National Osteoporosis Foundation Names New Board of Trustees Members

The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) named five new members to its Board of Trustees during the International Symposium on Osteoporosis, its annual meeting yesterday. NOF is proud to welcome Franmarie Kennedy; Joan M. Lappe PhD, RN, FAAN; C. Berdon Lawrence; Meryl S. LeBoff, M.D.; and C. Michael Lewiecki, M.D., FACP, FACE, FACP as new trustees. With their diverse backgrounds and experience, NOF is confident its new trustees will help move the organization closer to its goals of better treating osteoporosis for the 44 million Americans currently affected by the disease and preventing osteoporosis for future generations.

WASHINGTON, DC (April 25, 2012) - The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) named five new members to its Board of Trustees during the International Symposium on Osteoporosis, its annual meeting yesterday.

NOF is proud to welcome Franmarie Kennedy; Joan M. Lappe PhD, RN, FAAN; C. Berdon Lawrence; Meryl S. LeBoff, M.D.; and C. Michael Lewiecki, M.D., FACP, FACE, FACP as new trustees. With their diverse backgrounds and experience, NOF is confident its new trustees will help move the organization closer to its goals of better treating osteoporosis for the 44 million Americans currently affected by the disease and preventing osteoporosis for future generations.

NOF’s new trustees include:
Franmarie Kennedy is Deputy Director of the Health, Biomedical Science and Society policy program for the Aspen Institute. Over the course of her career, she has worked in all aspects of education and health policy, communications, marketing and fundraising as a consultant to non-profit organizations, foundations, corporations and as an executive in both government and academic institutions. Previously, Dr. Kennedy served on two White House staffs formulating domestic policy and held executive positions at the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute for Literacy. Since 1995, Dr. Kennedy has produced several documentaries for television. Over the past eight years, she has concentrated on television and multi-media projects as a consultant to MacNeil-Lehrer Productions, producers of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. She also has served as a consultant to The American Red Cross, The American Physical Society, The American Medical Women’s Association, the National Library of Medicine, EPCglobal Inc. and The National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

Joan M. Lappe, PhD, RN, FAAN is the Director of Clinical and Pediatric Studies at Creighton University. She is also a professor of nursing and medicine at Creighton University and consultant to the National Institutes of Health Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center. Dr. Lappe holds a PhD in nursing from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and has received the Creighton University School of Nursing Alumni Award and Oncology Nursing Foundation/Bristol Meyers Oncology Division Research Award. She was named a Fellow to the American Academy of Nursing in 1998 and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of NOF.

C. Berdon Lawrence is the President of L3 Partners, LLC, a family business that manages investments and real estate. He previously served as Chairman of the Board for Kirby Corporation from 1999-2010 and was also founder and President of Hollywood Marine, a privately owned tank barge company that merged with Kirby Corporation In 1999.  He currently serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Waterways Council.  He has served as Past Chairman of the Inland Waterways Users Board, National Waterways Conference and The American Waterways Operators.  He is also involved in several community organizations including the Galveston Bay Foundation, St. Martins Episcopal Church, The Kinkaid School, and M.D. Anderson Board of Visitors.

Dr. Meryl LeBoff is the Director of the Skeletal Health and Osteoporosis Center and Bone Density Unit, a multifaceted program that includes research, educational initiatives, clinical care, and bone densitometry. Her research is directed at understanding the causes of secondary osteoporosis and how to optimize skeletal health across the lifespan from young adulthood to extreme old age. Dr. LeBoff and Dr. Julie Glowacki in Orthopedic Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have had a series of NIH and Department of Defense research-supported collaborations to define the mechanisms of skeletal metabolism in young adults and with aging. Dr. LeBoff also has had ongoing collaborations with investigators at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute to test the effects of drug interventions (e.g., chemotherapy or aromatase inhibitors) on bone in women with a history of breast cancer. She has many interdisciplinary collaborations including NIH-sponsored studies with investigators at Children’s Hospital that are testing the hypothesis that estrogen and androgens may reverse the low bone mass in women with anorexia. Dr. LeBoff has served on the central Calcium, Vitamin D and Osteoporosis Committee for the Women’s Health (WHI) Initiative sponsored by the NIH since this committee was organized. She was the contributing author on Vitamin D Intake Across the Life Course for the Surgeon General's Report on Osteoporosis and Bone Health in 2004. Her research projects also include investigations on new applications for dual X-ray absorptiometry and technologies such as peripheral quantitative tomography (pQCT) for determination of three-dimensional constructs of bone and muscle and bone strength. Dr. LeBoff is also a Councilor for the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Dr. Michael Lewiecki is the Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of New Mexico School of Medicine and Director of New Mexico Clinical Research & Osteoporosis Center. He is a consultant in osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease, supervisor and interpreter of bone density studies at his center, and an educator with a special interest in the management of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease. Dr. Lewiecki is past-president of the International Society for Clinical Densitometry (ISCD). He is a faculty member for the ISCD educational programs in bone densitometry and vertebral fracture assessment, and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Densitometry. He has received national and international awards and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Endocrinology. Dr. Lewiecki is president and founder of the Osteoporosis Foundation of New Mexico and director of its educational activities. He also established and is program director of the annual Santa Fe Bone Symposium. Board-certified in internal medicine, Dr. Lewiecki is a graduate of Amherst College and Northwestern University Medical School and completed postgraduate training in internal medicine at University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.

About the National Osteoporosis Foundation
Established in 1984, the National Osteoporosis Foundation, a leading community-focused health organization, is dedicated to the prevention of osteoporosis and broken bones, the promotion of strong bones for life and the reduction of human suffering through programs of awareness, education, advocacy and research. For more information on the National Osteoporosis Foundation, visit www.nof.org.