You are not alone.
The Fund can financial support all training options.
Because of the generosity of so many, The Fund supports early diagnosis training for medical professionals, which has created awareness opportunities for early diagnosis for more than1,400 doctors, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, medical students, residents, and so many healthcare professionals. Since COVID in March 2020, the Conley Cushing's Disease Fund still reached over 600 individuals. It takes the average Cushing's patient between two to ten years to be properly diagnosed and often see more than a minimum of five different specialists before receiving a proper diagnosis. The goal of the training is to ensure that medical professionals and those working with Cushing's patients are equipped to spot the disease more quickly and effectively, and empathically manage Cushing's disease symptoms in patients.
Our organization has recently supported the following types of education initiatives:
- Lunch and Learns
- CME trainings
- Grand rounds
- Trainings for medical residents
- Trainings for medical students
"I'd like to thank the patients who attended for sharing such personal stories about the challenges they've faced due to this terrible disease. It is deeply powerful for us as future doctors to hear the human perspective behind the faceless textbook readings and lecture slides so that we can better grasp the impact that these diseases have on our patients, and to make us more empathetic physicians. It was so inspiring to hear your stories and to see how far you all have come while still facing challenges due to Cushing's every day. It was also profoundly moving and heartwarming to hear about the relationships that Dr. Kharlip has established with each of you, and how she has touched your lives and served as an uplifting partner to you on your journeys to better health. These are the kinds of relationships we hope to build as future doctors; relationships of profound understanding, partnership, and empathy. Thank you for coming to speak with us so that we could start establishing this understanding and empathy for patients with Cushing's, and so that we could be reminded of our goals and reasons for being in medical school." - Victoria, Student, Perelman School of Medicine
"Dr. Melmad’s lectures and fellow’s lunch session have undoubtedly been the highlight of our year thus far. I had the chance to attend both his IDOM lecture (on the role of GH in cancer pathogenesis) and endocrine grand rounds on novel Cushing’s therapies. Both were engaging, informative, and terrific. My favorite part of the day though was the ability to present a few of our challenging pituitary cases to him. We were able to present 4 in total, and I had the privilege of presenting two of these. Watching him think through these cases was truly enlightening. His genuine enthusiasm, knowledge, and interest created for a lively discussion and wonderful learning opportunity for us all. I look forward to learning from him again at the Pituitary society’s fellows course later this year." - Saachi, Fellow in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
"THANK YOU!! I have learned so much. He really has his original interpretation of data that’s different from the endo society guidelines. The attendance was huge especially with fellow applicants, Chop folks and trainees from other divisions, So hopefully he will move other people to get interested in Cushing's."
-Julia Kharlip, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, Associate Medical Director, Penn Pituitary Center, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
