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Dr. Nasser Al-Rashid: Dr. Eugene Schiff Named First Al-Rashid Chair of Hepatology
Surrounded by friends, colleagues, and University of Miami leadership, Eugene R. Schiff, M.D., became the first holder of the Dr. Nasser Ibrahim Al-Rashid Chair in the Division of Hepatology and the Schiff Center for Liver Diseases.
Phil Corey: Aiding the Fight Against Liver Diseases
Smart enough to have built a lucrative seafood business and to have attended medical school, Phil Corey couldn’t wrap his brain around the simplest of concepts: his own mortality.
Welcome to the confounding world of asymptomatic liver disease. You feel fit as a fiddle, but at the same time your doctor somberly warns of cirrhosis, liver cancer, and ultimately transplantation. Who to believe—your physician or your body?
Hard-driving, opinionated, and stubborn, Corey laughingly admits that his obstinance occasionally drove Eugene Schiff, M.D., Director of the Schiff Center, crazy. Ultimately Corey had a reality check, followed by liver transplantation surgery. He has pledged $3.5 million to the Miller School of Medicine, with $1.5 million going to the Center for Liver Diseases, transplantation, and gastroenterology, along with a gift to athletics.
Blacher: Strengthening Research to Combat Liver Diseases
An entrepreneur who created a Florida business treating patients with alcoholism, bipolar illness, and drug addiction, in 2003 Blacher got in touch with Lennox Jeffers, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Associate Chief of Liver Disease at the Miller School.
Jeffers prescribed a potent pharmaceutical cocktail that dramatically lowered Blacher’s viral count, but whose side effects included joint pain and low white blood cell counts. “My levels are beginning to become normal again,” Blacher notes of the hepatitis C virus in his liver, “It's taken months to get back to this place.” Reminiscent of his training regimen when he raced cars, Blacher has been lifting weights, exercising, swimming, and watching his diet to aid his recovery. Grateful that his hepatitis C is under control, Blacher established an endowment last year that gives the Miller School $100,000 annually for five years to research liver disease.
Raul Valdes-Fauli: Second Chance
The subplots of Raul Valdes-Fauli’s life have the makings of a good Hollywood feature: A teenage boy flees Havana with his family after Fidel Castro’s takeover, comes to America, attends Harvard Law School, works with prestigious international corporations, and becomes mayor of Coral Gables.
But like any good script, there is a crisis. In Valdes-Fauli’s case it was hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common cancer of the liver. Today, he raises funds to support the Schiff Center for Liver Diseases. Valdes-Fauli says he will be forever grateful to the doctors and nurses who treated him and has since worked to raise money for the Miller School’s Division of Hepatology. “It was a difficult time, but their kindness and amazing efficiency made all the difference,” he says, “I am lucky and blessed.”
Glenn Sutton: A Brotherly Tribute
Glenn Sutton works hard to keep his older brother’s memory alive and he does so by playing off Dennis’ interests in life. After the avid golfer died of Hepatitis C on October 24, 2006, Glenn established the Dennis Sutton Golf Tournament, plus the poker-based Texas Hold’em Tournament. Proceeds from the golf tournament support the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Schiff Center for Liver Diseases, while proceeds from the poker event help the Boys and Girls Club of Broward, an organization Dennis was a board member of. To date, Glenn has raised close to $150,000 to support the research and programmatic efforts of the UM Center for Liver Diseases.
Binky Miller: Liver Transplant: My Story
Dr. Eugene Schiff entered my life 20 years ago. Liver disease was our common denominator. I had it and he studied it. With superior knowledge and gentle compassion, he directed my journey from knowledge of the culprit, Hepatitis C, through the cirrhosis phase to his ultimate announcement, “It’s time now to discuss transplantation.” I never lost faith in Dr. Schiff and he never lost faith in me. He knew that I was a determined, stubborn fighter. Earning a Ph.D. and teaching, raising a family, being a builder, and actively running a business of buying and selling antiques must have convinced him that I had what it takes to treat a transplanted liver with the respect it deserves. Respect. I am one of thousands that owe our lives to the incomparable Dr. Eugene Schiff. And from the beginning with gratitude, I supported his efforts to create this Schiff Liver Institute. With the expertise of surgeons, Drs. Andreas Tzakis and David Levi, I am now six years “out” and doing extremely well. I have written a book, “LIVER TRANSPLANT: MY STORY” and with the deepest thanks I dedicated it to Dr. Schiff and Dr. Tzakis. If you’d like, you can order a copy from my publisher “AUTHORHOUSE.COM” or from any bookstore. It is also available in the e-book version.
Cynthia Taylor Liver Research Fund
Cynthia Elise “Cindy,” 44, of Palm Beach, FL passed away Sunday evening, November 25, 2018 in Denver, CO surrounded by her husband Terry and children Trent and Natalie. Cindy was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, she was a loving wife to her husband and devoted mother to her twins, Trent and Natalie. Her sense of humor was infectious. She made everyone around her laugh and her smile would light up a room. Her children inherited her smile and sense of humor. Cindy and Terry have been strong advocates of the Boys and Girls Club for nearly twenty years. Each year, Cindy wanted to make sure that the liver and kidney transplant children at the University of Miami had toys for Christmas. To do this, she spent months researching and preparing the perfect gifts for each child. Ultimately, she helped so many children that to deliver all the toys she needed to hire a moving truck. Cindy will be sadly missed by her family: husband Terry Taylor, son Trent Taylor, daughter Natalie Taylor, mother Turi Ruppert, brothers Michael Redding and Chase Ruppert, sister Summer Robinson, mother-in-law June Priddy, brother-in-law Wyn Taylor, wife Nita Taylor and niece Lane Taylor.