Lisa Harris, M.D.
Primary Care Physician, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics
Diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome

Lisa Harris, M.D. was born in Oneida, New York, the eldest child and only daughter of the honorable Judge Roy and Mrs. Lucille King. Dr. Harris attended Monroe Jr. Sr. High School and then furthered her education at the University of Rochester, where she received a B.S. in neurosciences.  Later, she attended Morehouse School of Medicine where she received her medical degree. Her training was completed at the Detroit Medical Center in Detroit, MI.  Dr. Harris is boarded in two specialties, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, allowing her to care for both the adult and pediatric populations. Currently, Dr. Harris is in private practice.

Christine Rogers
Health Reporter

Christine is an award winning producer and reporter. She is the recipient of two Edward R. Murrow awards for her investigative journalism work. She was nominated for an Emmy for her documentary on sex offenders and was recently recognized by the Mental Health Association of North Carolina for a series of reports on mental illness. Christine has extensive health reporting experience. She produces and hosts Healthwise on UNC-TV, North Carolina's public broadcasting network. Each month she tackles a different health care topic from diabetes prevention and control to the problem of childhood obesity. Christine also produces health features for Ivanhoe Broadcast News which serves over two hundred stations across the country. She received her undergraduate degree from Syracuse University and her master's from Duke University.

Linda Pikuet

Until her heart attack in January 2004, Linda Pikuet had been a Senior Operations Specialist at Karpus Investment Management, a Rochester, NY-based investment firm. The stressful nature of her job prompted her doctor to recommend that she not return to the job she had held for 16 years.

A graduate of the University of Windsor (Ontario, Canada) with a BA Degree in Sociology, she is married with two children. Since her heart attack, she actively participates in Strong Health's Cardio Rehabilitation  Program and has not returned to work.  She has had no reoccurrences of heart problems.

Eric D. Caine, M.D.
John Romano Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry
University of Rochester Medical Center
Rochester, New York
 
Dr. Caine joined the faculty of the University of Rochester in 1978, following medical school at Harvard, residency training at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and National Institute of Mental Health, and further postdoctoral research at NIMH.  He says he became fascinated with the relationships between organized brain functioning and behavioral disorders.  In addition to his residency, he pursued additional training in neuropsychology and neurology as a means of exploring neuropsychiatry. 

Dr. Caine's early research dealt with Huntington's disease, Tourette's syndrome and, to a lesser extent, Alzheimer's disease.  This led to studies of depression and to the interface between mood disorders and general medical conditions.  Since the late-1980s Dr. Caine, together with colleagues in what now has become the University of Rochester Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, has carried out research to understand the risk factors that lead to suicide, and has worked collaboratively with investigators in the U.S. and internationally to develop new public health and therapeutic approaches for suicide prevention.

Gladys Velarde, M.D.
Director, Strong Women's Heart Program
University of Rochester Medical Center

Cardiologist Gladys Velarde, M.D., serves as associate professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, as well as founder/director of the Women's Heart Program. Dr. Velarde's practice stresses preventive care for women (and men) at risk for cardiovascular disease and early detection of cardiac-related problems. Currently, she is the principal investigator of the PINK (Prothrombotic, INflammatory marKers) study – the first women-only study in female patients with the metabolic syndrome. The study focuses on blood markers that may put women with this syndrome at higher risk for cardiovascular events.

Dr. Velarde received her medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. She completed her residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and fellowships in cardiology at Boston University and Mt. Sinai Hospital. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

Kenneth E. Freedland, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
Washington University School of Medicine

Dr. Freedland is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He has been an investigator and clinical supervisor on numerous observational studies and clinical trials involving depression and related problems in patients with heart disease. Dr. Freedland has participated in more than 160 scientific conference presentations, written or co-authored more than 130 articles for scientific journals, 5 book chapters, and a recently-published book on the assessment and treatment of psychological problems in patients with heart disease. He is a fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, on the Councils of the American Psychosomatic Society and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, on the editorial board of Health Psychology, an Associate Editor of Psychosomatic Medicine, and the Associate Editor for Behavioral Medicine for the Hogrefe series on Advances in Psychotherapy: Evidence-Based Practice.