Speaker Bios 2013
Confirmed speakers as of January 2013
Arlen D Meyers, MD, MBA
Professor and President for Society Physician Entrepreneurs
Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Presentation: The Global Practice Checklist: "How to build an International Practice"
Arlen D Meyers, MD, MBA is an award-winning professor of Otolaryngology (Ear Nose and Throat Surgery) ,Dentistry and Engineering at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical campus and a bioentrepreneur. He is the cofounder of 3 companies, including www.medvoy.com , a healthcare information platform for those seeking information to find global quality care at an affordable price, and www.careconnectix.com a global healthcare social networking site. He is an advisor to several companies and an advisor to the healthcare group at www.headwatersmb.com, a Denver based investment bank.Dr. Meyers is also the founding CEO and President of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs and a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Medical Tourism Research and the International Board of Medicine and Surgery. He is a Fulbright Scholar and a former Harvard-Macy Fellow.
Ilan Geva, MA
Ilan Geva & Friends,Founder
Presentation: Adapting Consumer Behavior Models in Medical Tourism Marketing
Ilan is an international branding expert, who teaches, practices and implements all brand touchpoints. He joined Ogilvy & Mather as Design Head and Creative Director in Johannesburg, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Later he held senior creative positions with Leo Burnett and Frankel & Co. (now ARC Worldwide) his other positions were: VP Exec. Creative Director at Kragie/Newell (now Integer) Des Moines, and VP Creative Director Gage Marketing, Minneapolis. He currently runs Ilan Geva & Friends, a brand communications consultancy in Chicago, and serves as the U.S. Narrator of the European firm brandstory.His specific tourism, travel and hospitality experience includes: Israel Ministry of Tourism, Turkey Tourism, South African Tourism, British Tourist Authority, Mexico Tourism Board, State of Iowa Tourism, Lisbon Convention Bureau, United Airlines, Korean Air, Alitalia, Sheraton Hotels, King David Hotel, Doubletree Hotels, Avis, American Express Travel Services, and more.
He currently teaches Branding at the University of Chicago, and Advertising, Branding, Consumer Behavior, and copywriting and advertising at DePaul University. He taught Introduction to Design at the School of Hospitality Management at Kendall College, Integrated Marketing Communications, Interactive advertising and International Advertising at Columbia College Chicago, Brand Planning & Message Strategy at Roosevelt University and Packaging Design at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
Farhan Taghizadeh, M.D.
Lifestyle Lift, Medical Director
Presentation: Telesthetics The future of "Cosmetic Medicine"
Dr. Taghizadeh earned a bachelor's degree from Yale University, and a medical degree from the Penn State College of Medicine. He completed an intensive residency in Otolaryngology (head and neck surgery) at the University of Rochester (New York), and then a fellowship at the University of Bern, Switzerland, through the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He is double board-certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and the American Board of Otolaryngology, which includes a Facial Plastic Surgery specialty.Dr. Taghizadeh currently serves as Medical Director for Innovation for Lifestyle Lift.
Dr. David G. Vequist IV,PhD
Director, Center for Medical Tourism Research
Presentation: Applying Academic Principles for Medical Tourism Marketing Research
Dr. Vequist was one of the first academic researchers to focus on Medical Tourism and now boasts a robust slate of research on the business and markets of Medical Tourism. His experience includes: keynote speaker at conferences worldwide; a featured author with many papers and articles about medical tourism trends; interviews in a variety of media around the world; founder and co-Editor of the first academic journal devoted to Medical Tourism (starting this year); Chair of the first ever Medical Tourism Research conferences; and leading researcher on several projects for countries, regions, facilities, and providers. In the past, Dr. Vequist was an executive with HCA managing the human resources for a large subsidiary (Methodist Healthcare) in San Antonio, Texas, USA and prior to that was a consultant with Ernst & Young LLP. Dr. Vequist is currently expanding his research on the impact of Health, Wellness, Dental, Medical and Retirement Tourism.
Marcia C. Inhorn, PhD, MPH,
Presentation: Reproductive Tourism as Medical Tourism,New findings for a new millenium based on my books introduction, Overview of key issues in reproductive tourism, "UNFRIENDLY" legislation and many other driving factors of travel
Marcia C. Inhorn, PhD, MPH, is the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs in the Department of Anthropology and The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. A specialist on Middle Eastern gender, religion, and health, Inhorn has conducted research on the social impact of infertility and assisted reproductive technologies in Egypt, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Arab America over the past 20 years. She has been a visiting the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where she has conducted studies on "Middle Eastern Masculinities in the Age of New Reproductive Technologies" and "Globalization and Reproductive Tourism in the Arab World."She is the author of four books, which have won the AAA's Eileen Basker Prize and the Diana Forsythe Prize for outstanding feminist anthropological research in the areas of gender, health, science, technology, and biomedicine.
