Medical and Legal Symposiums
FACULTY
JOHN ANTALIS, MD, DABFM
John S. Antalis. MD., DABFM, is the current Chairperson of The Georgia Composite Medical Board, of which he has been a member since 2011. Dr. Antalis has practiced at Dalton Family Practice for almost 30 years – he is currently the President and Investment Officer – and has held hospital privileges at Hamilton Medical Center since 1986,...Continued
CHARLES N. BROOKS, MD, FIAIME
Charles N. Brooks MD, FIAIME, is a Fellow, Board Chair and Past President of the International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators [IAIME], President, Washington Association of Independent Medical Examiners and Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. Obtaining a BA in biology at Denison University.. . .Continued
JOHN P. CONOMY, MD, JD, FCLM
John P. Conomy, MD, JD, FCLM is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and educated in that city (Cleveland Public and Parochial Schools, St. Joseph High School) and graduated with honors from John Carroll University. He studied Medicine at St. Louis University where he received his MD degree in 1964. After serving as Medical House Officer...Continued
SNEHAL DALAL, MD, DABOS
Snehal C. Dalal, M.D., is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon with a subspecialty certificate in Hand and Upper Extremity. Dr. Dalal completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, as well as his fellowship training in shoulder, elbow and hand surgery where he conducted research on rotator cuff injuries. . .Continued
MARJORIE ESKAY-AUERBACH, MD, JD, FCLM
Marjorie Eskay-Auerbach, MD, JD, FCLM [SpineCare and Forensic Medicine, PLLC; Board of Directors, International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators] is an orthopedic surgeon with Fellowship training in Spine, attorney, medical-legal consultant with a special interest in spine care, author and frequent lecturer nationally. . .Continued
FRED GREEN, ESQ.
Fred Green, Esq. is a partner in the Atlanta office of Goodman McGuffey LLP and is a trial attorney with over 22 years' experience in civil litigation and workers' compensation. Fred practices regularly before the State Board of Workers' Compensation, as well as in all federal and state courts in Georgia in the areas of general insurance defense, . . . Continued
BRODERICK W. HARREL, ESQ.
Broderick W. Harrell, Esq.. is a partner at Carlock Copeland, and is co-chair of the firms Trucking and Transportation Practice. Mr. Harrell is admitted to practice law in both Georgia and in North Carolina, where he earned his JD at the University of North Carolina at Chappell Hill School of Law, after receiving an undergraduate degree in....Continued
David M. Havlicek is the managing partner on the workers' compensation team and located in the Goodman McGuffey Lindsey & Johnson, LLP’s Orlando office. He represents large self-insured, as well as smaller entities, and practices workers' compensation throughout Florida. He is a member of the Florida Bar Workers’ Compensation...Continued
C. WILLIAM HINNANT, JR., MD, JD, DABU, FCLM
C. William Hinnant, Jr., MD, JD, DABU, FCLM [Medicolegal Consultants, LLC - President-Elect, The American College of Legal Medicine]. is a Diplomate of the American Board of Urology and Attorney, who practices both medicine and law in Anderson and Charleston, South Carolina. In his law practice Medicolegal Consultants, LLC...Continued
BOB JEFFERY, MBA
Bob Jeffery, MBA is the newly appointed Executive Director of The Georgia Composite Medical Board, approved by a vote of the Board during its March 2016 meeting. Mr. Jeffrey previously served as the Board’s director of operations for 11 years before stepping into the interim executive director role in January. He has worked for...Continued
STEPHEN N. MACCIOCCHI, Ph.D, ABPP
Stephen N. Macciocchi, Ph.D. ABPP obtained his undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University and his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Louisville. He completed an internship and postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Virginia Medical School. He is board certified...Continued
MITCHELL S. NUDELMAN, MD, JD, FCLM
Mitchell S. Nudelman, MD, JD, FCLM - your host for this event – has been Chief Medical Officer since he founded Medical Director Solutions LLC in 1997 (where his clients are mostly employers, carriers and those who represent them), and managing member of his boutique law firm Nudelman & Associates (serving plaintiff and defense parties alike), ...Continued
