Board Members

Wendy and Keith Wellin Chair in Head & Neck Surgery
Professor and Director, Head and Neck Tumor Center
Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs
Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
Hollings Cancer Center
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC, USA

Louisiana Chapter Representative to the National Board

My husband, Jason, was diagnosed in January 2009 with tongue cancer at age 36. We have two daughters, ages 10 and 5. Jason passed away on June 7, 2010 after a long and courageous 18-month battle. I became involved in every aspect of Jason’s treatment and spent many hours doing research. One very disturbing fact I found was that the statistics in oral tongue cancers have not changed much over the years. That is a travesty to me, that the research has not furthered itself for this type of cancer like it has for so many others.

Chapter Representative, South Carolina

Vice President of Corporate Strategy, UPS

Dr. Epstein graduated from Dentistry in 1976 from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.  He received a certificate in Oral Medicine and Masters' of Science Degree in Dentistry from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA, in 1979

Assistant Professor
Department of Surgery
Division of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Section of Head Neck Surgery
Division of Surgical Oncology
University of Florida College of Medicine - Jacksonville

Former EVP, AAO-HNS
Founding President, Yul Brynner Head and Neck Cancer Foundation

Speech Language Pathologist
The Emory Voice Center
Emory University
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
Atlanta, GA

Assistant Professor
University of Florida
College of Medicine - Jacksonville
Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

President of the Louisiana Chapter

DeLos Hill Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Chief, Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Emory University School of Medicine
Chief, Section of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Egleston Hospital
Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta

In 1998 I had a total Laryngectomy and was fearful that I would have to close down my business. After meeting Alma Owens, Speech Pathologist at Emory, I was persuaded to wait until I had healed before making any changes. Luckily at the time I had an employee working with me and I was able to keep the agency going. 

Dr Itzhak Brook is a physician who specializes in Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Brook earned his medical degree and completed his residency at Hebrew University, Hadassah School of Medicine, in Jerusalem, Israel, and obtained his master’s degree in pediatrics from the University of Tel Aviv in Israel. Subsequently he completed a fellowship in adult and pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine. He served in the Medical Corps of the US Navy for 27 years.

Dr. Yarbrough is an Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and has appointments in the Departments of Cancer Biology and Otolaryngology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He currently serves as Director of the Barry Baker Laboratory of Head and Neck Oncology and as Co-leader of the Thoracic and Head & Neck Program at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.