Michael J. Ackerman, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Molecular Pharmacology Consultant, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, Divisions of Cardiovascular Diseases and Pediatric Cardiology Director, Long QT Syndrome/Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic Director, Mayo Clinic Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory President, Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation Mayo Clinic College of Medicine Mayo Clinic 200 First Street, S.W. Rochester, MN 55905

Dr. Ackerman is an associate professor of medicine, pediatrics, and molecular pharmacology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He is also the director of the Long QT Syndrome/Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic and the Mayo Clinic Windland Smith Rice Sudden Death Genomics Laboratory. In 2006, Dr. Ackerman became president of the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation (SADS) whose mission is to increase awareness of the cardiac channelopathies and provide support for families affected by such heritable arrhythmia syndromes, particularly long QT syndrome.

After graduating from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, he received an M.D./Ph.D. at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, the Mayo Medical School, and the Mayo Graduate School in Rochester, Minnesota. He completed residency training in pediatric and adolescent medicine, fellowship training in pediatric cardiology, and postdoctoral training in molecular genetics at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. He joined the Mayo Clinic faculty in 2000. He has an avid interest in the heritable arrhythmia syndromes (cardiac channelopathies) in general and congenital long QT syndrome in particular, as well as postmortem genetic testing for sudden unexplained death in the young including sudden infant death syndrome, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Dr. Ackerman’s two-fold objective with respect to these entities is “to save lives and advance the science.” He draws inspiration and motivation from the patients/families whom he counts it a great privilege to be regarded as their physician.

Dr. Ackerman has served as a mentor to numerous medical students, M.D./Ph.D. candidates and pediatric fellows. This work has led to several Young Investigator and Student Researcher awards for his mentees. In May 2007, Dr. Ackerman will be the 25^th recipient of the distinguished Young Investigator Award from the Society for Pediatric Research. He has been a visiting professor at numerous universities. He serves on numerous scientific advisory committees and is on the editorial board of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm.

In his “other” life, Dr. Ackerman is also a 5^th degree black belt in TaeKwonDo and has had a TaeKwonDo program in continuous operation since 1985. His program was named International Club of the Year in 1990, 1992, and 2000.

Dr. Ackerman and his wife of 18 years (Lisa) have 4 children: Jaeger (13), Nicholas (10), Jens (8), and Grace (3).

Nancy K. Adams Vice President of Finance The Hope Heart Institute 1710 E. Jefferson St. Seattle, WA 98122

Nancy Adams provides finance operations, business planning & analysis and accounting services to The Hope Heart Institute, a non-profit organization located in Seattle. The mission of The Hope Heart Institute is “to serve humanity through cardiovascular research and education. We are dedicated to preventing and treating heart and blood vessel disease, and to improve the physical, emotional and spiritual quality of life for all who are at risk of, or afflicted with, cardiovascular disease.”

NON-PROFIT WORK EMPHASIS: The Hope Heart Institute asked Nancy to join their staff as Director of Finance in March of 2005. Since that time, Nancy has learned a great deal about non-profit accounting and has completed two years of the annual non-profit audit process. Nancy is responsible for financial reporting to the board, government and other legal entities and she manages the daily financial operations of The Hope. Since Nancy has been at The Hope, she has implemented new processes in the areas of Clinical Research, Fixed Assets, and Federal Grant tracking for A-133 Audit Compliance. In the fall of 2005, The Hope created its first Strategic Plan, prior to the development of the Budget, with the leadership of the CEO and with input from Nancy. In addition to her Finance responsibilities, Nancy has a personal interest in cardiac arrhythmia research and education. She participates in Hope fundraising events and in Hope educational programs. Hope management, in support of Nancy’s passion, hopes to add cardiac arrhythmia education to its Teen Take Heart program in 2007.