Stan Riepe, MD, JD joined Weathington Smith in 2006 and brings with him a unique advantage in this area of practice, an extensive knowledge regarding the practice of medicine. This advantage is potentiated by Dr. Riepe's continuing participation as an active part time practicing medical professional. Dr. Riepe has personal knowledge...Continued
KRISH SATHIAN, MBBS, Ph.D, FANA
Kirsh Sathian is a neurologist and neuroscientist. He obtained medical training from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Melbourne, Australia. After postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis, he completed a residency in neurology at the University of Chicago and joined ...Continued
LAWRENCE B. SCHLACHTER, DDS, MD, JD, FCLM
Lawrence B. Schlachter, DDS, MD, JD, FCLM [Schlachter Law]
An experienced neurosurgeon, attorney, and now author, lawyers across the United States regularly call upon Dr. Schlachter for his expertise. Particularly skilled in deposing defendant physicians and the medical experts he has represented clients in the... Continued
Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D. is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics, the Raymond F. Schinazi Distinguished Research Chair in Jewish Bioethics, a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Sociology, and the Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University. Dr. Wolpe also serves as the first Senior Bioethicist ... Continued
Complete Bios
JOHN ANTALIS, MD, DABFM
John S. Antalis. MD., DABFM, is the current Chairperson of The Georgia Composite Medical Board, of which he has been a member since 2011. Dr. Antalis has practiced at Dalton Family Practice for almost 30 years – he is currently the President and Investment Officer – and has held hospital privileges at Hamilton Medical Center since 1986, after earning his Doctor of Medicine at Saint George’s University School of Medicine, and completing a Family Practice Residency at Floyd Medical Center in Rome, Georgia.
Separately, Dr. Antalis has distinguished himself over his long clinical career, by serving in a number of Administrative Medicine leadership roles over three decades. He is past-president and past Chairman of the Board of the Medical Association of Georgia (MAG) and in 2013 he was the recipient of their Joseph P. Bailey Jr., M.D., Physician Distinguished Service Award Past-president of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians, in 1996 he was named their Georgia Family Physician of the Year. Since 1999 Dr. Antalis has served on the Board of Directors of Mag Mutual (the physician owned and managed malpractice insurance company) and has served in various capacities on their claims, governmental affairs, underwriting and medical relations committees, and also serves on the MagMutual Foundation and Patient Safety Institute Boards..
CHARLES N. BROOKS, MD, FIAIME
Charles N. Brooks MD, FIAIME, is a Fellow, Board Chair and Past President of the International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators [IAIME], President, Washington Association of Independent Medical Examiners and Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery. Obtaining a BA in biology at Denison University, Dr. Brooks later earned his medial degree and did his residency in Orthopedic Surgery, all at Wayne State in Michigan.
After serving in the Navy practicing general Orthopedics, and a tour of duty in private practice at Snoqualmie Valley Hospital in the state of Washington and where he served as Chairman, Department of Surgery, Dr. Brooks has focused his practice on Administrative Medicine, including IME, peer review and writing. Dr. Brooks has authored or co-authored over 50 articles or textbook chapters in the medical literature and served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Disability Medicine, published by the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners, The Guides Newsletter, and Guides to the Evaluation of Disease and Injury Causation, Second Edition, covering a wide range of disability impairment topics that include the upper extremity, lower extremity, cervical/thoracic/lumbar spine and hip, as well as technical rating pieces such as No Double Dipping for Pain, Biomechanics in Rear-end Motor Vehicle Collisions, Apportionment, and on when to Convert, Add, or Combine?
Dr. Brooks is an experienced national lecturer on the topic of disability and impairment rating.
