2013 Midwest Brain Tumor Conference Highlights Wellness

CINCINNATI—Wellness and the optimizing of health will be the focus of the 2013 Midwest Regional Brain Tumor Conference, a free educational event for patients, caregivers and family members. 

The conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Miami University Voice of America Learning Center http://www.regionals.miamioh.edu/voalc/ in West Chester Township, Ohio. Attendees can enjoy a complimentary lunch and a tour of the Precision Radiotherapy Center, which is located across Cox Road from the Voice of America Learning Center, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

The conference, titled "Hope, Innovation, Progress, Support,” is presented by the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute, one of four institutes of the UC College of Medicine and UC Health. Educational sponsorship is provided by the American Brain Tumor Association. The conference’s director is Luke Pater, MD, assistant professor of radiation oncology at the UC College of Medicine and a radiation oncologist at the UC Brain Tumor Center.

"The annual Midwest Regional Brain Tumor Conference is a resource for the community organized by the physicians, nurses, staff and community members of the UC Brain Tumor Center,” Pater says. "Each year we aim to provide information to patients, family members and caregivers that may not otherwise have been available to them. We are excited to provide this educational opportunity as well as a chance for patients and medical professionals to get together informally and to learn from each other. This communality is vital in furthering awareness and mutual understanding of brain tumor treatment and the patient’s experience.”

Speakers will provide patients, survivors and caregivers with the latest information about health, wellness and maximizing quality of life during treatment and recovery. General session topics will include:

·         Optimizing Health with the Anti-Inflammatory Diet.

·         Understanding the Mind-Body Connection.

·         Food as Medicine

"People often associate brain tumors with disability and decline,” says Rekha Chaudhary, MD, a neuro-oncologist at the UC Brain Tumor Center. "But patients with brain tumors can continue to live well, and it is important that they know how to live with a brain tumor. They need to know what they can do to make life happier through diet, exercise, and counseling. 

"This will be borne out at the Walk Ahead for a Brain Tumor Cure on October 27. Three of our patients will run in the 5k and many more will be walking with friends and family.”

Breakout sessions at the conference will focus on benign and malignant brain tumor types: glioma, acoustic neuroma, meningioma and pituitary adenoma. An additional breakout session will cover wellness.

The conference’s featured speakers and breakout session leaders include the following members of the UC faculty and UC Brain Tumor Center:

¨       Norberto Andaluz, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery.

¨       John Breneman, MD, the Charles M. Barrett Professor of Radiation Oncology and Neurosurgery and associate director of the UC Brain Tumor Center.

¨       Rekha Chaudhary, MD, assistant professor of hematology oncology.

¨       Sian Cotton, PhD, associate professor in the departments of family and community medicine and pediatrics.

¨       Richard Curry, MD, assistant professor of hematology oncology and neurology.

¨       Mary Gaskill-Shipley, MD, professor of radiology.

¨       Christopher McPherson, MD, assistant professor of neurosurgery, director of the division of surgical neuro-oncology and a Mayfield Clinic neurosurgeon.

¨       Luke Pater, MD, assistant professor of radiation oncology.

¨       Myles Pensak, MD, H.B. Broidy Professor and Chairman of the UC Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

¨       Patrick Shumrick, MS, MHS, DPT, assistant clinical professor of otolaryngology.

¨       Stefanie Stevenson, MD, adjunct assistant professor of family medicine and clinical director, integrative medicine, UC Health.

¨       Ronald Warnick, MD, professor of neurosurgery and radiation oncology, the John M. Tew, Jr., MD, Chair in Neurosurgical Oncology, medical director of the UC Brain Tumor Center.

¨       Mario Zuccarello, MD, professor and chairman of the UC Department of Neurosurgery and the Frank H. Mayfield Chair for Neurological Surgery.

The conference is free and includes free parking and a continental breakfast. Participants are asked to register by Oct. 22, 2013, by calling 513-558-8642 or by registering online at  www.ucbraintumorcenter.com/events. An event brochure is available online and can be downloaded as a PDF.

The symposium precedes the fourth annual Walk Ahead for a Brain Tumor Cure on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Proceeds from the walk support brain tumor research and education at the UC Brain Tumor Center. The event will feature a 5-kilometer chip-timed run, beginning at 8 a.m., and a 5-kilometer walk that will follow at 8:45.

The wheelchair-accessible route will start and finish at Sawyer Point Park and will include a stroll across the Purple People Bridge. The celebration following the walk/run will feature music and refreshments.

To register, donate or volunteer, please visit www.walkahead.org. For sponsorship information, contact Gina Weitzel at 513-558-6112 or gina.weitzel@uc.edu.