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Based in New York, Breathe Easy Play Hard (Foundation) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to young athletes with asthma and youth with asthma who simply want to stay fit-and the team of parents, coaches, teachers and peers (along with their physician) who care about their health and well-being.
The Foundation's mission is to provide clear, concise and accessible educational, guidance and self-help resources for young people with asthma in easy-to-understand terms. We will do our best to de-mystify complicated medical jargon. |
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BEPH is committed to helping build the teamwork necessary between young people, parents, coaches, teachers, peers and physicians to effectively meet the challenges and obstacles presented by asthma. BEPH has one purpose in mind: Support the goal of being the best you can be with the action that can help make it happen.
BEPH envisions a world where all youth will exercise-with and without asthma-so that they may reap the myriad of health, psychological, and physical benefits it will bring them for the rest of their lives.
BEPH envisions a world where each and every parent, coach, teacher and loved one is better equipped with the easy-to-understand information necessary to help recognize undiagnosed or misdiagnosed young people with asthma. |
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Got asthma? So what. You can still be a competitive youth athlete.
Got asthma? So what. You can still actively play sports or exercise to stay healthy.
Yes, you can win with asthma. Yes, you will win with asthma. In both sports and life. |
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JANIS I. SCHAEFFER, M.D. - FOUNDER, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Pediatric pulmonologist Dr. Janis I. Schaeffer specializes in the diagnosis, treatment and management of young people (birth through the age of 21) with a variety of breathing and lung diseases. For more than two decades, Dr. Schaeffer has focused on the effects of asthma on young athletes in particular, and on the overall importance of exercise for youngsters maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle.
In 2008, Dr. Schaeffer founded the Breathe Easy Play Hard (BEPH) Foundation, as part of her ongoing medical and personal commitment to lifelong learning and advocacy for youth athletes with asthma and the benefits of exercise.
Under Dr. Schaeffer's tutelage, the BEPH Foundation has held special youth athletes-with-asthma clinics with professional sports franchises, for example, the New York Rangers and New York Knicks and is currently preparing customized clinics for numerous other National Hockey League, National Basketball Association and Major League Soccer teams.
She is currently developing customized "Winning With Asthma" seminars and workshops that will be rolled out to sports camps and clinics, school professionals (coaches, gym teachers, and nurses), as well as after-school sports programs.
Most recently, Dr. Schaeffer has been studying the multiple environmental triggers and pollution factors faced by young athletes who will compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her major concerns include: dealing with the effects that pollution and environmental conditions will have on exercise-induced asthma; the critical correlation between optimizing asthma control and ensuring the best athletic performance possible under challenging circumstances; and the need for an athlete to adjust his or her "normal" self-management plan to mitigate the effects from exposure to severe environmental triggers.
Dr. Schaeffer believes it is equally important that the pulmonologist understands the quickly changing emotional, psychological and social landscape that may affect an athlete with asthma's performance and overall health risk factors presented by such potentially unprecedented environmental stress.
In private practice for the past twenty years, Dr. Schaeffer has consulted on thousands of young patients exclusively for pulmonary and chronic lung conditions, including asthma.
Prior to private practice, Dr. Schaeffer was the Chief of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine (ICU) at Schneider Children's Hospital (North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medial Center) on Long Island, N.Y. for 10 years.
Dr. Schaeffer is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Chest Physicians and a long-standing member of the American Thoracic Society. She has been recognized by Castle Connolly, U.S. News and World Report, and New York Magazine ("100 Best Doctors") as one of the top doctors in Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine.
A graduate of New York University and SUNY Downstate Medical School, she completed her fellowship training in Pediatric Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Columbia University-College of Physicians and Surgeons, Babies Hospital in New York. She also conducted research on the control of breathing in newborns and authored numerous scientific publications.
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LYNN M. TAUSSIG, M.D. - BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Lynn M. Taussig is currently a Special Advisor to the Provost (for the Life Sciences) at the University of Denver and a consultant to National Jewish Medical and Research Center, considered to be the #1 Respiratory Hospital in the United States for ten consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. He also serves as the chair of the steering committee for the National Institutes of Health's Childhood Asthma Research and Education (CARE) Network.
A pioneer in pediatric pulmonology, he retired in 2006 after more than a decade as President/CEO of National Jewish.
Prior to the position, he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Director, Steele Children's Research Center at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center. A faculty member of the University of Arizona for two decades, Dr. Taussig began the Pediatric Pulmonary Section at the institution. More than 25 years ago, he initiated the Tucson Children's Respiratory Study, an ongoing major longitudinal study of the risk factors for asthma.
The pre-eminent pediatric pulmonologist is the author of more than 165 scientific publications and six books and monographs and the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the the Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Thoracic Society, the Kendig Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Alumni Achievement Award from Washington University School of Medicine,
Dr. Taussig is a graduate of Harvard University and Washington University School of Medicine.
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JAMES L. DOLAN - BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT AND CEO
CABLEVISION SYSTEMS CORPORATION
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, THE MADISON SQUARE GARDEN COMPANY
As President and CEO of Cablevision, James L. Dolan oversees the company's extensive media and telecommunications properties. Mr. Dolan also serves as Executive Chairman of The Madison Square Garden Co., a leading sports and entertainment company. Under Mr. Dolan's direction, Cablevision is one of the nation's largest operators of cable telecommunications systems, which deliver a full suite of Optimum-branded digital television, voice and high-speed Internet services to millions of people across the New York tri-state area. Also under his purview at Cablevision are News 12 Networks' local news channels; Newsday Media Group, featuring Long Island's daily newspaper Newsday and the New York City daily, amNewYork; and MSG Varsity.
In his leadership role at The Madison Square Garden Co., Mr. Dolan oversees the management of the company's many entities, including the MSG arena, New York City's Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theatre, The Chicago Theatre, Boston's Wang Theatre and the Forum in Los Angeles. Other entities include: the New York Knicks, Rangers, and Liberty; live entertainment company, MSG Entertainment; regional sports and entertainment networks, MSG and MSG Plus; and national music network, Fuse.
A telecommunications and entertainment executive for nearly four decades, Mr. Dolan began his career with Cablevision in the 1970s and, prior to assuming his current roles, was CEO of Rainbow Media, the former Cablevision programming subsidiary now known as AMC Networks Inc. He serves on Cablevision's executive committee and is a member of the board of directors for Cablevision, The Madison Square Garden Co., and AMC Networks.
Mr. Dolan is also a founding board member of The Lustgarten Foundation, the nation's largest private supporter of pancreatic cancer research, and he supports the Garden of Dreams Foundation, a non-profit that partners with The Madison Square Garden Co.'s various entities to help children in crisis throughout the New York area. He is an avid musician and resides on Long Island.
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If you wish to contact BEPH specifically for marketing, fund raising, donations, community relations, speaking engagements, media relations and interview purposes:
Contact: Stan L. Friedman
By email: stan@beph.com
By phone: 415.726.9876 |
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