Community Advisory Board Members
Community Advisory Board Members:
Valerie Hope Goldstein is the facilitator of the Boston Chapter, Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer (SPOHNC), a support group she founded and has run for 16 years at Massachusetts General Hospital. She received a Master’s Degree in the Management of Health and Human Services from the Heller School at Brandeis University and her Juris Doctor from Boston College. Valerie has worked extensively in communications for several large health care organizations, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Partners HealthCare.
Mark is 58 years old and a Melanoma survivor of 11 years.
He was diagnosed in Nov of 2005 with Stage 3 Melanoma. After 11 surgeries, Radiation and Chemo, Mark turned his attention to volunteering at The Jimmy Fund for 5 winters and has also been on the team at Dana Farber’s One to One Program.
He currently starting his 30th season at Sankaty Head Golf Club as the Head Golf Professional on Nantucket Island.
Mark has two beautiful daughters, Sarah and Molly, who enjoy Nantucket with him. Mark also enjoys photography, tennis, skiing, and cheering for all Boston Professional Sports teams.
Born in Springfield and brought up in Westfield, in the western MA’s Pioneer Valley, Harriet came to Boston to study at Children’s Hospital School of Nursing. After graduation she worked for3 years in the emergency room at Children’s Hospital before teaching for 7 years in her school’s Adult Medical Surgical Nursing program at The Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women’s Hospital).
After leaving nursing to raise her children, she became a very active volunteer in venues associated with nursing, her children’s schools, various medically-related spouse organizations, her religious communities and, for over 25 years, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, primarily with the Head and Neck Clinics. Outside of her various volunteer activities, over the years she was employed as a tutor for nursing students at Boston College and as an interviewer for a Department of Labor Study on nursing shortage in this county.
For fun Harriet is the captain of a winter women’s tennis team and plays on a Spring league team, gardens, is involved in lots of family activities – both locally and more regionally, loves history and reading, decorating, games of various types, puzzles of all types and singing.
Harriet is married to a physician (Internist), has four grown children (2 via marriage by the 2 she “home-grew”) and 4 grandchildren ages 9-6. This latter category currently keeps her very busy and she considers her family her greatest current blessing.
It is an honor to have been asked to serve on this most important committee where Harriet constantly learns from her peers and hopes to be helpful in some small way. Over the years being a volunteer at DFCI has enriched her life beyond what she could ever express in writing.
Jeffrey Kaufman co-founded the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation (ACCRF) with his wife, Marnie, who is a survivor of the rare cancer of secretory glands. Jeff serves as the Executive Director, coordinating a global network of over 50 researchers. The foundation’s activities span biobanking, model development, genomics and bioinformatics, drug discovery and development, and clinical trial design. Currently, Jeff serves on the Cancer Research Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Scientific Advisory Board of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Tissue Utilization Committee of the Salivary Gland Tumor Biorepository, and the Board of Advisors of the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital – Needham. Previously, he served on the Council of Councils of the National Institutes of Health, the National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council, and the Council of Research Advocates of the National Cancer Institute. Jeff earned a B.A. from the University of North Carolina, and M.B.A. and M.I.A. degrees from Columbia University. Prior to working full-time at ACCRF, Jeff researched and managed emerging markets portfolios at Putnam Investments, MFS Investments and Salomon Brothers.
Gloria is a 71-year-old painter, photographer, and nature lover who works full time as a Business Manager in a Charter School in Cambridge.
During her illness, she had to do a lot of self-research and found it difficult to get clear answers about her condition from the medical community. She hopes her involvement with the head and neck cancer steering committee may help doctors see the process of cancer illness and recovery from a patient’s perspective so they may be more supportive and hopefully to help compile educational resources for patients and families.