Area of Expertise: Rheumatology
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
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Dennis C. Ang, MD
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Dennis C. Ang is a board certified rheumatologist and a clinical scientist whose area of research is in both the pharmacological and non-pharmacological management of persistent pain. Dr. Ang has been the primary investigator of three National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded clinical trials in fibromyalgia. He has approximately 25 publications in peer reviewed journals in arthritis and pain. Dr. Ang has served as an ad hoc reviewer for NIH, and also a reviewer of research abstracts for the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). He is an active member of both the ACR and the American Pain Society.
Faculty Profile, Research and PublicationsArea of Expertise: Obesity
Area of Expertise: Weight Management
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
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Patient Contact: Health On-Call® 1-800-446-2255
Jamy Ard, MD
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Co-Director of Weight Management Center
Ard specializes in obesity and weight management in adults. He has more than 15 years of experience in clinical nutrition and obesity. His research interests include clinical management of obesity and strategies to improve cardiometabolic risk using lifestyle modification. Ard has been conducting research on lifestyle modification since 1995 and has worked on several National Institutes of Health-funded multi-center trials, including Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), DASH-sodium and Weight Loss Maintenance Trial. Currently, he is serving as a member of the Expert Panel on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, which is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of NIH.
Faculty Profile, Research and PublicationsArea of Expertise: Alzheimer’s Disease
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
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Patient Contact: Health On-Call® 1-800-446-2255
Suzanne Craft, PhD
Professor of Internal Medicine, Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine; Research Director of the J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging; and Co-director of the Roena B. Kulynych Center for Memory and Cognition Research
Craft is a neuropsychologist with specialization in neuroendocrinology and neuroscience. Her research has focused on the role of neuroendocrine abnormalities in the development and expression of Alzheimer’s disease. This original line of work has garnered international attention, and Craft is recognized as a leading authority on the role of insulin metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease and aging. Her research recently has been expanded to examine the role of insulin in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s.
Craft received a $7.9 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant in 2011 to lead a multi-center study investigating the use of intranasal insulin in individuals with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s dementia. It was one of two projects selected by the NIH as part of the National Alzheimer’s Plan, a federal initiative to find an effective way to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s by 2025.
Craft’s honors and awards include a MERIT Award from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2010 Zenith Award. She also has been Pfizer Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University and was a featured scientist in the HBO documentary series “The Alzheimer’s Project.” In addition to her extensive research and numerous publications, Craft serves on a number of editorial boards and national review panels and committees.
Area of Expertise: Kidney Disease
Area of Expertise: Minority Health - Internal Medicine/ Nephrology
Area of Expertise: Nephrology
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
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Patient Contact: Health On-Call® 1-800-446-2255
Barry I. Freedman, MD, FACP
John H. Felts, III Professor and Chief, Nephrology
Freedman is an active clinician-researcher whose research focuses on genetic causes of kidney and cardiovascular disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes, particularly in African-Americans; as well as clinical outcomes in chronic kidney disease and after renal transplantation. He has helped Wake Forest Baptist amass one of the world’s largest single-center collections of DNA samples from African-Americans with kidney disease and diabetes. He and colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases reported the role of the APOL1 gene as a major risk factor for kidney failure in African-Americans. Variants in APOL1 contribute to approximately 40 percent of all end-stage kidney disease in this population. Freedman’s research challenged long-held beliefs about hypertension as a cause of kidney disease in African-Americans. His work proved that hypertension often results from primary APOL1-related kidney disease and that hypertension is not the inciting cause of kidney disease. He is listed in Best Doctors in America and US News and World Report’s Top Doctors.
Faculty Profile, Research and PublicationsArea of Expertise: Endocrinology - General
Area of Expertise: Minority Health - Internal Medicine/ Endocrinology and Metabolism
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
Media Office: 336-716-2415 | Media Mobile: 336-480-8599
Patient Contact: Health On-Call® 1-800-446-2255
Kristin G. Hairston, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Internal Medicine-Endocrinology
Hairston's clinical specialties include osteoporosis, diabetes, endocrinology, thyroid disease and pituitary gland disorders. Her research currently focuses on the impact of visceral/abdominal fat accumulation and metabolic disorders (especially type 2 diabetes) among African-American and Hispanic populations.
