About the Lecture

This lecture introduces three new ideas about nutrition and health from different vantage points. The three MI’s are a pattern of eating that is consistent with overall wellbeing. The first is the M.I.N.D. diet, a Mediterranean diet pattern with an emphasis on brain health. The second is the microbiome, how a healthy and diverse gut microbiome leads to digestive health and mental wellbeing. The third is healthy mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell that provides vitality for the rest of our bodies. Learn simple and easy to implement ways to enhance health at any stage of the cancer journey.

About the Speaker

Carolyn Katzin, MS, CNS, MNT is an Integrative Oncology Specialist at the Simms/Mann Center where she sees patients for a highly individualized assessment of nutrition and supplements. She completed the Stanford Professional Certificate in Genetics and Genomics from Stanford University in July 2017. Carolyn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition (with honors) at University of London’s King’s College and earned a Master of Science degree in Public Health in Nutritional Science from UCLA. She is the author of several books including “The Everything Cancer Fighting Cookbook” and “The Cancer Nutrition Handbook.

About the Lecture

Primary care physicians play an essential role in the diagnosis, care and survivorship of patients with cancer. They are often the initial point of contact for patients, assist with evaluating symptoms and obtaining screenings and might be the one who delivers the cancer diagnosis. Throughout the treatment trajectory, they may make referrals, coordinate care, and are key team members in managing cancer and non- cancer-related concerns. Particularly when treatment is complete, primary care physicians are integral to helping survivors address effects of their treatment, designing a good follow-up habit and take an active role in making the needed lifestyle changes to promote healthy survivorship. This lecture by UCLA internal medicine and hospitalist specialist Dr. William Carroll addresses how you can best engage with your primary care doctor throughout your cancer experience.

About the Speaker

William Carroll, MD is a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine. As a general internist, Dr. Carroll delivers both traditional primary care and complex primary care as part of the Department of Medicine’s Extensivist program. Dr. Carroll received his MD from St. George’s University and completed both his Internal Medicine Residency and Chief Residency at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. He has a particular interest in innovative models to deliver effective primary care for complex medical populations in a patient-centered manner utilizing a multi-disciplinary team to address the unique healthcare needs of our patients.

About the Lecture

Cellular hydration is of paramount importance to the well-being of cancer patients during treatment and beyond. The body uses water throughout the day that needs to be replenished. During cancer treatment, many of the side effects, vomiting, fever, sweating and diarrhea, can rob the body of crucial water and electrolytes. Cancer treatments can also cause lack of appetite and thirst, sore throat and mouth, and heightened sensitives, leading to dehydration.

Hydration is more complex than simply drinking water. The food you eat determines how the water you are drinking will be stored and how it can help maintain cells for better health. In this lecture, Dr. Howard Murad discusses the importance of hydration & Carolyn Katzin addresses the nutritional value of high-water content foods and the role of hydration during treatment for cancer.

About the Speaker

Howard Murad, MD, FAAD, is a trained pharmacist, associate clinical professor of medicine at UCLA, founder of Murad Skincare Inc. and Murad Inclusive Health Spa, president of the University for Inclusive Health, and a physician who specializes in both inclusive health and dermatology. He is one of the world’s leading skin- and health-care authorities. His Science of Cellular Hydration looks at the ability of cell membranes to hold water within a cell as the fundamental marker of youthful good health and offers insights into health and aging. As the founder of Murad Skincare, he provides oversight to the Murad Inclusive Health Spa, Murad Inclusive Medical Group, and Murad Research Laboratories.

Carolyn Katzin, MS, CNS, MNT is an Integrative Oncology Specialist at the Simms/Mann Center where she sees patients for a highly individualized assessment of nutrition and supplements. She completed Stanford University’s Professional Certificate in Genetics and Genomics in July 2017. Carolyn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition (with honors) at University of London’s King’s College and earned a Master of Science degree in Public Health in Nutritional Science from UCLA. She is the author of several books including “The Everything Cancer Fighting Cookbook” and “The Cancer Nutrition Handbook.

About the Lecture

As the daughter of a physician, Dr. Sunita Puri witnessed the tension between medicine’s impulse to preserve life at all costs and a spiritual embrace of life’s temporality. It was this tension that drew Dr. Puri to palliative medicine – a specialty attempting to translate the border between medical intervention and quality-of-life care.

Palliative care is a multidisciplinary approach to specialized medical and nursing care for people with serious illnesses. It focuses on providing relief from the symptoms, pain, physical stress, and mental stress at any stage of disease. It has been shown to improve the quality of life for both the patient and their family. It is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness and can be provided as the main goal of care or along with curative treatment. Although it is an important part of end-of-life care, it is not limited to that stage. Palliative care helps people and their families clarify their goals of care and provides symptom management, psychosocial and spiritual support.

Literature and stories are incredibly powerful tools to help examine, express and share the experience of serious illness. In this lecture, Dr. Puri will use stories from her book and her clinical practice to discuss the role that palliative medicine can play in easing patient suffering, promoting resilience, and helping to define and strive for quality of life when journeying with cancer. She will also offer useful language to inspire discussions between patients and health care providers about what matters most to us when we live with cancer, and what it means to live a good life through our final days.

