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A mayor battles a large brain tumor threatening
his sight and ability to communicate. A college footballstar overcomes Hodgkin’s lymphoma then joins the NFL.
A family-focused woman finds relief after a decade ofsuffering from severe asthma. In the following pages,
you’ll meet these patients who triumphed over complex
medical conditions, made possible by UPMC’s expert
physicians and their dedication to providing
compassionate care to patients from across the U.S.
Also, you’ll read about UPMC’s investment in
Pittsburgh’s future, with the building of threestate-of-the-art specialty hospitals.

STORIES OFRESILIENCEAND
STRENGTH

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Robert Friedlander, MD
Neurosurgeon

MAYOR BEATSDANGEROUS
BRAIN TUMOR
M“I have anappreciation forlife I’ve neverhad before.”Mark Boughton
Mayor, Danbury, Conn.

ark Boughton is a busy man. His daily routine as
the mayor of Danbury, Conn. consists of countlessmeetings, hundreds of phone calls and emails, and barely
enough time to squeeze in a quick lunch.

“We have great doctors and hospitals in this area,” Marksays. “But after speaking with Dr. Friedlander and learning
more about his expertise, I knew that he was the right guy.”

Describing himself as “an extremely energetic person,” Markwas always ready to tackle whatever lay ahead of him. But
one day that all changed. “I started to get extremely tired in
the middle of the afternoon for no reason,” Mark says. “Thisjust wasn’t how my body functioned.”

Because the cyst in Mark’s brain was surrounded by important
brain tissue and arteries, Dr. Friedlander used an advanced
brain imaging technology known as High Definition Fiber
Tracking (HDFT) to determine the best approach to surgery.

As time went on, Mark’s exhaustion continued and he began
having terrible headaches. Then, something happened thatmade him extremely worried. He lost his vision for 25 minutes.

Rare Diagnosis
Mark immediately went to the emergency room, wheredoctors found a mass the size of a lemon inside his brain.
The mass was later determined to be an epidermoid cyst,
or tumor, which forms during embryonic development.
A cluster of skin cells gets trapped and grows slowly over
the years, until the cyst starts to cause symptoms like theheadaches, exhaustion, and vision loss that Mark experienced.
While it wasn’t cancer, the cyst would continue to grow andcause devastating symptoms, including increasing vision loss
and the inability to speak.
“What good is a mayor who can’t communicate?” he asks.
Mark consulted with numerous doctors in Boston andNew York, and repeatedly was given the name of Dr.
Robert Friedlander, chairman of the UPMC Departmentof Neurosurgery.

Call 1-800-533-UPMC (8762) or visit UPMC.com

A Complex Surgical Approach“During the surgery, HDFT played an important role because
we used the scans as a roadmap to navigate around important
brain structures and remove the cyst,” Dr. Friedlander says.
When Mark woke up in the intensive care unit, Dr. Friedlander
was there to tell him that the cyst was completely gone.
“I shouted and pumped my fists when he told me that,”
Mark says.

Back to City Hall
In a little more than a week, Mark returned home and picked
up right where he left off — at City Hall.
“I wanted to get right back to work,” Mark says. “I did only afew hours a day at first, but then I was able to get right back toworking full time, just like I had been before any of this started.”
Now, as Mark gears up for a run for governor, he’s thankfulthat the team at UPMC successfully removed the cyst andgot him back to feeling 100 percent.
“I have an appreciation for life I’ve never had before,” he says.
“Dr. Friedlander and everyone at UPMC were truly incredible.
They’re the best in the world at what they do. Period.”

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Stanley Marks, MD
Medical Oncologist

UNSTOPPABLE
FORCEIn September of 2015, James Conner began his junioryear as one of the best college football players in thecountry. The year before, he rushed for 1,765 yards, had
26 touchdowns, and was named the Atlantic Coast
Conference Player of the Year. But then catastrophe
struck. During Pitt’s season opener against Youngstown
State, he tore his MCL. It was a season-ending injury
with months of rehab. He was crushed to be torn awayfrom the game he loved. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

