Head of Palliative Care Unit at M.D. Anderson, Texas Medical Center, Houston, TX
Dr. Eduardo Bruera (pdf 2,164 Kb) is a professor of medicine, F.T. McGraw Chair in the Treatment of Cancer and Chair of the
Department of Palliative Care and Rehabiliation Medicine at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Dr. Bruera earned his medical degree at the University of Rosario (Argentina) in 1979. He completed his training in Medical
Oncology at the University of Salvador in Buenos Aires and joined the University of Alberta and the Cross Cancer Institute in
Edmonton (Canada) in 1984. He began a fellowship in supportive care at the National Institute of Canada at the University of Alberta,
followed by an appointment as a professor of oncology and Chair in Palliative Medicine of the Alberta Cancer Foundation. He served
as Director of the Division of Palliative Care Medicine at the University of Alberta and Clinical Director of the Edmonton Regional
Palliative Care Program. He was on faculty in the Department of Medicine and Department of Oncology at the University of Alberta
(1987-1994). In 1994, Dr. Bruera was visiting professor in palliative medicine at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and in 1993,
he was visiting professor of oncology at McGill University.
In 1999 he became Professor of Medicine and the F.T. McGraw Chair in the Treatment of Cancer at The University of Texas M. D.
Anderson Cancer Center (USA). Dr. Bruera has had a strong interest in the development of palliative care around the world. He has
mostly worked on education, clinical development program development, and research in Latin America and the Caribbean. He
collaborated for many years with the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization as regional point for
palliative care and as leader of a number of specific projects. Dr. Bruera has published more than 600 papers, abstracts, and book
chapters. He has trained over the years hundreds of physicians who are currently practicing palliative care around the world. His main
academic interests in palliative care relate to research on the assessment and management of the main symptom problems in patients
with terminal cancer.
Dr. Bruera is recognized as being incredibly prolific. He has published at least 269 journal articles and 42 book chapters. He has
published extensively and received numerous grants during the past 10 years, including one from the Brown Foundation, Inc. and the
National Cancer Institute of Canada. Dr. Bruera has been published in Cancer Treatment Reviews as well as Palliative Medicine. His
research is recognized as innovative and of high quality.
Highlights of his accomplishments include the development of the Edmonton Injector, the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System,
the Edmonton Staging system for cancer pain, the use of opioids and oxygen for control of dyspnea, seminar work with megastrol
acetate for cancer cachexia/anorexia, the subcutaneous route for administration of narcotics, psychostimulants as adjuvants in cancer
patients, further understanding of autonomic failure in advanced cancer, furthering development of hypodermoclysis and proctoclysis
as methods of hydration, and methadone for management of cancer pain. His work includes strategies for managing opioid induced
neurotoxicity and a method of bringing medical rounds to the community, the so-called "Bus Rounds". These are some of the reasons
he is recognized internationally as the premier researcher in Palliative Care.
Previous honors that have been bestowed upon Dr. Bruera are the Clinical Research Award, given by the Edmonton Academy of
Medicine and the Award of Special Recognition, given by the 7th Congress of the European Association of Palliative Care. In 2002
Dr. Bruera received the Distinguished Researcher Award sponsored by NHPCO.
Dr Carlos Centeno Cortés, M.D., PhD.
Full time consultant in Palliative Care,
The Pain Therapy and Palliative Medicine Regional Center,
Los Montalvos Hospital, in Salamanca, Spain.
Dr. Carlos Centeno Cortés first trained as a radiation oncologist at the University Hospital of Valladolid. In
1992, Dr. Centeno did doctoral work on the psychosocial needs of terminally ill patients and in 1999
published a revised version of his study as a monograph. In 1998, he was a Clinical Research Fellow in
palliative care at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, where he worked on Dr. Eduardo Bruera's
unit. Dr. Centeno was six year member of the Board of the Sociedad Española De Cuidados Palliativos
(SECPAL), the Spanish Association of Palliative Care, and editor of its website (www.secpal.com).
Dr. Carlos Centeno Cortés is particularly interested in training professionals in palliative Care and is cochair and academic coordinator of a two-year postgraduate course, Master en Medicina Palliativa,' at the
University of Valladolid. Dr. Centeno has published widely, in both national and international journals, and
was the author of the Directory of Palliative Care Services in Spain in 1997 and 1998.
