Hilene (Bonnie) Topper-Bricker RN, BSN, CHPN – Advisory Board Member

Hilene (Bonnie) Topper-Bricker RN, BSN, CHPN, has practiced hospice and palliative care for the last 10 years. Ms. Topper works not only with patients, but reassures, advocates for, and most importantly, listens to everyone affected by a challenging illness. Ms. Topper practiced critical care nursing at Detroit Receiving Hospital. She has taken part in several research projects and has been nominated for many awards in her field of expertise. Additionally, Ms. Topper was sent to Israel to act as a consultant for the Northern Galilee Home Hospice.

Lynn Fisher – Advisory Board Member

Lynn Fisher is the Director of Foundation Grants and Planned Giving at Karmanos Cancer Institute. She secures funding from private and family foundations to support the priorities of the Institute. Ms. Fisher also manages the Karmanos planned giving program to encourage donors to consider giving through their estate and to participate in the Dr. Vee Legacy of Hope Society.

Ms. Fisher has twenty years of non-profit experience with fifteen years in fundraising working for Cranbrook Institute of Science, Cranbrook Educational Community, and Planned Parenthood of Southeast Michigan. She is a graduate of Michigan State University and has a degree in elementary education.

Terry Fornwall - Advisory Board Member
Ms. Fornwall is a Pancreatic Cancer Survivor and advocate celebrating her 5 year anniversary of being cancer free.

Nick Karmanos - Advisory Board Member

Nick Karmanos joined the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in May 2000. He has successfully served the Institute in various fundraising capacities that culminated with his appointment to Vice President of Development in January 2005. The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is one of only 41 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. It focuses solely on treating cancer - all types of cancer. As Michigan’s only cancer hospital, Karmanos is positioned to be among the nation’s top 10 comprehensive cancer centers. More than 6,000 new patients seek diagnosis and treatment annually. Karmanos cares for patients through 14 multidisciplinary teams, each focused on a specific form of cancer. The Institute also conducts more than 700 cancer-specific investigation programs and clinical trials yearly.

Kenneth J. Levin, M.D. - Advisory Board Member

Dr. Levin is a senior staff physician, Josephine Ford Cancer Center at Henry Ford Health System and is the Medical Director, Department of Radiation Oncology at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital. He presently serves as the president of the Michigan Society of Therapeutic Radiologists and Oncologists, his state specialty society.

Dr. Levin attended medical school at the University of Michigan. He completed his post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and in Radiation Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he also completed a research fellowship. He is board-certified in both specialties. In addition, he received additional training in Gamma Knife Radiosurgery at the Karolinska Gamma Knife Center, at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden.

Dr. Levin has published a number of articles related to cancer treatment and has presented at a number of scientific meetings as well. Dr. Levin is a member of American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, American Medical Association, Michigan State Medical Society, Oakland County Medical Society, Michigan Society of Therapeutic Radiology, Leksell Gamma Knife Society, Radiation Therapy Oncology Group.

Steven Passon - Advisory Board Member

Steve Passon has been involved with the business and academic community in the Detroit metropolitan area for forty years. He worked in the college and university community as an assistant professor of American History and political science for ten years and currently serves as an adjunct professor of history at Macomb Community College.

Mr. Passon supports undergraduate and graduate degrees in history, political science, and economics from the University of Minnesota with postgraduate work in the field of American History at the University of Michigan. In 1971, he was named as one of the outstanding college professors in the nation.

Mr. Passon served as a trade association executive vice president for fourteen years and was an independent businessman and owner of TeamSearch, Inc. for sixteen years, a placement firm specializing in engineering.

Renee Peck - Advisory Board Member

Ms Peck is currently the Director of Annual Giving in the Office of Philanthropy at Henry Ford Health System. She has been fundraising for the health system since 2004 and has served in other roles at Henry Ford since beginning her career there in 1998. She has an undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences from Western Michigan University and a Masters degree in Community Health from Wayne State University. Ms. Peck is also active with other professional and charitable organizations, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Detroit, Community Health Charities of Michigan, and the Michigan Association of Healthcare Philanthropy.

Wendy W. Powers - Advisory Board Member

Ms. Powers serves on the board of the Jamison Williams Foundation, an organization that supports many arts projects and groups in southeast Michigan, including the DSO, MOT, Care House of Oakland County, and Junior League of Birmingham. She also served for over six years on the Behavioral Health Board of the Henry Ford Health System. Ms. Powers currently sits on the board of directors of the Clarke Powers Services, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Ann Silverman, MD FACG – Advisory Board Member

Dr. Silverman is the Director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital. Previously, Dr. Silverman was the Director of Gastroenterology / Hepatology Research at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI and was a Clinical Assistant Professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI. Dr. Silverman attended medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx , NY . She completed her post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Boston and completed a gastroenterology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. Dr. Silverman has published a number of articles relating to digestive diseases and to studies of the hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus. She is a member of American Gastroenterologic Association, American Association for Cancer Research, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, and Fellow of the American College of Gastroenterology.

Janice Steinhardt - Advisory Board Member

Janice Steinhardt is owner and kitchen designer of MDG DESIGN/thegreenkitchenproject and is an Industry Partner of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). She is a University of Michigan graduate with a BA degree in Speech Pathology and has a MA in Special Education from Oakland University.

Ms. Steinhardt’s affiliations include Cranbrook Art Academy and Museum Board of Governors, Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art Executive Board - The Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Jewish Women's Foundation.

Dr. Michael Tainsky - Advisory Board Member

Dr. Tainsky earned his bachelor’s degree at New York University in 1971 and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY in 1977. He came to the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in 1998 after 13 years on the faculty of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. As Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics he has developed programs that are a fusion of community outreach, laboratory research and clinical diagnostics research. He has published over 100 papers and holds the Barbara and Fred Erb Endowed Chair in Cancer Genetics. His lab has been studying molecular mechanisms by which cells convert from normal to cancer since 1985. Recently he has focused on the development of novel cancer diagnostics tests for the early detection of cancer in the form of a complex blood test.