About the Speaker

Sunita Puri, MD is the Medical Director of the Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care Service at the Keck Hospital and Norris Cancer Center of the University of Southern California, where she also serves as Chair of the Ethics Committee. She graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Anthropology and studied Modern History at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. She completed medical school and residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, and fellowship training in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Stanford University. In 2018, she received the Etz Chaim Tree of Life Award from the USC Keck School of Medicine, awarded annually to a member of the faculty who, in the eyes of the campus community, models and provides humanistic and compassionate care.

As a clinician-educator, Dr. Puri believes that teaching primary palliative medicine across medical disciplines and to all levels of trainees is essential to meet the growing need for palliative medicine in our country. She is committed to developing creative approaches to teaching advanced communication skills and symptom management. In her clinical practice, she has a particular interest in palliative medicine for cardiac, surgical and ICU patients, and in developing educational curricula for surgeons and cardiologists on the earlier integration of palliative medicine into their patients’ care. Dr. Puri’s research and teaching interests also include clinical ethics. She is a member of Keck Hospital’s Ethics Committee and the Humanities and Ethics Curriculum Committee for the medical school. She teaches Advanced Clinical Ethics  to second-year medical students at the Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Puri also writes creative nonfiction and her work has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and JAMA – Internal Medicine.

She is the author of the memoir “That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour,” a meditation on impermanence and the role of medicine in helping us to live and die well, arming readers with information that will transform how we communicate with our doctors about what matters most to us.

About the Lecture

Many cancer patients exposed to a variety of cancer therapies complain of decreased cognitive efficiency that has often been attributed to chemotherapy. Cognitive complaints are common both during and after cancer treatments. This syndrome of cognitive complaints and difficulties is called Cancer Related Cognitive Impairment or CRCI, commonly referred to as “chemo brain” or “chemo fog.” For a subset of cancer survivors, these complaints are persistent and result in difficulties that interfere with their everyday activities. In this lecture, Dr. Ercoli presents an update on potential causes of CRCI and the latest research on strategies and interventions to counter cancer-related cognitive dysfunction.

About the Speaker

Linda M. Ercoli, PhD, is a Health Sciences Clinical Professor and the Director of Geriatric Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA Semel Institute. She is a clinical psychologist with expertise in neuropsychology, aging, and cognitive remediation. Her research activities involve studying the use of neuropsychological tests in conjunction with brain imaging for the early detection and prediction of dementia. Dr. Ercoli has also been active in developing cognitive enhancement intervention programs for older adults with CRCI, age-related cognitive decline and mild cognitive disorders.

About the Lecture

For at least 4,000 years, cannabis has been used for its medical properties by civilizations throughout the world, including the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Indian Hindus, Assyrians, Greeks, Persians, and Romans. For most of history, the effects of cannabis on the human body have not been researched or understood. Then, in the 1990’s, scientists discovered endocannabinoids, the natural cannabis-like molecules produced by the human body, and we learned that cannabis exhibited its effects, in part, by mimicking our endocannabinoids. We now know the endocannabinoid system is involved in a wide variety of processes, including pain, memory, mood, appetite, stress, sleep, metabolism, immune function, and reproductive function.

The cannabis plant produces cannabinoids, which have demonstrated a wide spectrum of potential therapeutic use. For example, synthetic THC (Marinol) is FDA approved for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, and appetite and weight loss related to HIV/AIDS. In addition, early evidence has shown cannabinoids to have a range of effects that may be therapeutically useful, including antioxidant, neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-pain, anti-tumor, anti-psychotic, anti-anxiety, and sleep modulating effects.

In this lecture, Dr. Chen addresses palliative care pain and symptom management, cannabinoid pharmacology, the short and long-term impacts of cannabis use on cognitive and psychological functioning, and potential impacts on the immune system. Dr. Lee Rosen will join him for the Q&A to answer questions about cannabis use for cancer patients.

About the Speaker

Jeffrey Chen, MD, MBA is the Founder and Director of the UCLA Cannabinoid Affinity Group, comprised of over 40 multidisciplinary UCLA faculty. He is a graduate of the specialized dual degree MD/MBA program at UCLA. He has spent the past four years working at the intersection of academia, industry, the nonprofit sector and the government to accelerate cannabis research. He has been invited to speak on the topic of cannabis policy, science, and business at institutions ranging from the RAND Corporation to the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine to TEDx Talks. Dr. Chen is a David Geffen Fellow, UCLA Wolfen Entrepreneurial Award Recipient, U.S. patent holder, and a published author in cancer research. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornell University.

Lee Rosen, MD, FACP is a Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Director of the Drug Development Program and Co-Director, Outpatient Cancer Center Santa Monica. He created and directed the Cancer Therapy Development Program, designed to coordinate translational/clinical research of new cancer treatments. He is also a member of the Hirshberg Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board.