When: Thursday January 12, 2017 – 7:30 PM
Where: Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus) – Humanities Building (HU), Conference Room 009
(Get Directions, Campus Map)

Speaker:Yousef Zarbalian, MD
Language: English

Synopsis:

The cause of autoimmune diseases is complex and multifactorial: genetic, environmental, hormonal, and immunologic factors are all considered important in their development. The world’s increasing incidence and prevalence of autoimmune diseases over the past 30 years suggests that environmental risk factors are playing a major role. Chronic psychological stress has been implicated in the development of autoimmune disease, but what does this mean in practical terms? We will explore the nature of short-term and chronic stress and their protective and pathologic impacts on immune function. Based on the available scientific literature, we will discuss what steps may be taken on an individual and societal level to potentially prevent autoimmune disease and, ultimately, enhance overall well-being.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Yousef Zarbalian is a board-certified rheumatologist and internist. He obtained his medical doctorate (M.D.) from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed internal medicine residency at the University of Maryland followed by rheumatology fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He has done research on vasculitis (Giant cell arteritis) and presented his research at the 2016 American College of Rheumatology conference. Dr. Zarbalian started clinical practice at the Northern Virginia Center for Arthritis in August 2016 and he takes care of patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitis, lupus, and sjogren’s syndrome.

When: Thursday November 10, 2016 – 7:30 PM
Where: Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus) – Humanities Building (HU), Conference Room 009
(Get Directions, Campus Map)

Speaker: Mehrdad Michael Massumi, MD
Language: Farsi

Synopsis:

Alzheimer disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder marked by cognitive and behavioral impairment that significantly interferes with social and occupational functioning. It is an incurable disease with a long preclinical period and progressive course. In this talk new developments conducive to an early diagnosis and thus more effective treatment will be provided. The current state of imaging technology, the current treatment protocols and advancing research in therapeutics will be discussed.
Differentiation of Alzheimer Disease from other causes for dementia is important to allow for proper treatment of reversible causes for dementia. Many conditions may mimic the clinical findings of AD but are treatable. Some of these will be reviewed.
Upon attending this lecture the audience will have a more thorough appreciation of the complexity of diagnosis and the multivariate treatment options for Alzheimer Disease – a disease that now ranks in the top five causes of morbidity and mortality in the USA.

About the Speaker:

Mehrdad Michael Massumi, MD is a board-certified specialist in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management.
After graduation with honors from the University of Birmingham Medical School (UK) and two years of surgical residency training at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. he undertook and concluded successfully his residency in Rehabilitation Medicine in Seattle, WA in 1988. He remains active at Harvard Postgraduate Medical Association.
Dr. Massumi has been in practice for twenty-eight years in Maryland. He was the founder or director of many Rehabilitation, Spine and Pain clinics in the Baltimore Metropolitan hospitals. He is a former clinical faculty of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical School. He is currently in private practice in Baltimore and more recently also in Rockville, MD.
In his twenty-eight years of practice of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Pain Management Dr. Massumi has treated over 12,000 patients. He is referred patients from community and hospital based physicians of all specialties as well as nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists and other allied healthcare providers. Patients are from Maryland, other States and other countries.

When: Thursday September 15, 2016 – 7:30 PM
Where: Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus) – Humanity Building (HU), Conference Room 009 (Get Directions, Campus Map )

Speaker: Bob Tahmassebi, M.Sc.
Language: English

Synopsis:

The invention of the TV dates back to 1927.  For many decades the TV industry was highly lucrative and immune to change and disruption.  However, several recent trends have dramatically shifted the Media and TV landscape.  This lecture will focus on three major disruptions that continue to reshape the Media and TV distribution business:

1. Changes in consumer viewership and behavior – Content on-demand to any device / anywhere, desire for skinny TV bundles
2. Increased levels of competition – User-generated content, media company initiatives in direct-to-consumer distribution, over-the-top video
3. Technological innovation / disruption – Cloud technologies, residential broadband, mobile video, big data / analytics, advanced advertising

The lecture will touch on the financial drivers and implications of these disruptions and how Media and TV distribution companies are responding to these changes.

About the Speaker:

Mr. Tahmassebi is a Senior Manager for Business Development and Strategy in Cisco’s Cable, Media, and Worldwide Video sales organization. He leads sales business development and planning initiatives across next generation data center and cloud technologies, cloud-enabled video, big data / analytics, automation/orchestration, and business services across the largest cable Service Providers in the US and Mexico. In this capacity, he has responsibility for analyzing market trends to make actionable recommendations across Cisco’s technology portfolio, to work with Cisco’s lead Service Provider customers to transform their business with Cisco solutions, and to lead all aspects of sales organizational planning and development. He engages in complex deal structure development, business modeling, and new business identification with a focus on: cloud transformation, cloud video and virtualization technologies, and B2B and B2C monetization.
Mr. Tahmassebi holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland College Park, and an MS in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University. He completed an extensive executive development program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and is pursuing the coveted Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.