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 undiagnosed or treated, being 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 has also attended the 2012 National Lymphedema Network's Lymph Science Advocacy Program. Jane lives with her husband and cocker spaniel, Emily, in NYC and Connecticut.  She is a frequent lecturer on Breast Cancer Survival and Lymphedema Diagnosis and Risk Reduction at NYU College of Nursing to graduate nursing students.  She is also a facilitator for Lymphedema Support groups at SHARE.

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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. She is trained as a CLT (certified lymphedema therapist), and sits on the board of directors of the Lymphology Association of America. She has written textbook chapters and articles on lymphedema, and lectures on the subject.

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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.

The Stepup-Speakout website has also participated with lymphedema researchers in surveys published on our website, resulting in several scientific papers on lyphedema and its effects on patient life.

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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 Associate Professor of Nursing at the New York University. She is also a Fellow of Geriatrics at the Hartford Institute of Geriatrics. Her scientific focus has been on cancer-related symptoms, with emphasis on cancer-related lymphedema. Her research incorporates genomic and biomarker approaches and cutting edge measurement technology as well as innovative behavioral interventions. She has published over 50 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. She severs on the editorial board for seven peer-reviewed journals. She has been invited as the keynote speaker at national and international conferences.

 

Her research informs effective ways of performing lymphedema assessment and implementing risk reduction behaviors, which has profound sustained effect on national and international clinical practice for lymphedema care. She has completed award-winning research to demonstrate the effects of provision of lymphedema information on cancer survivors’ cognitive, behavioral, and symptom outcomes, including The 2009 ONS Excellence in Cancer Nursing Research Award. This award recognizes excellence in cancer nursing research that makes a significant contribution to the body of nursing knowledge. Her research provided strong evidence that lymphedema symptoms and its psychosocial impacts should be important patient-centered clinical outcomes. For this significant contribution, she was awarded by the International Society of Lymphology The 2009 Young Investigator Award: Tactile Systems Technology Young Investigator Award.

 

Dr. Fu has been recognized with several prestigious honors and awards for her scientific accomplishments and leadership: the 2012 COMMENDATION from City of New York Office of the Comptroller for her distinguished leadership, dedicated service, commitment to excellence and tremendous contribution to the City of New York; the 2011 Best Article Award for ONS Special Interest Group Newsletter; ONS Special Interest Group Excellence Award in 2010; Eminent Scientist of the Year 2003 from International Research Promotion Council; and Outstanding Journal Article Award, 2000-2002 from the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association.  

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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 09/29/2015