Charter members of the Foundation Council met for the first time in Charlottesville on April 26. On their agenda were tours of the Focused Ultrasound Center of Excellence and the Gamma Knife suite at the University of Virginia. Afterwards, they were joined by members of the Foundation’s board of directors and staff as well as key focused ultrasound researchers and officials from UVA.

“The Council is a very important group for us. They are our key advocates and ambassadors. They are building awareness and sharing their enthusiasm for the promise and possibilities of focused ultrasound,” FUS Foundation chairman, Neal F. Kassell, M.D., commented.

 

 

During their Center of Excellence tour, Council members were briefed about the state-of-the-art focused ultrasound equipment and research at UVA. They also learned about the technology’s history from one of its inventors, Morry Blumenfeld, Ph.D., a Foundation board member.

 

Blumenfeld told the group that, in the 1960’s, Gamma Knife inventor Lars Leksell considered using focused ultrasound in his equipment. However, research and development of gamma radiation was more advanced, so he proceeded in that direction. Today, Blumenfeld observed, focused ultrasound has come of age, emerging as the next generation of paradigm-changing, noninvasive technology.

Meeting speakers included Foundation board member, John Grisham, Council co-chairman Charles S Seilheimer, Jr. and Council member Paula F. Newcomb.

Other charter members of the Council are Dorothy Batten (co-chair), John B. Adams, Jr., Jane P. Batten, Edgar M. Bronfman, Sr., Thomas N. and Nancy J. Chewning, Cecilia S. Howell, Paula F. Newcomb, Mary Lou Seilheimer, Alice H. Siegel and Ambassador Nicholas F. Taubman.