Carole Ellen Allen, MD
Dr. Allen, with over 33 years experience in general pediatrics, is Director of Pediatrics at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in Boston. She is on staff at two Boston area teaching hospitals, Children's Hospital Medical Center and Mount Auburn Hospital. A Clinical Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine, Dr. Allen has taught pediatrics to residents, medical students and nurse practitioners for more than 25 years. Throughout her career, she has participated in clinical research involving infectious disease and vaccines, and is an author of several peer-reviewed papers published in pediatric journals.

Dr. Allen is currently Vice President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the pediatrics delegate to the Massachusetts Medical Society. Her anti-tobacco activism has won her the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards Paul Revere award for "outstanding dedication and leadership in tackling public health issues."

Dr. Allen and her husband of 40 years have a son and daughter and one grandson.

Robin Beach, MD

Dr. Beach is professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and director of Pediatric and Adolescent Services for the Westside Family Health Center with the Denver Health Authority. Dr. Beach’s 28-year career has been dedicated to program development and advocacy for adolescent health, and she has provided national and regional leadership for adolescent health promotion, adolescent sexuality, and access to health care for under-served youth. National activities have included chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Adolescence, Adolescent Expert Panel member for the Department of Health and Human Services Bright Futures initiative, Surgeon General’s Select Consultant on Adolescent Health, and many regional and national task forces, councils, advisory panels and editorial boards. She was the 1997 recipient of the prestigious national Adele Dellenbaugh Hofmann Award from the AAP for "Exemplary Achievement in the Field of Adolescent Health."

Also a recipient of regional awards for outstanding contributions to adolescent medicine, Dr. Beach initiated the Colorado Advisory Council on Adolescent Health, was charter member and president of the Rocky Mountain Society for Adolescent Medicine, helped establish the nationally recognized Denver School Based Clinics, and developed Denver’s comprehensive community health center teen clinics. She has authored over 50 textbook chapters and journal articles on adolescent medicine and is a widely known teacher and speaker on adolescent issues. Half of her professional time is devoted to clinical practice, and she is now the primary care physician for a second-generation of teenage patients in Denver.

Robert A. Buzzeo, MD, FAAP
Dr. Buzzeo is a graduate of St. John’s University and completed his medical training at the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara and New York Medical College. He interned and completed his residency in Pediatrics at New York Medical College, Metropolitan Hospital in New York City and has been in private practice with Pediatric Health Care Alliance in Tampa, Fla., since 1981. Dr. Buzzeo is an educator and preceptor for the University of Tampa and University of South Florida Nursing Colleges. He is clinical instructor of medical students and residents at the University of South Florida. Dr. Buzzeo is an active member in the Section on Home Health, Computers and other Technologies, and the Provisional Section on Telephone Care. He is medical advisor for the On Call Department at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., and After Hours Urgent Care in Tampa, Fla. Dr. Buzzeo is an active staff member of St. Joseph’s Hospital, University Community Hospital, Tampa General Hospital, all in Tampa, Fla., and an affiliate staff member of All Children’s Hospital, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Dr. Buzzeo and his wife Christine have been married 25 years and have two children. In his free time, he enjoys photography, cycling and sailing.

David Cimino, MD
Dr. Cimino is a graduate of the University of Florida and the University of Florida Medical School; he interned and completed his residency in Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Hospital. Dr. Cimino was president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics from 1992-1995. Dr. Cimino is a director of Adolescent Medicine at All Childrens Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla., and clinical associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Florida College of Medicine.

George D. Comerci, MD, FAAP

Medical Advisor Emeritus
Dr. Comerci graduated from Rutgers University College of Pharmacy and Temple University Medical School, interned with the United States Public Health Service and completed his residency at Saint Christopher’s Hospital for Children (Temple University) in Philadelphia. After four years of private practice in New Jersey, he was appointed assistant professor of Pediatrics and outpatient director at the Glennon Children’s Hospital, Saint Louis University Medical School.

In 1969 he became director of Ambulatory Pediatrics and deputy head of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, where the Department’s ambulatory-focused teaching program was twice winner of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association’s (APA) Teaching Award. Dr. Comerci served for two years as the College’s first associate dean for Continuing Medical Education and in 1979 became professor of Pediatrics and of Family and Community Medicine. He was director of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine until 1991, when he was named director of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Desert Hills Center for Youth and Families in Tucson. He is a fellow of the Society for Adolescent Medicine. He received the Society’s Annual Visiting Professorship and Award in 1991 and its prestigious Outstanding Achievement in Adolescent Medicine Award in 1996.