CORPORATE WORK EMPHASIS: Nancy has extensive experience in Corporate Business Planning and Finance Operations. Nancy was hired by McCaw Cellular Communications in 1993. She spent the next 12 years working in Corporate Business Planning Finance at the HQ Offices of AT&T Wireless Services, in Redmond, WA. She has 11 years of Business Planning & Analysis experience, 16 years of accounting experience and 7 years of people management experience. Her most recent key accomplishment at AT&T Wireless was to manage IT Finance Operations and Business Planning processes for the IT Department with a budget exceeding $1B. In 1999, she implemented a system solution and process to take 2% net 10 discounts which, by the year 2005 saved the company $36M annually. Nancy was a member of many successful teams that saved millions of dollars in tax credits, trained finance employees and successfully completed the acquisition of 19 cellular companies. Nancy supported the following organizations: Product Development, Marketing, National Retail Operations, IT Finance, National Real Estate Operations (120 offices, 7 Call Centers), Mergers & Acquisitions, Billing, Supply Management, Business Security, Fraud and the Controller’s Group (Fixed Assets, Project Costing and SOX Compliance). Nancy was nominated by her internal customers for Circle of Excellence Awards, both as an individual and as a member of Project Teams.

SYSTEMS EMPHASIS: Nancy is familiar with several Financial Accounting Systems, including Oracle, SAGE (MIP) Fund Accounting and MAS90. Nancy served as an Oracle Trainer while at AT&T Wireless.

EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science in Business Management, University of Phoenix.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

Sudden Arrhythmia Death Foundation Board Member and member of patient family support network

The Hope Heart Institute – Volunteer

Nancy’s son Jesse died on May 21, 2003, of Sudden Cardiac Arrhythmia at the age of 21. Nancy joined the SADS Foundation in 2004 and was asked to serve as Secretary/Treasurer of the SADS Foundation Board in 2006.

Robert M. Campbell, MD CMO, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Sibley Heart Center President, Sibley Heart Center Cardiology Division Director of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine Co-Director of Pediatric Sudden Cardiac Arrest Task Force Sibley Heart Center Cardiology 2835 Brandywine Road, Suite 300 Atlanta, GA 30341

Dr. Campbell is the Chief Medical Officer of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Sibley Heart Center, President of Sibley Heart Center Cardiology and Division Director of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine. He is also Medical Director of Project SAVE of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Dr. Campbell graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following his Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship at the University of Michigan in1984, he joined the Pediatric Cardiology Faculty at Vanderbilt University at Nashville, TN. From 1984-1987, he was the Pediatric Cardiac Electrophysiologist at Vanderbilt. Following his move to Atlanta, GA in 1987, he was active in a private pediatric cardiology practice. The merger of the private practice with the Pediatric Cardiology Division from Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine in 1990 allowed him to become Director of Electrophysiology and Pacing for this group. Under his direction, the radiofrequency ablation program was instituted at Egleston Children’s Hospital in Atlanta in 1992 and continues today as one of the largest volume electrophysiology ablation programs in the country.

Dr. Campbell has been a member of NASPE/Heart Rhythm Society since 1991 and a member of the Pediatric Electrophysiology Society since 1988. He served on the original Pediatric Committee for NASPE from 1996-1998. He was named Co-Director of Pediatric Sudden Cardiac Arrest Task Force through the Pediatric Electrophysiology Society, and is working with the Heart Rhythm Foundation/Society to direct a Pediatric Sudden Cardiac Arrest Task Force in conjunction with several other professional organizations (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association, Sudden Arrhythmic Death Society Foundation, Cardiac Arrhythmia Research and Education Society, etc.)

Since 2003, he has served as a member on the Scientific Advisory Board for the SADS Foundation. In 2004, he started as the Medical Director for Project SAVE (Sudden Cardiac Death, Awareness, Vision, and Education) at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Project SAVE is a local Atlanta and statewide Georgia initiative to prevent Pediatric Sudden Cardiac Death. Project SAVE provides a no-cost consultation to individual schools and school districts for implementation of effective AED programs throughout the State of Georgia.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has been named as the 35^th best company to work for in America from Fortune magazine. Child magazine survey ranked Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta as the number 3 pediatric hospital system in the country, and our cardiac service line as the number 3 program

Dr. Campbell lives in Atlanta with his wife Rita. They have 4 children. In his “spare” time, he likes to play golf and go hiking.

Marjorie Currey Educator Lecturer; Free-lance Writer 8818 Farquhar Circle Dallas, Texas 75209

Marjorie Currey brings to her book reviews insights and experiences that she has gained from her education, her travels, and other life experiences. As a teacher and counselor in the DISD and as one of the first foster parents for Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital, Marjorie began her adult life with an interest in young people that she maintained through the thirteen years she taught seniors at Hockaday. Now it is her five grandchildren who focus that interest.