“During one of the press conferences, I heard him say thatthe cancer I had was 85% curable,” James says. “It gave
me a lot of hope.”“I was rehabbing my knee, and while I’m lifting I can seethat I’m getting out of breath really fast,” James says.
“My face was swelling up. I had dizziness a lot.”“James would come in for treatment, and then go to thegym the next day at 5:30 in the morning and work out
extremely hard with all his teammates,” says Dr. Marks.
“I couldn’t believe it. He’s definitely a fighter.”James visited an ear, nose, and throat specialist, whoordered an X-ray of James’ chest, which led to a positronemission tomography (PET) scan — and the discovery ofa large tumor near his superior vena cava, the main veinthat drains blood from the upper body. The tumor wasdiagnosed as stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma, meaning it
had likely started in his neck and spread to his chest.
“I was just dumbfounded, mostly. First a torn MCL, andnow cancer?” he says. “It’s just one of those things you
never expect to be said to you.”

Ready for BattleBut James was a fighter. He wanted to beat it. And hewould do anything he could to make that happen. Someencouraging words from his medical oncologist, StanleyMarks, MD, chairman of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center,helped jumpstart that.

Call 1-800-533-UPMC (8762) or visit UPMC.com

Over the next six months, James fought through 12 roundsof chemotherapy, each more difficult than the previous. His
teammates stuck by his side throughout, providing support
whenever he needed it. He was so determined to make acomeback to football, he was doing things even his doctor
couldn’t believe.

Cancer’s Time is Up
On May 23, 2016, he got the most important call of hislife. It was Dr. Marks, who told James he was cancer free.
A complete remission.
“I couldn’t stop thanking him,” James says. “It was like thebiggest weight had been lifted off my shoulders.”
James returned to the lineup that fall and played in all 13of Pitt’s games. He ran for 132 yards in the Panthers’ upset
win against number-two-ranked Clemson. He was back tobeing an elite player less than four months after beatingcancer. And all his hard work payed off. James was draftedby the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2017
NFL draft.
“It’s a dream come true,” James says. “To be where I wasat in 2015 and now I’m in the NFL…it’s truly amazing.”“ First a torn MCL, andnow cancer? It’s justone of those things
you never expect tobe said to you.”James Conner
Pittsburgh Steelers Running BackBestDoctors

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Sally E. Wenzel, MD
Pulmonologist“ When you’re withDr. Wenzel, youfeel like you’re her
only patient.”
Tere LongTraveling Patient

FINDINGHER BREATH
B

ack in 1997, two years after moving to Chicago withher husband and three children, Tere Long noticed thatroutine household activities were leaving her exhausted andshort of breath. Local doctors diagnosed Tere with allergyinduced asthma. She started taking traditional asthma
medications, but they were only slightly effective.
After more than a decade of unsuccessful treatment, Terereached her breaking point. “I was really having to think
through every aspect of my day to limit climbing the stairs
and overexerting myself,” she says. In addition to shortnessof breath and exhaustion, she developed severe tightness inher chest. Tere was tired of the disease controlling her lifeand decided to take charge.
Her doctor referred her to an asthma clinic where sheunderwent a bronchoscopy. When that test was inconclusive,
Tere’s medical team recommended she be evaluated for alung transplant.
Preparing for the worst, Tere and her husband thoroughly
researched transplant programs in the U.S. They were both
impressed with UPMC’s rich transplant history and madethe decision to travel to Pittsburgh. After a full work-up,
the transplant team was convinced that Tere’s lungs weresalvageable, and referred her to Sally E. Wenzel, MD, aworld-renowned asthma expert and researcher at theUniversity of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute at UPMC.

Connected with Advanced Care
Every few months, Tere traveled nearly 500 miles eachway from Chicago to Pittsburgh to be closely monitored byDr. Wenzel and her team. She was prescribed medications
that helped ease her symptoms for a few years. But in 2013,Call 1-800-533-UPMC (8762) or visit UPMC.com

after moving to St. Petersburg, Fla., her symptoms began to
get worse.
Dr. Wenzel recommended Tere undergo a lung biopsy, which
revealed autoimmune issues, and subsequently Sjögren’s
Syndrome. This is a disease in which the immune system
attacks the glands that make moisture for the body, including
the lungs. Factoring in a previous diagnosis of ulcerative
colitis, Dr. Wenzel put Tere on immunosuppressants toreduce her immune system’s errant attacks on her body.
Dr. Wenzel also added a monthly injectable medicine to help
prevent severe asthma attacks.
Since then, Tere’s symptoms have steadily improved to thepoint that she only visits Dr. Wenzel a few times a year. She
doesn’t mind traveling 1,000 miles each way from Fla., becauseof the personalized care she receives. “When you’re withDr. Wenzel, you feel like you’re her only patient,” Tere says.

