Key Points
- Council members Mo Pritzker and Jane Metcalfe hosted several meetings and introduced the technology to many new people.
- During a panel presentation at UCSF, researchers from the Bay Area discussed how focused ultrasound can improve patients’ lives.
This September, the Foundation’s managing director, Jessica Lukens, MBA, along with chief relationship officer, Ann Taylor, and chief scientific officer and managing director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program and government affairs, Jessica Foley, PhD, traveled to San Francisco to meet with friends and key stakeholders. Several meetings hosted by Council members Mo Pritzker and Jane Metcalfe served as a fantastic opportunity to highlight the Foundation’s work in advancing focused ultrasound and introduce the technology to many new people.
On September 30, John and Mo Pritzker, along with the Foundation’s Council co-chair Jane Metcalfe, hosted a panel presentation – “The Radical Future of Noninvasive Treatment for Patients” – at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building, which was followed by a rooftop reception. Jane, an entrepreneur, publisher, founder of proto.life, and speaker on emerging technologies, generously agreed to moderate the event.
Attendees learned how researchers and clinicians in the Bay Area are currently treating patients and investigating a variety of new ways that focused ultrasound can be used to improve patients’ lives. The panelists included:
- Matthew Bucknor, MD, MFA, associate professor of radiology at UCSF
- Tommaso Di Ianni, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at UCSF
- Jessica Foley, PhD, chief scientific officer at the Focused Ultrasound Foundation
- Pejman Ghanouni, MD, PhD, associate professor of radiology at Stanford University
- Leo Sugrue, MD, PhD, associate professor of radiology at UCSF
Topics discussed included the use of focused ultrasound for FDA-cleared indications, such as Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor. The group also addressed how the technology could impact the care of countless diseases in a noninvasive way.
“We couldn’t have had a warmer reception in the Bay Area,” said Jessica Lukens. “We wish to thank Mo, John, and Jane for introducing us to their friends and colleagues and their commitment to advancing focused ultrasound.”