JOHN P. CONOMY, MD, JD, FCLM
John P. Conomy, MD, JD, FCLM is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and educated in that city (Cleveland Public and Parochial Schools, St. Joseph High School) and graduated with honors from John Carroll University. He studied Medicine at St. Louis University where he received his MD degree in 1964. After serving as Medical House Officer at the University, Veteran’s Administration and City Hospitals in St. Louis, he returned to Cleveland and was trained in Neurology (Professor Joseph M. Foley) and Neuropathology (Professor Betty Q. Banker) at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital (MetroHealth Medical Center) and Case Western Reserve University. After decorated service in the United States Air Force during the Viet Nam era, Dr. Conomy served as a Career Research and Teaching Fellow at the Institute of Neurosciences at the University of Pennsylvania (Professor James Sprague, Philadelphia) prior to returning to Cleveland as an Assistant then Associate Professor of Medicine (Neurology) at Case Western Reserve University. In 1975 Dr. Conomy was appointed Chairman, Department of Neurology, at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Chairman of Clinical Research and Director of its Neurology Residency Program, positions he held until 1992. Dr. Conomy is a specialist in Neurology and Legal Medicine and serves as an examiner for several medical and surgical specialty boards. Dr. Conomy attended the Schools of Law at Case Western Reserve University and Cambridge University (England) and received his JD in 1992. Dr. Conomy has served as Professor of Clinical Neurology and Adjunct Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University Schools of Medicine and Law and has held faculty positions at the Universities of Texas (Southwestern, San Antonio) and Pennsylvania State University. He has held consultancies in the Tower Hamlets District of London (England) and has served as a lecturer and Visiting Professor in Law and Medicine in ninety countries throughout the world. He is the Founder of the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Founder of the International Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers. Dr. Conomy holds deep interests in the history of medicine, medical ethics, health law and human rights and is the past Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Legal Medicine. Dr. Conomy has held numerous research and clinical investigative grants and awards in the fields of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, epilepsy, brain injury and multiple sclerosis. He is a Fellow of the American Neurological Association, the American Academy of Neurology, the American College of Legal Medicine and The Royal Society of Medicine (England) as well as an active principal in many organizations related to adult and childhood disorders of the nervous system and to medical law and ethics. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, the World Association of Medical Law, Who’s Who in America and an Honorary Fellow of Medical Societies in Canada, Mexico and England. He is the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and more than a dozen books. He is cited among America’s Top Physicians and lectures widely on matters of health and law. He is engaged in the planning and operational design of comprehensive treatment, educational and research facilities dealing with diseases of the nervous system and systems of health delivery in the USA and internationally. Dr. Conomy directed the Brain Injury Program at University Hospitals of Cleveland’s Extended Care Campus from 2003 to 2008. Dr. Conomy practices Neurology in Cleveland. He is the President of Health Systems Design and CompEval Corporations. He is the father of three adult professionals and of Francesca Maria, now age 17 years. Dr. Conomy is married to Dr. Jill Mushkat Conomy, a Psychologist and a specialist in the field of chronic pain management. Dr, Conomy has served upon the Governing Board of the Cleveland Medical Library Association in the 1980’s, and again since 2014. He is an avid bibliophile (having haunted the Allen Memorial Library since the age of 16 years), traveler, cyclist, skier, music lover and photographer, and has a notably low threshold for breaking into Irish Songs, occasionally in Irish.
SNEHAL DALAL, MD, DABOS
Snehal C. Dalal, M.D., is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon with a subspecialty certificate in Hand and Upper Extremity. Dr. Dalal completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin, as well as his fellowship training in shoulder, elbow and hand surgery where he conducted research on rotator cuff injuries and elbow trauma, as part of the Milwaukee Combined Upper Extremity fellowship. He received his Doctor of Medicine Degree from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Dalal holds an academic position as a Clinical Assistant Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. Dalal’s practice at OrthoAtlanta includes general orthopaedics and sports medicine with specialty training in surgery of the hand and upper extremity, and he is very experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of employment injuries. Currently Dr. Dalal serves in the leadership of the Georgia Orthopaedic Society as Board member and Secretary, and is Treasurer Elect. He has been team physician for Duluth and Central Gwinnett High Schools, co-medical director of the BB&T Atlanta Open, and sideline physician for the Chick-fil-A Bowl and Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. Dr. Dalal also serves as the hand surgeon for the Gwinnett Gladiators professional hockey team.