Dr. Comerci was president of the Pima County Pediatric Society and the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In 1996 he was the recipient of the Arizona Chapter’s Special Achievement Award. He was national president of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association in 1978, and in 1990 was named its Annual Visiting Scholar. He was chairperson of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Adolescent Health and, in 1987, received its annual Adolescent Medicine Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Comerci has served on numerous AAP committees including the Committee on Scientific Meetings, and chaired the AAP Task Force on Substance Abuse.

Dr. Comerci served as national president of the AAP in 1994-1995.

Frank Diamond, MD

Dr. Diamond is professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and clinical director of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes. The author of more than 50 scientific papers, he has greater than 20 years experience in treating children with growth and other hormonal disorders. Dr. Diamond has served as president of the Genentech Endowment for Growth Disorders and is active in a number of scientific societies dedicated to the advancement of children's health. He is married to a practicing attorney and has two children, ages 21 and 18.

Bruce A. Epstein, MD

Dr. Epstein practiced pediatrics in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Seminole, Fla., from 1973 until his retirement in 1998. He is currently director of Pediatric Content for KidsGrowth.com.

Dr. Epstein is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the area media representative for the Academy, and the Academy's legislative representative to Congressman C. W. "Bill" Young. His weekly column "The Doctor's Office" has appeared in the St. Petersburg Times since 1992. He serves as a member of the board of trustees of All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. Dr. Epstein devotes most of his "free time" working with his wife at the Florida Holocaust Museum, a St. Petersburg, Fla., museum dedicated to teaching the dangers of prejudice, discrimination and bigotry through the lesson of the Holocaust. They have three grown children and seven grandchildren.

F. Lane France, MD

Dr. France practiced pediatrics in Tampa, Fla., for 27 years with Tampa Bay Pediatrics. During that time he was an assistant and then associate clinical professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Fla. He has been very active in professional associations and community endeavors. Presently he serves on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) national committee of Practice and Ambulatory Medicine. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the AAP Section on Home Health. During the past few years he has also participated in AAP national work groups as well as being a strong advocate for children in his own community. In the past three years, Dr. France has been active in bringing together a merger of five pediatric practices (28 pediatricians) which is now called Pediatric Health Care Alliance (PHCA). For the past two years, he has served as medical director of PHCA while also serving as chief executive officer of a pediatric medical services organization (Pediatric Health Alliance). He also serves as medical director for KidsGrowth.com. He has three grown children and five grandchildren.

Frances Page Glascoe, PhD

Prior to completing a PhD in Special Education in 1986, Glascoe worked for 9 years in private and public schools teaching kindergarten, first grade, resource and early childhood special education classes. From 1983 to 1999, she was an associate professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Child Development at Vanderbilt University and her clinical responsibilities there involved educational assessment of children with school difficulties. She also directed the rotation in developmental and behavioral pediatrics for residents and medical students. She is now an adjunct professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt abd Penn State Universities.

Glascoe has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers published in journals of pediatrics and early childhood special education. She served for eight years as the US editor for Ambulatory Child Health, the Journal of General and Community Pediatrics. She is on the Editorial Boards of Archives of Peditaric and Adolescent Medicine and the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Her research has focused on the importance of parental concerns in detecting behavioral and developmental problems and she developed a short screening test for use in primary care, called Parents' Evaluations of Developmental Status (PEDS).

Michael D. Gaynor, MD, FAAP

Dr. Gaynor has been a practicing pediatrician in Tampa, Fla., since 1985. He is Board Certified and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He completed his residency in Pediatrics at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and has completed a fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at Long Island Jewish Hospital in New York. Dr. Gaynor is married and has three beautiful daughters who were born in 1992, 1994 and 1996.

Herb Goldstein, PhD

Goldstein is a practicing clinical psychologist in St. Petersburg, Fla. He received his PhD in 1965 and is a diplomat with the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is a fellow of the Academy of Clinical Psychology and two-time past president of the Pinellas Chapter of Florida Psychological Association. He is very active in both psychology and community affairs. He has been married for 38 years and has two wonderful married children. Dr. Goldstein has testified in Federal and State Courts throughout the U.S. with a primary emphasis on child, family and custody. He has extensive experience with assessment and psychological implications of divorce, learning problems and sexual abuse. With a widely known reputation in Family Law, Dr. Goldstein has presented continuing education courses to psychologists, medical doctors and lawyers; and has lectured to law and psychology students.

Dr. Goldstein is on the National Board of Advisors for the Professional Academy of Custody Evaluators and has also served on teaching faculties for workshops nationally and internationally. He is a former adjunct assistant professor at the University of South Florida Medical School, a former clinical instructor with Emory University Medical School and is on the Adjunct Consulting Staff at All Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, Fla. He has written frequently for magazines, psychological and legal periodicals and is the coauthor of a book (Parent, Child and Community, Chicago; Nelson Hall, 1979).