Marjorie has also been interested in teaching adults. She has taught classes for adults seeking to enter the priesthood in the Episcopal Church, and she has taught both clergy and lay people in the United Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal churches. She continues to lead a study group at St. Michaels and All Angels Episcopal Church and to teach classes at the First United Methodist Church in Decatur, Texas. For over thirty years Marjorie has taught in the Adult Education program at SMU teaching a different course each fall and each spring. Often the courses concern literature or Islam and the Middle East where Marjorie has spent considerable time

Marjorie has been a consultant to a private foundation and to private businesses in Dallas. She has served on numerous boards in Dallas—most recently for the Callier Center for Communication Disorders, the Meadows Museum Executive Committee, and LIFT (Literacy Instruction for Texas). She recently served on the board of the SMU Libraries. Marjorie is a member of the Dallas Woman's Club, The Decatur, Texas Woman's Club, the Marianne Scruggs Garden Club, the Alumnae Club of Pi Beta Phi, the Dallas Needlework Guild and Chapter K of PEO.

She and her husband, Fred, travel extensively over as much of the world as they can, fulfilling their mutual interests in art and wildlife. They regretted having to cancel a trip recently to Ethiopia and hope to go another time. The Curreys maintain three homes: one in Dallas, a ranch in Wise County where they breed American Saddlebred Horses, and an almost 100 year old house on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in Iowa.

She would particularly like to help the SADS Foundation in the following ways:

· To communicate the importance of the foundation’s work to its natural constituencies – primarily the affected families and the associated medical community

· To become fully conversant with the objectives of the foundation in order to become part of a creative process to achieve those objectives.

· To come to understand fully the work of the staff in order to provide support to the executive.

Susan Etheridge, MD Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Utah Director of EKG Laboratory, Primary Children’s Medical Center Director of Cardiology Fellowship training program Primary Children’s Medical Center 100 N. Medical Drive, Suite 1500 Salt Lake City, UT 84113-1100

Dr. Etheridge is an associate professor of pediatrics at the the University of Utah and Primary Children's Medical Center. She is also the director of the pediatric cardiology fellowship program. In 2006, Dr. Etheridge became vice president of the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation (SADS) whose mission is to increase awareness of the cardiac channelopathies and provide support for families affected by such heritable arrhythmia syndromes, particularly long QT syndrome.

After graduating from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, she received an M.D. from Rush University Medical School. From there she moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and completed a pediatric residency at the University of Minnesota. She also completed her pediatric cardiology fellowship and electrophysiology fellowship at the University of Minnesota. She then moved to Utah and joined the faculty at the University of Utah. Soon after arriving in Utah it became clear that LQTS was an important problem in the local population. and something she needed to know and care about. She contacted Dr Michael Vincent and gained from his vast experience in the evaluation and management of these patients. Her research has focused in part on the recognition and management of LQTS in children and young adults. She has had the good fortune to have a rewarding working relationship with Dr. Vincent and also Dr. Martin Tristani whose knowledge and insight on the function of the potassium channels has helped her expand her understanding of LQTS and the other channelopathies.  

Dr. Etheridge enjoys the many activities available in Utah including hiking, skiing and biking. She shares these with her husband (of only 6 months) Michael and her step children Sierra and Jackson and their 2 dogs Ginger and Lilly.

Denise Falzon Realtor 5880 Seville Circle Orchard Lake, MI 48324

Denise joined our Board in 2002. She has ‘worked’ for the SADS Foundation since she contacted us in 1993 after losing her 19-year-old son, Brian. Her volunteer efforts for SADS have been tireless—both in fund raising and in awareness activities. Even though she is a full time Realtor, Denise describes herself as “an activist” and holds different board positions with numerous professional, educational, charitable and social organizations.

“Thirteen years ago, my life as I knew it crumbled when my ‘healthy’ nineteen year old son, Brian, suddenly collapsed and died. Cause of death is inconclusive, but sudden arrhythmia due to LQTS was suggested due to a fainting episode that was misdiagnosed a year earlier. I have dedicated myself into raising awareness for SADS, as I truly believe my son, Brian, would be here with us now if he was diagnosed correctly. I do this in my son’s name so that he may never be forgotten. I pray and hope that in educating the public and medical professionals about the symptoms and warning signs of LQTS, we will be able to stop the senseless deaths of other young people.”