MARJORIE ESKAY-AUERBACH, MD, JD, FCLM
Marjorie Eskay-Auerbach, MD, JD, FCLM [SpineCare and Forensic Medicine, PLLC; Board of Directors, International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators] is an orthopedic surgeon with Fellowship training in Spine, attorney, medical-legal consultant with a special interest in spine care, author and frequent lecturer nationally. Dr. Eskay-Auerbach earned both her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan, where she was a student in the combined six year program. Thereafter she trained at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in NYC in general surgery, followed by her residency training in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Center. Attorney Eskay-Auerbach received her JD from University of Arizona, in 2001, and is a member of the Arizona bar and is a member of the Forensic Expert Witness Association. Dr. Eskay-Auerbach is board-certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American College of Spine Surgery. She is an active member of the North American Spine Society, and served as a member of the Board of Directors. She is an active educator for the AMA on the most recent edition of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, and was the contributing editor for the AMA Guides to Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Sixth Edition musculoskeletal chapters, and co-author of Transition to the AMA Guides Sixth and a number of workbooks related to use of the Guides. She has contributed chapters to a number of AMA publications including Guides the Evaluation of Disease and Injury Causation, 2nd Edition and AMA Guides to the Evaluation Work Ability and Return to Work. She has taught multiple Continue Legal Education courses, including a course entitled, "Orthopedics for Lawyers,” and currently trains physicians in performing Independent Medical Examination and providing expert testimony. Dr. Eskay-Auerbach has over 30 years of clinical experience. Her current clinical practice in Tucson, AZ is in occupational orthopedics, and she practiced spine surgery and non-operative care of back and neck injuries in Phoenix previously. She performs medical-legal consultations, independent medical evaluations, review of impairment ratings and record reviews, and provides expert opinions and testimony. She holds medical licenses in AZ, CA, NM and OK.
FRED GREEN, ESQ.
Fred Green, Esq. is a partner in the Atlanta office of Goodman McGuffey LLP and is a trial attorney with over 22 years' experience in civil litigation and workers' compensation. Fred practices regularly before the State Board of Workers' Compensation, as well as in all federal and state courts in Georgia in the areas of general insurance defense, professional malpractice, commercial and business claims, products liability, and premises liability. Fred is a member of the State Bars of Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina. He is also a certified mediator and on the panel of mediators at Zirkle & Hoffman Mediation Services. He is rated "AV" by Martindale Hubbell. Fred is a frequent speaker to insurers, risk managers and attorneys on workers' compensation topics, insurance defense, as well as on ethics and professionalism. In addition to his professional pursuits, Fred has been actively involved since 1997 in the State Bar of Georgia's High School Mock Trial Competition as an attorney coach for the highly successful Milton High School and Chattahoochee High School Mock Trial Teams. Fred attended the University of Michigan (A.B., 1990), the University of Regensburg (Germany), and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (J.D., 1994).
BRODERICK W. HARREL, ESQ.
Broderick W. Harrell, Esq. is a partner at Carlock Copeland, and is co-chair of the firms Trucking and Transportation Practice. Mr. Harrell is admitted to practice law in both Georgia and in North Carolina, where he earned his JD at the University of North Carolina at Chappell Hill School of Law, after receiving an undergraduate degree in Business Administration, from Howard University in Washington DC.
Currently his practice includes representing healthcare providers and design professionals in complex litigation. He also represents various companies in construction, trucking and transportation, general liability and premises liability matters. He has successfully defended multiple wrongful death and professional medical negligence lawsuits, and is active in organizing and serving as a speaker for continuing education programs.
Mr. Harrell is a member of American Bar Association, Atlanta Bar Association, Defense Research Institute, Gate City Bar Association and the Lawyers Club of Atlanta and a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta.
DAVID M. HAVLICEK, ESQ.
David M. Havlicek is the managing partner on the workers' compensation team and located in the Goodman McGuffey Lindsey & Johnson, LLP’s Orlando office. He represents large self-insured, as well as smaller entities, and practices workers' compensation throughout Florida. He is a member of the Florida Bar Workers’ Compensation Section and has defended employers and insurers in workers’ compensation for fifteen years. He has often been successful in defending employers utilizing the fraud defense against dishonest claimants, under the Florida statute that has more “teeth” than Georgia’s. Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1968, he attended the University of Central Florida, where he was a pre-law major, and graduated in 1993. He graduated from Nova Southeastern School of Law in 2000, after a management-track career with Publix Supermarkets in the interim. He is a member of the Sarasota Bradenton Claims Association, for which he was a three term President and Vice President for one year.
C. WILLIAM HINNANT, JR., MD, JD, DABU, FCLM
C. William Hinnant, Jr. MD JD DABU FCLM [Medicolegal Consultants, LLC - President-Elect, The American College of Legal Medicine] is a Diplomate of the American Board of Urology and Attorney, who practices both medicine and law in Anderson and Charleston, South Carolina. In his law practice Medicolegal Consultants, LLC, he specializes in Plaintiff Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, & Workers Compensation, and the defense of physicians who have been the subject of disciplinary actions and often “sham peer review” by the Medical Board, Hospital or other Healthcare entity or agency. Dr. Hinnant is a Fellow of the prestigious American College Legal Medicine, where he is the current Treasurer and also General Counsel since 2007. Dr. Hinnant attended medical school at the Medical College of South Carolina and completed his Residency in Adult and Pediatric Urology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (1992). He earned his law degree at Georgia State University School of Law (2001) and is a member of the South Carolina Bar.