Elizabeth Susan Hodgson, MD

Dr. Hodgson has been a practicing pediatrician since 1982 and is currently an attending physician with Saint Peter’s Pediatric Faculty Group in New Brunswick, NJ. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children.

Dr. Hodgson has extensive experience dealing with the issue of child abuse. In 1981, she was the resident liaison to Yale-New Haven Hospital Diagnosis Assessment Referral and Treatment (DART) Team for Child Abuse in 1981 and went on to be the medical examiner for child abuse at Wake County Medical Center, Raleigh, NC. From 1983 to 1986, she was the organizer of and physician member on the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Team at Athens Regional Medical Center in Athens, GA. Then for six years she was the child abuse evaluator for the New Hampshire CARE program, which is part of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Systems, serving southern New Hampshire and the greater Manchester area. Currently she is the co-medical director of the Dorothy Hersh Regional Child Protection Center in New Brunswick, NJ.

John W. Kulig, MD, MPH

Dr. Kulig is director of Adolescent Medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center’s Floating Hospital for Children, and is Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He received his BA from Brown University, his MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and his MPH from Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Kulig completed his fellowship training in Adolescent Medicine at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati.

Dr. Kulig developed the Adolescent Medicine program at the Tufts-New England Medical Center (NEMC) in Boston and started one of the first school-based clinics in that city. The Student Health Center at Boston High School has received numerous grants and awards, including support from the Kellogg Foundation, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and the Bureau of Primary Health Care.

Dr. Kulig has served in many leadership positions in adolescent health at both local and national levels. In 1981, he founded the New England Regional Chapter of the Society for Adolescent Medicine. He has served on the Board of Directors of national SAM as Executive Secretary-Treasurer and currently serves as a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse and the American Board of Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine Subboard. He also serves as a medical consultant for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Job Corps, a residential training program for disadvantaged youth. He has lectured and published extensively in the field of adolescent health, with a particular interest in at-risk youth.

Donald P. Orr, MD

Dr. Orr is professor of Pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and director of Adolescent Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics. His life’s work has been in the field of Adolescent Medicine. He has written more than 120 articles and made greater than 250 presentations on the subject of adolescent health. He serves as an editorial reviewer for more than 11 leading journals including Pediatrics, Journal of Adolescent Health, and Archives Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Dr. Orr has been active in the American Academy of Pediatrics, section of Adolescent Health, functioning as newsletter editor and chairman of the education committee. He is currently medical editor for the American Board of Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine Subspecialty Examination.

Jonathan Phillips, MD

Dr. Phillips, a pediatrician at Nemours Children’s Clinic in Orlando, Fla., is a board certified Orthopaedic Surgeon. A graduate of the St. George’s Hospital Medical School in London, England, Dr. Phillips clinical interests include scoliosis, orthopaedic trauma in children, motion disorders in neuromuscular disease, and cerebral palsy. He is currently coauthoring a chapter on children’s fractures for a major orthopaedic textbook. His family and sailing occupy his non-medical hours. Dr. Phillips and his wife are the parents of three beautiful daughters.

Mark S. Reuben, MD, FAAP
Dr. Reuben has been in the private practice of Pediatrics in Reading, Pa., since 1976. A graduate of Pennsylvania State University and Jefferson Medical College, Dr. Reuben completed his pediatric residency at St. Christophers’ Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. He founded Reading Pediatrics, Inc., as a solo practice, but it has grown to include eight pediatricians and continues to expand. Dr. Rueben served as chief of Pediatrics at St. Joseph Hospital in Reading, Pa., where he remains on staff, as well as maintaining staff privileges at the Reading Hospital and Medical Center. Dr. Reuben chaired the Credentials Committee at the Reading Hospital.

Over the years, Dr. Reuben has held numerous positions with the American Academy of Pediatrics on both the state and national level. He served as a member and chaired the AAO Committee on Medical Liability. He is currently education director for the Section on Administration and Practice Management, having previously served on its Executive Committee. He served on the Task Force on Informatics and is currently an advisor to the new Academy Leadership Initiative with Johnson & Johnson.

On the state level, Dr. Reuben is currently vice president/president-elect of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the AAP. He has been Secretary/Treasurer, a member of the Executive Committee and chairperson of the Nominating Committee.

Among other positions Dr. Reuben has held are chairperson of the Physician Advisory Committee for Pennsylvania Blue Shield and a member of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Medical Society Liability Insurance Company (PMSLIC). He continues to serve as a pediatric consultant for Highmark insurance company, as well as a Claims Committee consultant for PMSLIC. He is a noted national speaker on the topics of medical liability and practice management.