The work of Dr. Carlos Centeno Cortés has given many contributions for the
development of pallitive care. Recently he has been working to further developing
pallitive care in Europe through activities of the EAPC (European Association of
Palliative Care).
Teresa Stanton Collett
Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas, School of Law, St. Paul, MN
Teresa Stanton Collett graduated with honors from the University of Oklahoma College of Law and began her legal career practicing
as a member of the trusts and estates law section of Crowe & Dunlevy, P.C, in Oklahoma City. During that time she also served on a
joint legislative task force to reform Oklahoma’s guardianship law, and the task force’s efforts resulted in greater statutory protections
for the elderly and people of limited mental capacity in the state. She discovered her vocation as a law professor in 1989, when the
dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Law asked her to serve as a visiting professor in the area of trusts and estates law at
her alma mater. At the end of her visitorship at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Professor Collett accepted an
appointment to the faculty at South Texas College of Law in Houston.
Professor Collett has taught courses in property, professional responsibility, legal limits of medical decision making, constitutional
law, church-state relations, and religion, law and ethics. From 2003 to the present time Professor Collet has taught at the University of
St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, MN. She received the 2004 Service and Community Award. Professor Collett also taught
at South Texas College of Law (1990-2003). She received the 1994 Vinson & Elkins Faculty Achievement Award and the 1991
Student Bar Association Open Door Award. She has served as a visiting professor at the University of Texas School of Law, the
University of Houston Law Center, Washington University (St. Louis) School of Law, University of Oklahoma College of Law, and
Notre Dame Law School.
Professor Collett is a nationally prominent speaker and scholar on issues related to the integration of faith into professional life, and
she has been active in attempts to rebuild the Culture of Life and protect the institutions of marriage and family. As past chair of the
Section of Professional Responsibility of the Association of American Law Schools, Professor Collett continues to address topics
related to the professional responsibilities of lawyers, law faculty, and law students. She is an elected member of the American Law
Institute, and has testified before committees of the United States House of Representatives and before legislative committees in six
states.
Professor Collett has published over forty legal articles and is the co-author of a law casebook on professional responsibility. She
served as the faculty advisor to the South Texas Law Review for ten years and established the nation's first annual symposium on legal
ethics, now a prominent forum for the exchange of ideas between academic and practicing lawyers. Other professional
accomplishements for Professor Collett include: Member of the American Law Institute, Board of Directors for the University Faculty
for Life, Board of Advisors for the Alliance for Marriage, Past Chair for the Association of American Law Schools Section on
Professional Responsibility, Past Board of Directors for the Christian Legal Society, Past Member of the Board of Governors for the
Ave Maria Law School, Past Chair of the Significant Current Legislation Committee, Probate and Trust Division of the American Bar
Association Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law in 1994 and 1995.
Professor Collett is Licensed to practice law before the state courts of Texas and Oklahoma, the Federal District Court for the Western
District of Oklahoma, the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Fifth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits, and the Supreme Court of the
United States.
Dr. Maureen L. Condic
Associate Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Utah, School of Medicine,
Salt Lake City, UT
Dr. Maureen L. Condic received her B.A. in 1982 from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of
California, Berkeley. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Minnesota. Dr.
Maureen Condic currently is an Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine, with
an adjunct appointment in the department of Pediatrics. Since her appointment at the University of Utah in 1997, Condic´s primary
research focus has been the development and regeneration of the nervous system. Her research includes interactions of sensory
neurons with extracellular matrix
In 1999, Dr. Condic was awarded the Basil O´Connor Young Investigator Award for her studies of peripheral nervous system
development. In 2002, she was named a McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Investigator, in recognition of her research in the
field of adult spinal cord regeneration. In addition to her scientific research, Condic participates in both graduate and medical teaching.
She has published and presented seminars nationally on issues concerning science policy and the ethics of biological research. Condic
currently resides in Salt Lake City with her husband and three children.