STEPHEN N. MACCIOCCHI, PH.D., ABPP
Stephen N. Macciocchi, Ph.D. ABPP obtained his undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University and his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Louisville. He completed an internship and postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Virginia Medical School. He is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology by the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Neuropsychology. Dr. Macciocchi was a faculty member in the departments of Psychiatry and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for 10 years prior to serving as Director of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for 10 years. He also served as Director of the Shepherd Center Association of Post-Doctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology Fellowship training program for 12 years. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation and Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology and he also is a reviewer for numerous other journals. Dr. Macciocchi served as Co-Director of the Georgia Model Brain Injury System and as the neuropsychological consultant for the Department of Sports Medicine at the University of Georgia. He was a panel member of the CDC Heads Up Concussion initiative and he currently serves as a Neutral Examiner for the National Football League Player Benefits Program. Dr. Macciocchi has been a primary investigator and co-investigator on 4 National Institute of Rehabilitation Research grants and continues to pursue research in the area of sports concussion and unintentional injury following moderate-severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Dr. Macciocchi has authored and co-authored numerous peer reviewed articles and book chapters on brain injury, including mild brain injury and sports related concussion.
MITCHELL S. NUDELMAN, MD, JD, FCLM
Mitchell S. Nudelman, MD, JD, FCLM - your host for this event – has been Chief Medical Officer since he founded Medical Director Solutions LLC in 1997 (where his clients are mostly employers, carriers and those who represent them), and managing member of his boutique law firm Nudelman & Associates (serving plaintiff and defense parties alike), for about two decades. He is a fellow of the prestigious American College of Legal Medicine, the professional organization for those who hold degrees both in medicine and law. Dr. Nudelman earned his medical degree at the Universidad Tecnológica de Santiago in the Dominican Republic, and completed his internship and residency at St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, DE, a community hospital affiliated with the Temple University School of Medicine Family Medicine program. After residency, he practiced clinical medicine for five years in various settings, all while attending the University of Miami School of Law, where Dr. Nudelman earned his JD. In 1991 Dr. Nudelman moved to Atlanta where he was the Medical Director to Aetna Health Plans of Georgia over an HMO and PPO plans, and his duties included all ERISA appeals to Delta Airlines. Board certified in Family Medicine since 1987 with a concentration in Behavioral Medicine, and a member of the Georgia Bar since 1991 where he has been in good standing since, Dr. Nudelman is a seasoned attorney and highly experienced medical director. He served as the sole Peer Review Physician to the Georgia State Board of Workers Compensation for more than a decade. His medical director experience includes tens of thousands of cases and adjudication of every type of claim involving medical peer review in most every setting. Having seen thousands of cases of failed back syndrome after spine surgery, Dr. Nudelman strongly advocates for careful selection of patients who undergo such interventional procedures including surgery, especially those with psychiatric comorbidities and a propensity for addiction.
STAN RIEPE, MD, JD
Stan Riepe, MD, JD joined Weathington Smith in 2006 and brings with him a unique advantage in this area of practice, an extensive knowledge regarding the practice of medicine. This advantage is potentiated by Dr. Riepe's continuing participation as an active part time practicing medical professional. Dr. Riepe has personal knowledge of both academic and private practice of medicine. He remains a part time Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Riepe began practicing gastroenterology in 1978, and is Board Certified in Gastroenterology and Internal Medicine. His broad medical knowledge base makes him distinctively capable of evaluating medical malpractice claims and theories. His medical communication skills facilitate exchange and trust with Clients and experts. Dr. Riepe has an extensive network foundation with physicians in Georgia and through out the United States. Dr. Riepe is admitted to practice law in Georgia, the Court of Appeals and Supreme Courts of the State of Georgia and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Dr. Riepe speaks before physician groups and is an adjunct Professor at Emory Law School.