Francis Rushton, MD

Dr. Rushton is the senior partner at Beaufort Pediatrics, where he has worked for the past 21 years. He also currently sees patients in Hampton, SC. Dr. Rushton is a clinical associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Carolina at Columbia (USC). He works part time on the staff of the University’s Institute for Families in Society and helped develop USC’s community pediatrics curriculum. He is medical director of the Well Baby Plus program, a program designed to provide intensive support for families with infants to help them address the stresses of parenting. Dr. Rushton is the author of Family Support in Community Pediatrics: Confronting the Challenge. He has authored several articles on child abuse prevention and the effect of Medicaid on primary care. He currently serves as a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on Community Health Services and in 2002-2003 is a candidate for Vice-President Elect of the Academy.

Dr. Rushton is a graduate of the Phillips Exeter Academy (Class of 1969), attended Georgetown University and received his MD from the University of Miami in 1976. He completed his pediatric training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr Rushton has been instrumental in the development of the new First Steps program in his capacity as the chairman of the Early Childhood Committee for the Alliance for South Carolina’s Children, and is past-president of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). He currently serves on, the advisory board for the Beaufort Fund of the Community Foundation Serving Coastal South Carolina, and the advisory board for Beaufort County Success by Six.

He has had the opportunity to share his pediatric expertise with several mission locations, including hospitals in Haiti, Yemen, Malawi and India. In 2002, he served for three months as a visiting professor at Okinawa Chubu Hospital in Japan. His activities have resulted in being honored as humanitarian of the year by the Beaufort Chamber of Commerce and volunteer physician of the year by the Department of Health and Environmental Control. In 2001, South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges awarded Dr. Rushton with the Order of the Palmetto the state's highest citizen honor in recognition of his child advocacy efforts. Dr. Rushton is married and has three children.

Elaine Fantle Shimberg

Elaine Fantle Shimberg is an award-winning medical writer and author of 19 books including "Coping with Chronic Heartburn: What You Need to Know about Acid Reflux and CRT," "Living with Tourette Syndrome," "What Families Should Know About Depression," "Relief from IBS: Irritable Bowel Syndrome" and "How to Get Out of the Hospital Alive."

Ms.Shimberg is the first lay member of the Florida Medical Association's Ethics and Judicial Affairs Committee. She has five grown children and 10 grandchildren.

Jack T. Swanson, MD

Dr. Swanson is a practicing pediatrician at the McFarland Clinic in Ames, Iowa, and is clinical assistant professor, University of Iowa College of Medicine. Dr. Swanson served as President of the Iowa Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), as well as serving on the Academy’s Task Force on Integrated School Health Services, the Task Force on Medical Informatics, and the Task Force on Circumcision. He is married and has four children, ages 29, 26, 23 and 16, and one grandchild.

Edward T. Williams, M.D.

Dr. Williams was raised in La Grange, Texas, the son of an old-time country general practitioner. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Texas, graduating from medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Since 1973 he has been in full-time private pediatric practice in Tampa, Florida. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Florida. He is vice president of Pediatric Health Care Alliance, a primary care pediatric group of 30+ physicians in Tampa. He is immediate past president of the Hillsborough County Pediatric Society, immediate past president of the Florida Pediatric Society and Florida Chapter of the AAP, and currently serves on the National Nominating Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

He is married (31 years) with three children, all healthy and almost self-supporting. Interests include music (he was the founding president of the Tampa Classical Guitar Society), diving and undersea medicine, offshore sailing, and aviation. He has a couple of minor academic articles and a number of testy editorials in local and state medical publications.

He has served on several community service boards and committees and is an active member of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Tampa. His goals include the continuation of advocacy for children and pediatricians at the state and national level and active participation in his practice organization as long as he can contribute.

Sandra Worman, DDS

Dr. Worman, a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, is a pediatric dentist practicing with her father in St. Petersburg, Fla. She has completed a two year program in pediatric dentistry at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and is a member of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Worman is active throughout the community educating parents about the importance of preventative dentistry and is on the staff of All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. She is married to a critical care anesthesiologist and the mother of newly arrived twin girls.

Kyle Yasuda, MD

Dr. Yasuda, MD, is a practicing pediatrician in Seattle at the Virginia Mason Medical Center. Dr. Yasuda is also head of the section of Pediatrics at the Center and clinical associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine. He is one of the leading child advocates in the State of Washington and is immediate past president of the Washington Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics. He also serves on the Governor's Commission on Early Learning, Washington State Council on Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, and is on the Board of the Children’s Alliance. Last year Dr. Yasuda received the Healthy Mother, Healthy Babies Organizational Leadership award. He is married and has a 4-½-year-old daughter.

Richard Ferrelli
Mr. Ferrelli is a private investor and entrepreneur. Since 1987, Mr. Ferrelli has been a founder of several successful companies and an investor in several venture capital and leveraged buyout transactions. Mr. Ferrelli received a B.A. in economics, Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude, from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.