Faculty Profile, Research and PublicationsArea of Expertise: Infectious Disease - Infections and Vaccines in Older Adults
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
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Kevin P. High, MD, MS
Chair of Internal Medicine
Physician-in-Chief of Wake Forest Baptist Health
In addition to his faculty appointment at Wake Forest Baptist, High is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and is funded for his professional activities by the National Institutes of Health, The John A. Hartford Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, Inc. and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Some of his major research areas include changes in immunity and infection risk in older adults, vaccine effectiveness in seniors, and infections in patients with suppressed immunity particularly transplant recipients. High is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases. He is listed in Best Doctors in America.
Faculty Profile, Research and PublicationsArea of Expertise: Cardiovascular - Heart Disease - Medical Imaging
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
Media Office: 336-716-2415 | Media Mobile: 336-480-8599
Patient Contact: Health On-Call® 1-800-446-2255
W. Greg Hundley, MD
Professor of Internal Medicine - Cardiology and Radiology
Hundley, a cardiologist, was the first in the world to use magnetic resonance imaging to visualize and measure blood flow in the coronary arteries, as well as the first to show that MRI stress testing can identify those at risk of heart attack or dying from a heart attack. He trains and teaches physicians worldwide in MRI. He was awarded the National Institute of Health's "Clinical Associate Physician Award" in 1999 and has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles related to the use of imaging in the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease.
Faculty Profile, Research and PublicationsArea of Expertise: Imaging
Media Contact: Paula Faria pfaria@wakehealth.edu
Media Office: 336-716-1279 | Media Mobile: 336-528-3364
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Dalane W. Kitzman, MD
Professor of Internal Medicine - Cardiology
A cardiologist whose research focuses on heart failure, especially in the elderly, Kitzman's work has been funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the American Heart Association. He was among the first to identify diastolic heart failure as a distinct type of disease. Another research focus is improving echocardiography as a diagnostic tool. Kitzman has served on the editorial board of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, chaired an NIA study section of clinical aging, and is a past president of the Society for Geriatric Cardiology.
Area of Expertise: Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
Media Office: 336-716-2415 | Media Mobile: 336-480-8599
Patient Contact: Health On-Call® 1-800-446-2255
Stephen B. Kritchevsky, PhD
Director, Sticht Center on Aging
Professor, Internal Medicine and Translational Science
Associate Director, Translational Science Institute
Kritchevsky is an epidemiologist specializing in nutrition, chronic disease and physical function in older adults. He has leadership positions in several multi-center observational studies and clinical trials focused on the functional health of older adults including the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders Clinical Trial, the Health Aging and Body Composition Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study – All-Stars Study, and the Look AHEAD Memory and Movement Study. Kritchevsky is the principal Investigator of the Wake Forest Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, one of 13 such centers supported by the National Institute on Aging. He has authored more than 350 publications and has been recognized by Thompson-Reuters as one of the most highly cited researchers in his field. Kritchevsky is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences which is one of the highest impact journals in the field of aging. He is broadly knowledgeable about issues related to health and aging in older adults, with particular expertise in the areas of obesity, body composition and nutrition.
Faculty Profile, Research and PublicationsArea of Expertise: Cancer - Brain
Area of Expertise: Cancer - Pain Management
Area of Expertise: Cancer - Symptom Management
Media Contact: Marguerite Beck marbeck@wakehealth.edu
Media Office: 336-716-2415 | Media Mobile: 336-480-8599
Patient Contact: Health On-Call® 1-800-446-2255
Glenn J. Lesser, MD
Professor of Internal Medicine - Hematology and Oncology
Director, Medical Neuro-Oncology
Lesser’s clinical and research interests include the development of novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of adult malignant brain tumors and symptom management issues experienced by patients with cancer, including cancer-related pain, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, anemia, taste disturbances and anorexia/weight loss.
Recently, Lesser was awarded fellowship in the American College of Physicians. He also served as the elected medical oncology representative on the Society of Neuro-oncology's board of directors and as an appointed member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Scientific Program Committee.
Lesser has served as the principal investigator and lead author of phase I, II and III institutional and cooperative group neuro-oncology and symptom management clinical trials as well as a member of the research team/institutional principal investigator on well over 70 cooperative group and medical center clinical trials.
With his extensive neuro-oncologic clinical trials experience, in collaboration with Waldemar Debinski, M.D., Ph.D., Lesser aims to design effective molecularly targeted combinatorial therapies to improve treatment efficacy and survival in patients with high grade malignant primary brain tumors.