Get a Load of Expanded Agenda, Speakers List and Topics for THE TUCSON CONFERENCE, Feb. 2 – Sign Up Today!

Instructors for THE TUCSON CONFERENCE, an 8.5 CME event for Southern Arizona area clinicians The final agenda is complete for “THE TUCSON CONFERENCE – A CME Event for the Tucson Community,” open to all Southern Arizona area clinicians on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m, at the Tucson Marriott University Park, 880 E. Second St.

The event, now with 8.5 continuing medical education (CME) credits available (up from 8.0), has been expanded to include participation of Arizona Oncology, El Rio Community Health, Northwest Medical Center and Tucson Medical Center as well as additional physician instructors from the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson.

In addition, residents and fellows at the University of Arizona can attend at no cost. Registration for them is free. For others, the expense is a nominal $50.

See the topics and the agenda (subject to change), under the “New Speakers” section below (or click here for a printable PDF).

This event is preceded by a continental breakfast and registration. A cocktail reception will follow from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Register Today

There are a number of places where you can sign up for the conference online, including:

UA Department of Medicine (add event to your schedule via iCal, MSOutlook, Google or Yahoo! calendar)
UA College of Medicine – Tucson
UA College of Pharmacy
UA Cancer Center
UA Master Calendar
Banner Health
Pima County Medical Society
Arizona Daily Star/Tucson.com

See the event flyer at this link (or click on the image at right).

THE TUCSON CONFERENCE organizers, Drs. Monica Kraft, Robert Berens, Alan Rogers and Robert Segal This conference's chief organizers include, Monica Kraft, MD, professor and chair, UA Department of Medicine, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and South, deputy director, UA Health Sciences Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center, and the Robert and Irene Flinn Endowed Chair of Medicine, University of Arizona; Robert Berens, MD, an anesthesiologist and medical director, Integrative Pain Center, Tucson Medical Center (TMC); Alan Rogers, MD, a physician with El Dorado Internal & Family Medicine and Arizona Community Physicians (ACP), and board member, Abacus Health, an accountable care organization through ACP and TMC; and Robert Segal, MD, associate professor of medicine, Division of Dermatology, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson and South.

New Speakers

In all, eight new physicians have been added to the lineup and one (Jason R. Wild, MD, assistant professor, UA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery) dropped due to a scheduling conflict:

Julie E. Bauman, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Hematology & Oncology, UA College of Medicine – Tucson and Banner – UMC Tucson and South, and associate director for translational research, UA Cancer Center.
David A. Bull, MD, professor of surgery and chief of cardiothoracic surgery in the UA Department of Surgery and at Banner – UMC Tucson, as well as the UA Sarver Heart Center Jack G. Copeland Endowed Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Michael Drummond Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson.
Patrick Chiasson, MD, Northwest Medical Center/Northwest Allied Bariatric and Foregut Surgery, is a general surgeon with fellowship training in advanced laparoscopic surgery and extensive experience in four surgical weight loss options — gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, duodenal switch and intragastric balloon procedure. Dr. Chiasson is board certified with the American Board of Surgery and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Canada), and accredited by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. He has numerous publications to his credit that address such issues as minimally invasive surgery techniques and outcomes, health policy, and medical ethics and health law. His particular surgical interests include advanced laparoscopic and endoluminal techniques to manage colorectal diseases, solid organ diseases, and conditions involving the esophagus and stomach including surgical management of morbid obesity. Dr. Chiasson earned his medical degree at McGill University in Montreal, interned at Royal Columbian Hospital in Vancouver, completed his general surgery residency at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and did his fellowship at the University of Toronto Centre for Minimally Invasive Surgery. He also holds a master’s degree from the Institute for History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Leonard “Len” Ditmanson, MD, chief medical officer for America's Rehab Campus (ARC), an opiate addiction treatment and rehab center; founder of the SUN Clinic, a women’s addiction treatment center; and co-founder of the Tucson Medical Center Perinatal Substance Abuse Treatment Coalition. Dr. Ditmanson also has served on the Arizona Governor’s Taskforce for Substance Abuse. With 30-plus years in Tucson, his practice experience includes infectious disease, general internal medicine, hospital medicine and sports medicine. He served as medical director for 12 years at COPE Community Services, the largest opioid treatment program in Arizona. Dr. Ditmanson has received numerous awards in his career, including for teaching at the UA College of Medicine and for his community service. His most distinguished awards, he notes, are World Series rings as the team physician for the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks. He also served as medical director for the El Tour de Tucson bicycle race since 1995, the Accenture Match Play PGA event (2007-14), and the Tucson Classic Golf Tournament.
Jason DuPont, MD, a board-certified dermatologist, fellowship trained Mohs surgeon and assistant clinical professor in the UA Division of Dermatology at the UA Department of Medicine/Banner – UMC North. He splits his time between the UA Cancer Center and the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System in Tucson, and is actively involved in teaching medical students and residents at both venues. Additionally, he performs Mohs surgery in private practice with Associated Dermatologists PC, in Tucson and Green Valley, Ariz.
Deborah Meyers, PhD, professor of medicine, co-chief, Division of Genetics, Genomics and Precision Medicine, UA Department of Medicine, and co-director, Division of Pharmacogenomics, UAHS Center for Applied Genetics and Genomic Medicine.
Jonathan E. “Jon” Schwartz, MD, of Arizona Oncology, has a special interest in thoracic and genitourinary oncology and malignant hematology. During his professional career, Dr. Schwartz has served as an assistant clinical lecturer at the University of Arizona, attending physician in the UA Cancer Center, and as a research assistant at Likoff Cardiovascular Institute at Hahnemann University in Philadelphia. He is a member of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons and was honored with the Mary DeLeo Prize for special achievement in cancer research by the Temple University School of Medicine and as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Society. Dr. Schwartz is currently the head of the Arizona Oncology Pharmacy Therapeutics committee. His past appointments have included serving as president of the Arizona Oncology Joint Policy Board and also serving on the board of directors for the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Parent Aid.
Scott W. Wilson, MD, is an adult medicine internist at El Rio Community Health Center and St. Mary’s Hospital with a special clinical interest in hepatitis C. He received his medical degree from University of California San Diego School of Medicine and has been in practice for nearly 30 years. After earning his medical degree, he did his internship and residency training at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif. In 2014, he was named Internist of the Year by the Arizona Chapter of the American College of Physicians for his volunteer work at a hospital in Haiti and his hepatitis C clinic at El Rio Community Health Center at 839 W. Congress St.

