2019 - 2020 Advisory Committee

Rafael Fonseca, MD, is a hematologist who specializes in the care and research of multiple myeloma and related conditions. He is currently the Getz Family Professor of Cancer and a Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is a consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Mayo Clinic, Arizona, and Chair of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Fonesca is a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Hematology, American Association for Cancer Research, and the International Myeloma Society. He also serves as reviewer and in editorial capacities for medical publications including Blood, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell, Leukemia, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others. He is a frequent reviewer of grants and sits on the SPORE grant review panel.

Dr. Fonseca earned his medical degree at Universidad Anahuac, Mexico. He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Miami, Florida and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Rochester, Minnesota.

Elizabeth Kitlas, LMSW, is senior director, Patient Education Content at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Elizabeth manages and updates LLS education publications, which provide information about blood cancers, support and treatment to patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals. She also oversees the patient disease and treatment content on the LLS website. The LLS team works with key opinion leaders who volunteer their time to review this disease and treatment material. With so many amazing advances in myeloma in the recent years, it has been an honor to keep patients and caregivers informed about the newest testing, treatment options and clinical trials available.

Previously, Ms. Kitlas was an Information Specialist at LLS, answering phone calls and emails from patients and caregivers who needed support and information about blood cancers. Prior to LLS, Ms. Kitlas worked as a social worker at a community hospital in the Bronx, NY. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). She has an MSW degree from New York University and her bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Education from Skidmore College.

Dr. Paner is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Rush University Medical Center, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant. Dr. Paner is a Director of Multiple Myeloma, amyloidosis and plasma cell disorders program as well as a Director of Coleman Foundation Comprehensive Multiple Myeloma Clinic at Rush Cancer Center. She is committed to improve the outcomes of patients with multiple myeloma through innovation and research. She is a principal investigator of multiple myeloma clinical trials at Rush.  Dr. Paner is the founding chair and CME course director for National Multiple Myeloma Rounds Program. She is active member of several professional organizations, including the Alliance for clinical trials in oncology Cooperative Group, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology and the International Myeloma Society.

Dr. Adriana Rossi is Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Center of Excellence for Multiple Myeloma at the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital. Previously, she was Associate Director of the Myeloma Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, where she participated in a number of clinical trials, from first in human drug development to multicenter phase III studies. Her research interests include renal disease in plasma cell dyscrasias, and she is a member of the International Kidney and Monoclonal Gammopathy Research Group. Dr. Rossi also headed the Autologous Stem Cell Transplant service, and worked to develop more effective and less toxic alternatives for patients with multiple myeloma. She is a reviewer for Leukemia and Lymphoma, Hematology/Oncology and Stem cell Therapy, and Annals of Hematology. Dr. Rossi has given a number of invited talks, including ASCO and international conferences in Brazil and France.

Dr. Timothy Tyler is the director of Pharmacy, Lab and Oncology Supportive Care Services at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California. He is responsible for ambulatory oncology care in the main center as well as a satellite on the other end of the Coachella Valley, as well as pain management and medication use in all clinics. He has served in this capacity since 1994. Dr. Tyler is also co-chair of the Complementary Medicine Program and leader of the pain service. He has served as adjunct clinical faculty at the University of Southern California for more than 20 years.

Dr. Tyler received an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from the California State University, San Bernardino, and received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He was instrumental in the creation of the pharmacy residency program at Desert Hospital (now Desert Regional Medical Center) in Palm Springs as its first resident in 1993. Dr. Tyler was made a Fellow in the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) in 2002 and in 2017 was made a Fellow in the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA). He has been invited to keynote several healthcare meetings in the past in the US and abroad and continues to be an invited lecturer at meetings for physicians, pharmacists, and nurses around the country and the globe.

Working in a destination for many retirees and "snowbirds" affords Dr. Tyler the ability to see and manage the care of a large number of multiple myeloma patients, and he has been fortunate to share patients with some of the major thought leaders in the myeloma for the past quarter of a century.

Virginia Vaitones, MSW, OSW-C Emeritus, recently retired after more than 39 years as an oncology social worker, and continues to work (per diem) in the Cancer Care Program at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Maine. She is a past president of the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Throughout her career, she has had a special interest in multiple myeloma and the impact the disease has on patients and their loved ones. She has worked on previous multiple myeloma education projects with ACCC.

She is a past president of the Association of Oncology Social Work (AOSW) and represented this association at the Commission on Cancer (CoC) for 11 years. She was involved in the writing and updating the CoC Cancer Program Standards 2012: Ensuring Patient Centered Care. Her areas of interest and expertise include patient navigation, financial advocacy, and psychosocial distress screening.

Ms. Vaitones earned her MSW degree from Simmons College School of Social Work.

David H. Vesole, MD, PhD, FACP, is Co-Director, Myeloma Division and Director, Myeloma research at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. He is a Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University where he is also Director of the Myeloma Program.

His research interests address all aspects of the management of plasma cell dyscrasias (multiple myeloma, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, amyloidosis, and Waldenstrom’s macroglolinemia). Dr. Vesole has more than 25 years of clinical research experience in plasma cell dyscrasias and stem cell transplantation and has produced over 250 peer-reviewed publications in these areas.

Dr. Vesole completed a medical degree at Northwestern University and a doctorate in immunology and microbiology at the Medical University of South Carolina. His postdoctoral training included a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Iowa.