multidisciplinary Prostate Clinic at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. After earning her degree in medicine from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Dr. Kuban completed an internship in surgery and a residency in radiation oncology and biophysics at the Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine in Norfolk.  A member of numerous local, state, and national committees, Dr. Kuban is also a member of many societies, including the American Cancer Society, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, and the American College of Radiology.  On the Editorial Boards of The International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics and Brachytherapy, Dr. Kuban also serves as a reviewer for a variety of journals, including Cancer, Urology, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.  An international and national lecturer on prostate cancer, its treatments, and its effects on quality of life, Dr. Kuban has frequently published in journals such as the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, Journal of Urology, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.  In addition, she has coauthored several books and book chapters and has written many editorials and abstracts.  Dr. Kuban's current research includes external beam radiation for clinically localized prostate cancer, quality of life after treatment, proteomics and molecular markers in prostate cancer and novel agents combined with radiation. Dr. Kuban has been named in Best Doctors in the United States and in The Best Doctors in America for Radiation Oncology-Genitourinary.

Edward M. Messing, M.D., FACS

W.W. Scott Professor

Chairman, Dept. of Urology

Professor of Oncology and Pathology

Deputy Director of James P. Wilmot Cancer Center

Dr. Messing received his MD degree from New York University in 1972, did his surgery training at NYU-Bellevue Hospital in New York 1972-1974, and his Urology Residency at Stanford University 1974-1978.  After two years on the faculty at Tulane University, he completed a fellowship in Urologic Oncology at UCLA in 1982.  He was on the faculty of the Division of Urology at the University of Wisconsin from 1982-1995, being Director of their Urologic Oncology Program for the last ten years. He assumed his current position at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in September 1995 and also currently serves as Deputy Director of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center.  Dr. Messing has served as an Examiner on the American Board of Urology and AUA Joint Examining Committee, and serves on the American Urological Association Guidelines Panel on the Evaluation of Hematuria.  Dr. Messing also holds a leadership position on the Local Renal Cancer Subcommittee of the GU Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group and was formerly co-chair of the GU Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Dr. Messing is a renowned expert in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers of the prostate, bladder and kidney, carries on extensive research in the basic biology of these cancers, and has been the principal investigator on numerous clinical studies for the detection, prevention and treatment of them.  Dr. Messing has been named in The Best Doctors in America for Urology.   

Peter A. Pinto, M.D.

Urologic Oncology Branch

National Cancer Institute, NIH

Peter A. Pinto, M.D. is a Senior Investigator, on faculty in the Urologic Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.  Prior to his arrival in the Washington, D.C. Metro area, he was a Fellow and Clinical Instructor at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Brady Urologic Institute.  Dr. Pinto is a Board Certified Urologic Surgeon specializing in oncology and is the Director of the Urologic Oncology Fellowship Program at the National Cancer Institute.  He is nationally and internationally recognized as an expert in the minimally invasive treatment of urologic cancers, focusing on laparoscopic and robotic surgery for prostate, kidney, bladder and testicular cancer.  His clinical and research interests include vaccine strategies and molecularly targeted therapeutic approaches to modulate cancer cell growth and survival, imaging and targeted registration of genitourinary tumors, and the minimally invasive treatment of urologic malignancies, including cryotherapy, radiofrequency ablation, high intensity focused ultrasound and laparoscopic / robotic surgery.

Edward Smith

Retired Information Technology (IT) Professional

Prostate Cancer Patient

Below is panelist Ed Smith's personal story about battling Prostate Cancer.

Ed worked at Bausch and Lomb from 1959 until 2001 as an IT professional.  He worked in the profession before there were computers, we worked with punched cards.  He went from an IT clerk to a manager, and ended his career as the Manager of Records Management in IT.  He has been married since February of 1964 and has 4 children, 3 daughters and a son.  They also have 4 grandchildren.     

Smith began seeing a doctor in 2001 for several months with a bloating problem and it was discovered that he was not emptying his bladder properly due to an enlarged prostate.  Surgery was preformed in October 2001, and at that time it was discovered that he had prostate cancer. Smith's  PSA blood tests never indicated cancer. They were all below 4.0.  Smith and his wife were told there were several courses of action for treatment.  One was do nothing and keep checking, the second was radiation therapy, the third was radioactive seeds and the fourth was a radical prostatectamy.  With his wife's help he decided the best course of action was removal of the prostate.  He both knew that the side effects of the surgery were 2% chance of incontinence and a 50% to 75% chance of impotence.  Smith and his wife decided on surgery.  The results were incontinence and partial impotence.  He has been cancer-free since the surgery and today believes his choice of surgery was the right one for him.

Elissa Orlando
Civilian Guest

Elissa L. Orlando is a 20-year veteran of public affairs programming and multimedia storytelling. Orlando is director of national programming and special projects at WXXI Public Broadcasting. She was producer of the nationally televised Crucible of Freedom companion program to Ken Burns Not for Ourselves Alone.  Orlando has won several New York State broadcasting awards for television news reporting in Somalia Africa, Homestead Florida and other local and national venues.  She is a recipient of the Gracie award for television programming from American Women in Radio and Television, and she is the recipient of a Telly award for her production of the TV documentary Reclaiming the Crescent.  Orlando also received the Woman of the Distinction award from the Jefferson County Women's Conference in 1995. She was formerly TV news and public affairs director at WXXI, where she also served as executive producer, Website editor and news anchor of Need to Know, WXXI's Emmy Award-winning news magazine.