Questions? For more information, please contact Jill Conway, TEL: (520) 906-1030 | FAX: 866-233-1707 | EMAIL: jill@detailmgmt.com

Updated Agenda

What follows is the latest agenda for THE TUCSON CONFERENCE (subject to change):

[Click here for printable PDF version.]

Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019
MORNING SESSION | 8 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. (Continental Breakfast/Registration: 7-8 a.m.)

8-8:30 a.m. — “Save Lives and Prevent Readmissions! Outpatient Management of Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction” | Nancy K. Sweitzer, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, chief of the UA Division of Cardiology, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson & South, and director of the UA Sarver Heart Center
8:30-9 a.m. — “Thoracic Aortic Disease” | David A. Bull, MD, professor of surgery, chief of Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson
9-9:30 a.m.: “Heart and Lung Transplants – Surgical Aspects” | Scott D. Lick, MD, professor of surgery and surgical director, Heart and Lung Transplant Program, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson
9:30-10 a.m. — “Lung Transplants in 2019 from a Medical Perspective” | Steven R. Knoper, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine (PACCS); co-medical director, Lung Transplant Program, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson
10-10:15 a.m. — BREAK
10:15-10:45 a.m. — “Overview and Updates on Osteoporosis” | Edwin M. Aquino, MD, clinical assistant professor of medicine, Division of Rheumatology, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson and South; and member, UA Arthritis Center
10:45-11:15 a.m. — “Updates in Allergy/Immunology – Emerging Diagnoses and Breakthrough Therapeutics” | Tara Carr, MD, associate professor of medicine, PACCS, and ear, nose and throat care, Department of Otolaryngology; director, Adult Allergy Program, and director, Allergy and Immunology Fellowship Program, PACCS, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson and South
11:15-11:45 a.m. — “Should You Have Your (or Your Patient's) Genome Sequenced? What Will You Learn?” | Deborah A. Meyers, PhD, professor of medicine; co-chief, Division of Genetics, Genomics and Precision Medicine, UA College of Medicine – Tucson; co-director, Division of Pharmacogenomics, UAHS Center for Applied Genetics and Genomic Medicine
11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. — “Lung Cancer Update 2019” | Jon Schwartz, MD, head of the Pharmacy Therapeutics Committee, Arizona Oncology
12:15-12:45 p.m. — “Community Health Centers and the Hepatitis C Cascade of Care” | Scott Wilson, MD, internist and director, Hepatitis C Clinic, El Rio Community Health Center
12:45-1:15 p.m. — LUNCH BREAK

AFTERNOON SESSION | 1:15 – 5:30 p.m.

1:15-1:45 p.m. — “What’s New in Diabetes” | Merri L. Pendergrass, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, UA College of Medicine – Tucson, and pharmacy practice science, UA College of Pharmacy; director, Adult Diabetes Program; clinical chief, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson and South
1:45-2:15 p.m. — “Bariatric Surgery: The Surgical Management of Diabetes” | Patrick Chiasson, MD, Northwest Allied Bariatric and Foregut Surgery
2:15-2:45 p.m. — “Pancreatic Transplant” | Robert C. Harland, MD, professor of surgery and surgical director, Solid Organ Transplantation, UA Department of Surgery, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson and South; vice chair for academic affairs, UA Department of Surgery
2:45-3:15 p.m. — “Medical Ethics” | Barry Morenz, MD, associate professor of psychiatry, UA College of Medicine – Tucson
3:15-3:30 p.m. — AFTERNOON BREAK
3:30-4 p.m. — “The Opioid Epidemic: Diagnosis and Directions for Intervention” | Len Ditmanson, MD, chief medical officer for America's Rehab Campus (ARC), an opiate addiction treatment and rehab center; medical director of the Sun Clinic, a women’s addiction treatment center; and co-founder of the Tucson Medical Center Perinatal Substance Abuse Treatment Coalition
4-4:30 p.m. — “Malignant Skin Diseases” | James E. Sligh, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and chief, Division of Dermatology, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/Banner – UMC Tucson and South; associate director, UA Skin Cancer Institute; and member, UA Cancer Center; and program director, Dermatology, Tucson VA Medical Center/Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS)
4:30-5 p.m. — “Mohs Surgery – Simplified and Demystified” | Jason DuPont, MD, assistant clinical professor of medicine and Mohs surgeon, Division of Dermatology, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/UA Cancer Center/Banner – UMC North and Tucson VA Medical Center/SAVAHCS
5-5:30 p.m. — “Throat Cancer: The Emerging Epidemic” | Julie E. Bauman, MD, MPH, professor of medicine and chief, Division of Hematology and Oncology, UA College of Medicine – Tucson/UA Cancer Center/Banner – UMC Tucson and South; and associate director, Translational Research, UA Cancer Center