Dr. Condic is interested in the control of cell specification and neurite outgrowth during the development of the peripheral nervous
system. In contrast to the early specification of CNS neurons by cell-signaling factors, the fates of sensory neurons appear to be much
more plastic, perhaps depending on interactions late in development with target tissues. We have recently shown that sensory neurons
are indeed distinct prior to target enervation, showing consistent differences in gene expression that are predictive of their ultimate
fates. Moreover, different sub-classes of sensory neurons have strikingly different abilities to interact with matrix proteins in culture
prior to innervating their targets. Current work on this project is directed towards identifying the cell-signaling factors that are
involved in fate determination in the periphery.
Embryonic sensory neurons are unusual in that they are able to extend neurites quite efficiently in extracellular environments that do
not support the migration of other motile cell types. Recent work in the laboratory has shown that embryonic sensory neurons are able
to compensate for inhibitory or weakly growth-promoting substrata by adjusting their expression of receptors for growth-promoting
matrix molecules (receptors of the integrin class). Regulated integrin expression may be required for neurons (and possibly for other
invasive cell types) to migrate into diverse tissues. We are currently investigating the contribution of integrin regulation to the
development and regeneration of sensory neurons. An exciting suggestion from this work is that the regenerative failure of adult CNS
neurons may be in part due to changes in integrin expression associated with the maturation of neurons to an adult phenotype. Recent
work from our laboratory has demonstrated that the regeneration of adult neurons in culture can be greatly improved by transgenic
integrin expression. We are currently expanding these findings to more sophisticated in vitro and whole animal models of adult
regeneration.
Recently we have also begun to characterize the migration of a second ÒinvasiveÓ embryonic cell type, the neural crest, to determine
whether integrin modulation is a general feature of highly migratory cells. We have shown that neural crest cells also modulate
integrin expression to maintain efficient motility across a wide range of environments. Interestingly, neural crest from different
regions of the body with different developmental fates have different patterns of motility and integrin regulation, suggesting that cell
fate and cell migration are developmentally linked. We are currently investigating the mechanisms of integrin regulation in crest and
the contribution of this regulation to crest development and specification.
Dr. Condic is extensively published in the aforementioned areas. Her work offers great contributions for ethical issues which deal
with trying to define the beginning and end of human life.
Dr. Patrick Lee
Professor of Philosophy, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Steubenville, OH
Dr. Patrick Lee received his B.A. from the University of Dallas in 1974, his M.A. from Niagara University
in 1977 and his Ph. D. from Marquette University in 1980. He is currently a Professor at the Franciscan
University of Steubenville (1996-2005). Previously, he was an Associate Professor for 11 years at the
University of St. Thomas and the Franciscan University (1984-1995). Dr. Lee also served as an Assistant
Professor at the University of St. Thomas (1981-1984), as an Instructor & Assistant Professor (promoted to
Asst. Prof. in 1980) at St. Francis de Sales College, Milwaukee (1978-81), as a Teaching Assistant at
Marquette University (1976-78), as a High School Teacher at Bishop Lynch High School, Dallas (1975-76)
and as a Teaching Assistant at Niagara University (1974-75). Dr. Lee is a member of the American
Catholic Philosophical Association and the Society of Christian Philosophers.
Dr. Lee’s work has been extensively published, including his book Abortion and Unborn Human Life, his
many articles in refereed journals and books, including Faith and Reason, The Thomist, Theological
Studies, Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, New Scholasticism, Linacre
Quarterly, Abortion: A New Generation of Catholic Responses, Rational Faith: Catholic Responses to
Reformed Epistemology, Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars, Encyclopedia of Catholic Doctrine,
International Philosophical Quarterly, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, American Journal of
Jurisprudence, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, God Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents
God, Philosophy and Bioethics. His most recent articles in Popular Journals appeared in National Review
Online, The New Atlantis and First Things. Dr. Lee has also partaken in several book reviews.