Dwight M. Mazzone, CDHC
Dwight M. Mazzone, CDHC is the President of Mazzone & Associates a Health Insurance and Employee Benefits Agency, located in Las Vegas, NV., where the primary focus of the agency is individual and small group health sales and service. He has been active in the sales and service of health insurance and employee benefit plans for over 25 years. Dwight is also a Member of State of NV Task Force for the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, President Nevada State Association of Health Underwriters, NVAHU - PAC Chair - Clark County Association of Health and Underwriters and Founder of The Health Care Summit, where he produced a white paper on Healthcare Reform; which was used by the Administration and Members of Congress as resource material for healthcare reform.
Michael Guiry
Associate Professor of Marketing
Presentation: Marketing Research for Medical Tourism
Michael Guiry is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of the Incarnate Word and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Medical Tourism Research. He has a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Florida, an MBA from Duke University, and a B.S. in Agricultural Business Management and Marketing from Cornell University. His current research interests include medical tourism service quality and brand positioning, retirement tourism, recreational shopping, and cross-cultural consumer behavior. His research has been published in such journals as the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Health Marketing Quarterly, International Journal of Behavioural and Healthcare Research, and International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing.
Georgia Casciato
Founder FACHE
Presentation: Medical Tourism American Style - Inbound & Intrabound Medical travel USA
Georgia Casciato has more than 30 years Success in Helping Health Organizations Strategize, Conceptualize and Actualize Effective Growth and Business Development Strategies. Through her company, Georgia Casciato Healthcare Consulting Inc., she directs multidisciplinary teams of healthcare experts with backgrounds in strategic planning, management, sales and business development, marketing/ market research; traditional advertising/ ecommerce; community outreach; new product development; physician relations, physician and consumer referral development, customer service, team development and technologies. Clients include health systems, stand-alone specialty hospitals, physician groups, EMR & health technology companies, wellness organizations, employers and organizations promoting self-pay health services. Her understanding of the American Healthcare Industry is vast and includes the diverse perspectives of Community Healthcare, Large Regional Health Systems; Professional Healthcare Associations; Global Benefits Consulting; Self-pay healthcare , Employer Cost Containment and Destination Healthcare Business Development. She has participated in and authored articles on international medical tourism events.
Ms. Casciato's background includes Board Positions on numerous national and international health associations . She is a past president of the largest chapter of the American College of Health Executives and is a well-published healthcare business strategist and author; also currently serving on editorial boards of healthcare publications. She was the recipient of a General's coin for her role in assisting the Air Force in Developing an Executive outreach program entitled: "Running an ICU at 30,00 Feet." Most recently, she authored a white paper on Interoperability in Healthcare: the ability of EMRs and other health technologies to communicate effectively to support seamless healthcare delivery.
Dr Vasiliki Moragianni
Director of the International Patient Program at Boston IVF
Presentation: IVF Concierge Services for Medical Tourism
Dr. Vasiliki A. Moragianni, Director of the International Patient Program at Boston IVF, is a native of Greece and graduated from Cornell University with a B.Sc. in Human Biology and Health & Society. She also obtained an M.Sc. degree in Physiology & Biophysics from Georgetown University and then completed 8 years of extensive training from Drexel University College of Medicine, where she received a Medical Humanities Scholar Award and served as Chief Resident in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Abington Memorial Hospital (Temple University School of Medicine) in Philadelphia. She also completed the Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility fellowship at Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.Dr. Moragianni has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, has written eight book chapters and continues to be involved in several clinical and translational research projects. She has been invited to present her research in conferences both in the United States and around the world. Her significant contribution to the fields of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility is illustrated by the many prestigious awards she has received, including the Endocrine Society Outstanding Abstract Award, the ACOG 2nd Prize in Current Clinical and Basic Investigation, the Eleanor Widener Dixon Research Award, the Frobese Scholar Award, the Outstanding Laparoendoscopic Resident Surgeon Award and Teaching Resident Awards.
ImageDr. Moragianni speaks Greek, French, Italian (basic) and Albanian (basic) and is personally available to all her patients via email and cell phone, to help answer their questions and guide their treatment in a highly compassionate and professional manner.
In her spare time, Dr. Moragianni enjoys Greek folk dancing, traveling and spending time with her family.
She sees local patients at the Waltham Center and performs Skype and telephone consultations for long-distance and international patients.
Judy Muller
Professor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Award-winning broadcast journalist Judy Muller is a professor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Previously, she was a correspondent for ABC News for fifteen years, reporting for such broadcasts as World News with Peter Jennings, Nightline and 20/20. From 1980 to 1990, she was a correspondent for CBS News, reporting for the radio network and for the television broadcast Sunday Morning. She is also a commentator for NPR's "Morning Edition" and APR's "Marketplace Money". For the last five years, she has been a contributing correspondent to KCET TV's "SoCal Connected," where her reporting has won numerous honors, including a George Foster Peabody award, a Columbia DuPont, an Emmy and two Golden MICs. Her latest book, about weekly newspapers in America, is entitled "Emus Loose in Egnar: Big Stories from Small Towns" (July, 2011, Univ. of Nebraska Press). She is also the author of "Now This - Radio, Television and the Real World" (Putnam). Muller has also been published in numerous publications, including Sports Illustrated and the New York Times Magazine.