Family First
Last year, Tere went to Seattle, Wash. for the birth of her
daughter’s twins. She spent nearly two months helping witheverything from grocery shopping and laundry to bathing
and caring for the babies. “Had I been asked to help out inthe past, my asthma would have flared and I would have beena burden to my daughter instead of helping her,” Tere says.
Back at home in St. Petersburg, Tere and her husband enjoy
boating, fishing, community events, and outings with theirdog, as well as caring for her daughter’s two horses.
“Now I don’t have to think about juggling the minutes of theday so I can function,” she says. “Because of Dr. Wenzel I
have my life back.”

For more information on these patients and the new hospitals, visit UPMC.com/Patients.
These patients’ treatments and results may not be representative of all similar cases.

BestDoctors

2018Special Advertising Section

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Today We Build:
UPMC’s Pioneering
Vision for the Future

The next chapter of health care is on the horizon. Over the next five years,
UPMC will build three new specialty hospitals offering innovative treatments
in technology-enhanced facilities — all tailored to patients’ needs.

UPMC Vision and Rehabilitation Hospital

UPMC Hillman Cancer Hospital

The 300,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in 2020 and will be built near
UPMC Mercy. This hospital will specialize in advanced vision care and research, and willoffer technology-assisted rehabilitation to restore mobility for patients with wide-ranging
physical and cognitive challenges.

The UPMC Hillman Cancer Hospital will include a 240,000-square-foot patient tower and 160,000square-foot outpatient center built near UPMC Shadyside. Expected to open in 2022, the facility willoffer comprehensive care for rare cancers and innovative clinical trials utilizing the latest technologies.

“Our vision services will be easy to access, both in person and through telemedicine. We will implement
cutting-edge techniques for cataract and refractive surgery, corneal diseasetechnologies, and novel retina therapies. We are also developing programs on
brain-computer interfaces to stimulate the brain directly in the blind. This willbe the next generation hospital, one that is fully connected and focused on
patient experience.
José-Alain Sahel, MD
Chair, Department of Ophthalmology
Director, UPMC Eye Center“The new rehabilitation facility will be a center of innovation and an incubator for new technologies.
We’ll explore the healing power of biology and engineering through regenerative
rehabilitation, robotics-assisted therapies, and personalized exercise-based
approaches to help patients regain function as they recover. And by centralizing
the researchers, clinicians, and therapists, we will not just impact patient care,but create a roadmap for future research.
Gwendolyn Sowa, MD, PhD
Chair, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Director, UPMC Rehabilitation Institute“As the region’s only Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by the National Cancer
Institute, we have demonstrated our expertise in providing the highest level of cancer care andresearch. The new hospital will allow us to build upon our history of success in fostering close
collaboration between physicians and researchers. We expect this to accelerate our efforts
so that new discoveries in the lab can more quickly become innovative treatments for patients.”
Stanley M. Marks, MD
Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology at UPMC Shadyside
Chairman, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center

UPMC Heart and Transplant Hospital
The 15-story, 620-bed facility will be the largest of the three new hospitals and will be located at
UPMC Presbyterian. The hospital will build on UPMC’s pioneering legacy in the field of organ transplantation
and will offer the most advanced organ transplant and cardiac procedures.
“The new hospital will further explore advances in molecular technology, imaging, and predictive modeling thatallow us to tailor personalized care for patients suffering from cardiovascular disease. Not only can we perform
transplants and place artificial hearts, we can now routinely replace a valve while the patient is awake and theheart is beating.”
Joon Sup Lee, MD
Chief, Division of Cardiology
Co-Director, UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute“ From living-donor liver transplants to immune therapy, we are excited to push frontiers and continue therich legacy established by Dr. Thomas Starzl. We will design the hospital to ensure it is patient-centered anddelivers the highest quality care. Our goal is to provide the most innovative and comprehensive transplant careavailable anywhere in the world.”
Abhinav Humar, MD
Chief, Division of Transplantation
UPMC Department of Surgery
Clinical Director, Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation InstituteCall 1-800-533-UPMC (8762) or visit UPMC.com

BestDoctors

2018