Speaker:  Dr. Marcus Stoodley

Date: October 8, 2016

Time:  8:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Breakfast will be available beginning at 7:45 AM)

Location:   Buffalo Marriott
Salon B
1340 Millersport Highway
Amherst, NY 14221

RSVP :   716-633-7022  OR   Mark_Kane@ColumnOfHope.org

Syringomyelia and Chiari Malformation are progressive neurological disorders once considered to be orphan diseases.   Typical symptoms of these disorders are severe headaches, neurological pain, weakness, numbness and paralysis. With the advent and increased availability of the MRI, we now know that these disorders affect over 300,000 Americans.  Laura Kane-Punyon is among those affected.

While these disorders were first discovered over 470 years ago, the medical community understood very little.  As a result, neither doctors nor patients had access to reliable treatments.  In fact, many times treatments accelerated the progression of the disorders.

After negotiating the SM/Chiari medical community for 10 years, Mark Kane identified need for an organization to be solely dedicated to supporting medical research of the disorders.   In 2004, Mark led the charge, along with the Kane Family and the board of directors, to found Column of Hope.

Since then, the organization has raised nearly $750,000 with 99% of the proceeds going to medical research.  Volunteers and The Kane Firm have donated their time in order to minimize administrative costs. As a result, Column of Hope’s funds supported 22 peer reviewed studies.  Column of Hope’s research has arguably made more progress in understanding the physiology of the disorders over the last 10 years than the combined 460 years prior.

For the last five years, Column of Hope has taken its efforts one step further by bringing renowned physicians and researchers present the most recent discoveries to Buffalo physicians. The U.B. School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences designates these presentations for a maximum of 4.0 AMA PRA Category 1 credits TM.

This year, on October 8th at 8 AM, Dr. Marcus Stoodley will be presenting the advances in syringomyelia and Chiari diagnosis and treatment.  Stoodley is a Professor of Neurosurgery at the Australian School of  Advanced Medicine, Macquarie University, winner of the 2012 John Mitchell Crouch  Fellowship; the premier research award of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and leader in Syringomyelia & Chiari Malformation physiology research.

Physicians in attendance will present complex cases for a round table discussion.  This will offer Buffalo physicians an opportunity to utilize international expertise to develop the best possible treatment plan for patients right here in Buffalo.

If you are a physician or physician’s assistant and interested in attending, please RSVP at 716-633-7022 or Mark_Kane@columnofhope.org