Laurie Smith Hooper Public Relations & Government Affairs 208 Deer Park Dr. Nashville, TN 37205

Laurie Smith Hooper, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, currently resides in Nashville with her husband Steven and two children. She is a graduate of St. Mary’s Episcopal High School in Memphis as well as the University of Mississippi where she graduated with a BA in Marketing and minor in Spanish.

Most recently Laurie was a principal at the Ingram Group in Nashville, a public relations and government affairs firm where she tackled a wide variety of client work, including public and media relations, event management, materials production, fundraising and grassroots community campaigns. Her client experience includes the Tennessee Economic Partnership, Humanities Tennessee and Krispy Kreme among others. Prior to the Ingram Group, Laurie was with BBDO South, an advertising agency in Atlanta. There she worked with all aspects of the agency from the creative team and media planners to production. Her clients included Delta Airlines and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Laurie is an active board member of the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere where currently serves on the strategic planning committee and chairs the annual 5k run. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of St. Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis.

In May 2005 Laurie suddenly and tragically lost her sister Wendy to Long QT Type 2 after being misdiagnosed for 18 years with a mild seizure disorder. At the young age of 35, Wendy was a loving and wonderful daughter, sister, wife and mother. Since this tragedy Laurie and her family have discovered through genetic testing that Laurie, her children, a nephew and two siblings also have LQT2. As her family has been so deeply impacted, Laurie’s goal along with her entire family is to work to make a real difference – to help increase awareness nationally and educate the public to encourage prevention and ultimately to save lives.

Katherine Timothy Scientist 2978 North Hwy. 38 Brigham City, UT 84302

Katherine Timothy has over 20 years of dedicated service in the fields of cardiology and human molecular genetics. Her commitment to scientific and medical research is proven by her significant contributions to further knowledge and understanding, specifically regarding the long QT syndrome and other arrhythmia causing disorders.

Katherine is one of the original pioneers of LQT genetics, having developed the first remarkably large LQT family pedigree for genetic linkage studies in 1989. Katherine’s expertise in genealogy and family pedigree expansion brought her to the attention of Dr. G. Michael Vincent and into the field of cardiac medicine. With her earlier graduate education in Zoology and pre-medicine, she studied and became proficient in reading and evaluating thousands of ECGs, stress tests and holtor monitor recordings, assigning clinical phenotypes and entering patients into designated genetic studies for whom the original genes of KVLQT1, hERG, SCN5A, minK, MiRP1 and CACNA1C were discovered within the laboratory of Dr. Mark Keating. Katherine also identified, evaluated and phenotyped all members of the large family wherein the Jervell and Lange-Nielson syndrome gene and pattern of inheritance was ultimately secured; additionally, she contributed all of the phenotypic characterization of patients wherein a specific arrhythmia susceptibility was discovered within the African American population.

Katherine’s humanitarian contributions are also of note, being one of the original co-founders and secretary/treasurer for 15 years of the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation. She also provided leadership and assistance in the founding of the Periodic Paralysis and the Hearts of Pediatric Electrophysiologists Foundations, and has served as a member of the Board of Directors of both.

Katherine is married to Michael Timothy, and together they have 2 children and 6 grandchildren.

Martin Tristani-Firouzi, M.D. Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Utah University of Utah, CVRTI 95 South 2000 East Salt Lake City, Utah 84112

My laboratory is interested in the structural basis of K+ channel function and the cellular mechansims that underlie suscetibility to arrhythmia. Specifically, the lab is focused on understanding how voltage-gated K+ channels “sense” the surrounding membrane potential and the mechanism(s) whereby voltage-sensing is coupled to channel opening and inactivation. A second major area of interest centers upon inherited arrhythmia syndromes and characterizing the cellular mechanisms that predispose affected individuals to lethal arrhythmias.

Chris Anderson, M.D. Pediatric Electrophysiologist, Sacred Heart Hospital West 101 8^th Avenue Spokane, WA 99220

Charles Christian (“Chris”) Anderson, MD was born in Omaha Nebraska and moved to Texas during his late childhood. In 1993, he married Dr. Seiko Miki, whom he met in medical school.

Chris’s clinical interests include arrhythmia management, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, congenital Long QT syndrome, and management of cardiomyopathy. Dr. Anderson is board certified in both pediatrics and pediatric cardiology. His extracurricular interests include skiing, hiking, mountaineering, reading, movies, dining out, and spending time with his wife, Seiko, and sons Alex and Luke.

And of course, Chris is the heart and soul of the Climb to Conquer SADS!