KRISH SATHIAN, MBBS, PhD, FANA
Krish Sathian is a neurologist and neuroscientist. He obtained medical training from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Melbourne, Australia. After postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis, he completed a residency in neurology at the University of Chicago and joined the faculty at Emory University in 1994, where he is now Professor of Neurology, Rehabilitation Medicine and Psychology and a faculty member of the interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program. He also directs the Rehabilitation R&D Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation at the Atlanta VA. His research interests are in multisensory perception, visual and cognitive rehabilitation; his clinical expertise is in traumatic brain injury and cognitive rehabilitation. He has received research funding from the NIH, NSF and VA, authored numerous publications and book chapters, and co-edited a book on cognitive plasticity. He received the Albert Levy Award in 2001 for the best scientific publication by a faculty member at Emory. He is a Fellow of the American Neurological Association, immediate Past President of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation, and a member of the Faculty of 1000.
LAWRENCE B. SCHLACHTER, DDS, JD, JD, FCLM
Lawrence B. Schlachter, DDS, MD, JD, FCLM [Schlachter Law]
An experienced neurosurgeon, attorney, and now author, lawyers across the United States regularly call upon Dr. Schlachter for his expertise. Particularly skilled in deposing defendant physicians and the medical experts he has represented clients in the areas of health law, personal injury, product liability, patient safety issues and catastrophic injury.
Dr. Schlachter graduated from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1969. He received a Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree in 1973 and a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1976 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also served as a resident in general surgery for two years and in neurological surgery for five years at Emory University and affiliated hospitals from 1976 to 1983.
After retiring from active medical practice following a hand injury in 1999, Dr. Schlachter attended The John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, graduating with a J.D. degree in 2004. He is an active member of the Georgia Bar, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a Fellow of the American College of Legal Medicine and is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery.
PAUL ROOT WOLPE, Ph.D
Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D. is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics, the Raymond F. Schinazi Distinguished Research Chair in Jewish Bioethics, a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Sociology, and the Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University. Dr. Wolpe also serves as the first Senior Bioethicist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he is responsible for formulating policy on bioethical issues and safeguarding research subjects. He is Co-Editor of the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), the premier scholarly journal in bioethics, and Editor of AJOB Neuroscience, and sits on the editorial boards of over a dozen professional journals in medicine and ethics. Dr Wolpe is a past President of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities; a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the country’s oldest medical society; a Fellow of the Hastings Center, the oldest bioethics institute in America; and was the first National Bioethics Advisor to Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Dr. Wolpe moved to Emory University in the summer of 2008 from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was on the faculty for over 20 years in the Departments of Psychiatry, Sociology, and Medical Ethics. He was a Senior Fellow of Penn’s Center for Bioethics, and directed the Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Health and the Program in Psychiatry and Ethics at the School of Medicine.
Dr. Wolpe is the author of over 125 articles, editorials, and book chapters in sociology, medicine, and bioethics, and has contributed to a variety of encyclopedias on bioethical issues. A futurist interested in social dynamics, Dr. Wolpe’s work focuses on the social, religious, ethical, and ideological impact of technology on the human condition. Considered one of the founders of the field of neuroethics, which examines the ethical implications of neuroscience, he also writes about other emerging technologies, such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, prosthetics, and new reproductive technologies. His teaching and publications range across multiple fields of bioethics and sociology, including death and dying, genetics and eugenics, sexuality and gender, mental health and illness, alternative medicine, and bioethics in extreme environments such as space. He is the co-author of the textbook Sexuality and Gender in Society, and editor and a key author of the end-of-life guide Behoref Hayamim: In the Winter of Life.
Dr. Wolpe sits on a number of national and international non-profit organizational boards and working groups, and is a consultant to academic institutions and the biomedical industry. In July, 2010, he testified to the President’s Commission on the Study of Bioethical Issues in Washington, DC on ethical issues in synthetic biology. A dynamic and popular speaker internationally, Dr. Wolpe has been chosen by The Teaching Company as a "Superstar Teacher of America" and his courses are distributed internationally on audio and videotape. He has won the World Technology Network Award in Ethics, has been featured in a TED talk, and was profiled in the November, 2011 Atlantic Magazine as a “Brave Thinker of 2011.” Dr. Wolpe is a frequent contributor and commentator in both the broadcast and print media, recently featured on 60 Minutes and with a personal profile in the Science Times of the New York Times.