Some recent talks given by Dr. Lee include: "The Moral Status of the Human Embryo," (University of
Illinois at Chicago, February 3, 2002), "Sexual Ethics and the Catholic Physician," (Annual Meeting of the
Catholic Medical Association, Pittsburgh, February 22, 2002) "The Pro-Life Argument from Substantial
Identity," (The Olaf Tollefsen Lecture at St. Anselm’s College, November 14, 2002), "Are There
Exceptionless Moral Norms?" (University of Illinois at Chicago, February 21, 2003), "In Favor of a Total
Ban on Human Cloning," (Formal Debate at Boston University, School of Journalism, April 2, 2003),
"Embryo-Killing and Stem Cell Research," (Niagara University, February 7, 2005) and "End of Life
Decisions: Ordinary and Extraordinary Care," (Catholic Medical Association of Pittsuburgh, May 15,
2005). Dr. Lee is currently working on a book entitled "Dualism and Contemporary Ethical Issues,"
treating the nature of the human person, abortion, euthanasia, sex ethics and drug-taking.
Dr. Janet Smith
Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Issues, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI
Dr. Janet E. Smith is the Chair of Life Ethics and a Professor of Moral Theology at Sacred Heart Major
Seminary in Detroit. She is the author of Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later and editor of Why
Humanae Vitae Was Right: A Reader and many articles on ethical and bioethics issues. Over 700,000
copies of her tape, "Contraception: Why Not?" have been distributed. She taught for nine years at the
University of Notre Dame and twelve years at the University of Dallas. She speaks nationally and
internationally on several issues, especially the Catholic Church's teaching on sexuality. She is serving a
second term as a consultor to the Pontifical Council on the Family
Dr. Smith taught for nine years at the University of Notre Dame and twelve years at the University of
Dallas. She speaks nationally and internationally on the several issues, especially the Catholic Church's
teaching on sexuality. She has received the Haggar Teaching Award from the University of Dallas, the
Prolife Person of the Year from the Diocese of Dallas, and the Cardinal Wright Award from the
Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. She has recently returned from a series of talks given in South Africa
and Zimbabwe.
Dr. Smith gave the following talks: "Is Organ Transplantation Ethical," Knights of Columbus, Swarz Creek, MI, Nov. 2; "Evangelium
Vitae, the Right to Privacy, and the Life Issues," Maria Law School, Ann Arbor, MI, Oct. 29; "Aquinas and Luther on Marriage and
Sex," keynote address at the Aquinas and Luther Conference at Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, NC, Oct. 21; Respondent on panel
about stem cell research, Catholic University of America, Oct. 5; "Artificial Nutrition and Hydration," St. Joseph Hospital, Pontiac,
MI, Sept. 24; "Update on NFP Promotion," Respect Life Office Brunch, Sacramento, CA, Sept. 21; "Should the Patient Call the
Shots?" for the Bishop's Forum, Sacramento, CA, Sept. 21. Talks on "Humanae Vitae and the Culture of Life," Georgetown
University, Washington, DC, Nov. 16; Holy Cross Parish, Batavia, IL, Nov. 12-13; TV for Renewal Ministries with Ralph Martin,
Oct. 27; priests from five dioceses, Charleston, SC, Oct. 18; priests of Diocese of Sacramento, Sept. 22 Radio/TV/Print: "What is
Wrong with Contraception," WYRT St. Louis, MO, Nov. 15; TV Taping with Ralph Martin, Oct 27; TV taping on Sex Selection, Oct.
11; "Stem Cell Research" with Theresa Tomeo, Oct. 5; "Religion, Abortion, and Votes," letter to the editor in the Detroit Free Press,
Sept. 20; "Artificial Nutrition and Hydration," Catholic Answers Live, Sept. 17; "Should the Patient Call the Shots in Medical Care?",
Immaculate Heart Radio, Sacramento, CA; More on Humanae Vitae: Al Kresta at Large, Sept. 13; Update on Humanae Vitae, Al
Kresta Live, Aug. 26.
Dr. Marcella Colbert
Dr. Marcella Colbert, MB, MRCPsych, DPM, is Director of the Respect Life Office of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston since 1973.
She took her degrees in Medicine and Psychiatry at University College Dublin in 19768 and 1972, and became a member of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists in 1973. She has studied at the Tavistock Clinic of Humane Relations (London) and Cambridge University.
She has extensive experience as a clinical psychiatrist and as a teacher of Clinical psychiatry to undergraduate and post graduate
physicians. Active since 1969 in pro-life initiatives, she has made numerous presentations at pro-life conferences.
She lives in Houston with her six children.