CONFERENCE CHAIR:
Andrew Urban, MD
Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Madison, WI

Dr. Andrew Urban is the Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. Dr. Urban graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine and completed his Internal Medicine residency and fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Wisconsin. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and ID and is certified as a HIV Specialist by the American Academy of HIV Medicine. He has received numerous teaching awards and is extensively involved in medical education at all levels. His clinical interests include primary care of individuals with HIV and consultative general infectious diseases.

Jim F. Cleary, MD, FAchPM
Walther Senior Professor and Director of Supportive Oncology
Indiana University School of Medicine
IU Simon Cancer Center
Indianapolis, IN

After graduating from the University of Adelaide Medical School, South Australia, Dr. Jim F. Cleary trained in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and then undertook three years of opioid pharmacology research. Moving to the UW in 1994, he developed a Palliative Care Program, from which he has recently stepped aside as Medical Director. He has served as Program Director of Cancer Control at the UW Carbone Cancer Center, with full integration of palliative care. In 2000, he was recognized as a Foundation Fellow of the Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine. He was the 2004 President of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He serves as a North American Editor of Palliative Medicine, the Research Journal of the European Association of Palliative Care. He has global connections in cancer pain and palliative care, evidence by his leadership of the UW Carbone's Cancer Center's Pain and Policy Studies Group, a WHO Collaborating Center for Pain Policy and Palliative Care. He was the lead author of the Global Opioid Policy Initiative publications for Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, India, and the Middle East. Grant funding over the last 8 years has supported a global Pain Policy Fellowship with funding from the NCI’s Global Health Program for a fourth (and African) cohort. Dr. Cleary is a member of the WHO Working Group for Palliative Care, the WHO Cancer Pain Guideline Working Group, the HGEI-Uni of Miami-Lancet Commission on Palliative Care and Pain relief, and co-chair of ASCO's Resource-Stratified Guideline on Palliative Care. He has recently moved from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to become the Walther Senior Chair and Director of Supportive Oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and Simon Cancer Center where he will continue his efforts in clinical and global palliative care.

Albert J. Hicks III, MD, MPH
Interim Medical Director, Advanced Heart Failure Mechanical Circulatory Support & Cardiac Transplantation
Division of Cardiology
Associate Program Director of Cardiology Fellowship
Clinical Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine
Texas A&M College of Medicine
Baylor Scott & White Health
Temple, TX

Kristen Kulasa, MD
Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine
Director, Inpatient Glycemic Control
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
University of California
San Diego, CA

Joshua D. Lenchus, DO, RPh, FACP, SFHM
Chief Medical Office
Broward Health Medical Center
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Roger D. Seheult, MD
Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine
Beaver Medical Group, Redlands, CA
Associate Clinical Professor
UC Riverside School of Medicine, Riverside, CA
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
Loma Linda, CA

Dr. Roger D. Seheult is a Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Specialist in Redlands, California. He is the former director of critical care services at San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital and is a Pulmonologist and Sleep Specialist at Beaver Medical Group where he serves on their board. He has dual academic appointments as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine and Physician Assistant Sciences at the Loma Linda University Schools of Medicine and Allied Health Professions respectively. He is also an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine as well as the Medical Director for the Crafton Hills College School of Respiratory Therapy. Dr. Seheult completed his Fellowship and Residency training at Loma Linda University and is Board-Certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Diseases, Critical Care Medicine, and Sleep Medicine. Dr. Seheult is the co-founder of MEDCram, an on-line medical education company.

Matthew R. Weir, MD
Professor of Medicine
Chief of Nephrology Division
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD

Dr. Matthew R. Weir is attending physician and Director of the Division of Nephrology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital, Baltimore. He is also Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School Of Medicine. Dr. Weir’s primary research interests include the use of antihypertensive therapy for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy, hypertensive renal injury in African Americans, and preventing allograft nephropathy in transplant recipients. He has written more than 600 manuscripts and book chapters about these topics. He has edited 8 books: on topics in nephrology, transplantation, and hypertension. He has presented at numerous international scientific association meetings, hospitals, and medical schools. Dr. Weir currently reviews manuscripts for more than 30 major medical journals, including the American Journal of Kidney Disease, the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and Archives of Internal Medicine. He is on the editorial board of 12 journals and is Section Editor of Current Hypertension Reports and Current Opinion in Hypertension and Nephrology. He has 3 active NIH supported grants from NIDDK and two from NHLBI. In addition, he is a member of numerous associations, including the American Society of Nephrology, the National Kidney Foundation, the American Heart Association, and the American Society of Transplantation. Dr. Weir received his medical degree from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He completed his internship and residency programs in medicine at the Waterbury and Yale-New Haven Hospitals in Connecticut and completed his nephrology training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts. He then moved to the University of Maryland where he has been a full-time faculty member since 1983.