Jane Dweck

Web Designer, Editorial Board and Director

Jane Dweck is a breast cancer survivor whose breast cancer was actually diagnosed by her cocker spaniel, who continually pawed and chewed at her breast, creating a cyst and sending her to her doctor for cyst drainage and biopsy.  She lives with lymphedema which went diagnosed as "fat necrosis" for a long time until it turned into Stage 2 lymphedema with fibrosis. Jane is a 2010 graduate of the National Lymphedema Network's Lymph Science Advocacy Program, an intensive training program for selected patient-advocates.  Jane lives with her husband and cocker spaniel, Betsy, in NYC and Connecticut.

 

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Bonnie Pike

Editorial Board and Director

Bonnie Pike is a post-breast cancer lymphedema patient and a 2008 graduate of the National Lymphedema Network's Lymph Science Advocacy Program, an intensive training program for selected patient-advocates. She has been active in lymphedema advocacy since 2004, designing and teaching lymphedema in-service programs for nurses in both hospitals and nursing program.  Winner of the National Lymphedema Network 2009 Lymphedema D-Day award  for making strides in Lymphedema awareness  She is a free-lance writer (Seventeen, FamilyFun), and she and her husband, Bob, are the parents of nine children, most of them adopted.

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Judith Nudelman, M.D.

Editorial Board and Director

Dr. Nudelman is a Board Certified family medicine physician who combines clinical work with medical student education, and is a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at Brown University. She received her MD from University of Pittsburgh and her BA from University of Michigan, and did her residency in Family Medicine at Brown University. Her interest in lymphedema stems from personal experience and her subsequent discovery of widespread lack of knowledge of both the condition of lymphedema and its treatment, and her inability to discover a physician who was capable of or interested in managing the condition. Her goal is to provide education and information about lymphedema and to work to encourage physicians to manage the condition in their patients.
 

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 Cindy Brunner

 Editorial Board and Director

Cindy Brunner is a breast cancer survivor who developed a personal interest in lymphedema when she was diagnosed with a mild, transient form after completing surgery and chemotherapy.  She is a retired university faculty member (Professor Emerita) from Auburn University, where she taught courses in clinical problem-solving and basic and advanced immunology for 25 years.  She has a DVM Degree and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Minnesota.

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The StepUp-SpeakOut.Org website grew out of the "Lymphedema after Surgery" discussion board at breastcancer.org.  Several posters there wanted a site where information about post-breast cancer lymphedema and risk reduction would be available in relevant detail for women and men surviving breast cancer, easily accessible and understandable. 

Together these women have created this website, from a patient's perspective, and in clear, easy to understand language, to increase the knowledge and awareness of lymphedema and its risk reduction and treatments to both breast cancer survivors and their healthcare providers.

It is their mission to insure that all women and men undergoing breast cancer surgery are fully informed about the risks of lymphedema, the warning signs of lymphedema, and the appropriate risk reduction practices that should be taken to possibly prevent lymphedema, and to have it properly diagnosed and treated it in its early, reversible stages.  And that no breast cancer survivor has a "missed diagnosis" or lack of information of risk reductions, and has their lymphedema turn into Stage 2 or 3.

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Mei R. Fu, PhD, RN, ACNS-BC

Editorial Board and Research Director

Dr. Mei R. Fu (PhD, RN, ACNS-BC) is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at New York University and a licensed Medical-Surgical Clinical Nurse Specialist. She serves on Board of Lymphology Association of North America, the Medical Advisory Committee of the National Lymphedema Network, where she has co-chaired the research committee. She serves on the Steering Committee for the American Lymphedema Framework Project, a national partnership with the International Lymphedema Framework (ILF), where she has co-chaired the research and dissemination committee. Dr. Fu serves on Oncology Nursing Society Education Advisory Panel. In addition, she is the editor for Oncology Nursing Society Lymphedema Management Special Interest Group Newsletter. She is also on the editorial board for several peer-reviewed journals: Advances in Nursing Science (ISSN-0161-9268), Austral-Asian Journal of Cancer: The International Cancer Journal of Australia and Asia (ISSN-0972-2556), and Journal of Lymphedema (ISSN-1750-7235. Dr. Fu has conducted numerous work in the area of lymphedema assessment, lymphedema-related symptom experience in women with breast cancer, breast cancer survivors’ experience of managing lymphedema, instrument establishment for lymphedema risk reduction,  research on assessment and management of cancer-related symptoms and symptom clusters. She has published 36 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, 16 of which are focused on post-breast cancer lymphedema. She served as the symposium coordinator for 6 competitive symposium presentations and presented more than 60 presentations at international and national professional research conferences.

 

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Evan K. Krakovitz, M.D. FACS

Surgery and Colon and Rectal Surgery

Dr. Krakovitz is a medical consultant to the StepUp-SpeakOut.Org group.  Dr. Krakovitz was voted as one of Westchester, New York's Top Doctors of 2009 by Westchester Magazine.

Undergraduate Education: John's Hopkins University; MD:  Hahnemann  University  School of Medicine, 1989; Internship: The Graduate Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, 1989-94; Residency: The Graduate Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, 1989-94; Fellowship: Colon and rectal surgery, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 1994-95; Board Certifications: Surgery, 1995, Colon and Rectal Surgery, 1997
 
Hospital Affiliations:  Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, CT

Specialty:  Surgery and Colon & Rectal Surgery

Area of Interest
Cancer
Colon Surgery
Diverticulitis
Fissures
Fistula
Hemorrhoids
Incontinence
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases - IBD
Laproendoscopic Surgery
Rectal Surgery

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Alyssa Dweck, M.D.

Obstetrics and Gynecology

Dr. Dweck is a medical consultant to the StepUp-SpeakOut.Org group. 

Admitted to bar, 1961, New York; 1979, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit; 1977, United States Court of Claims, Washington, D. C.; 1963, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York; 1964, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York; 1976, U.S. District Court, Western District of New York; 1973, Florida; 1977, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida; 1987, Connecticut. Education: College of the City of New York (B.B.A., 1958); New York University Law School (J.D., 1961).

Currently practices at The Dweck Law Firm, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, New York 10019.

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Page Last Modified 07/15/2011