Speakers

 "We will review a video describing St. Jude's history and mission, and discuss how much this research institution has accomplished in its 55-year history.  We will also comment on St. Jude's impact in California."

Wendy Keefe is a Regional Director with the Gift Planning team at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She works primarily with families and individuals in the western region interested in legacy giving. Wendy holds an MS in health policy and has long been inspired by the unique operating model and family-centered care at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Three years ago she traded the concrete jungle of New York City for the California Oaks of Portola Valley, and now with her husband and two children, happily calls the Bay Area home.

Sam Alkan is a Sr. Philanthropic Advisor with St. Jude’s Gift Planning department, where she works closely with families looking to make direct impact on St. Jude through donations of cash, stock, and assets such as art or real estate.  Passionate about all aspects of finance, from personal wealth and estate planning to risk management, Sam earned two degrees in finance and numerous licenses for investment and insurance-benefit brokerage. Prior to joining St. Jude, Sam also used to live in NY City where she worked with the top investors of the world to launch several investment funds.

Born and raised in China, Mr. Nan Su came to the U.S. in 1989. He has been serving as a news commentator for SOH International Chinese Radio Network and NTD International TV Network since 2003, commenting on a wide range of national and international news events. In the past decade, Mr. Su has made many speeches at public events on topics related to China. He has also been publishing poems, short stories, and prose in Chinese since 2000.

In addition to his media work, Mr. Su is an advocate for human rights in China. He was one of the coordinators of Human Rights Torch Relay in 2008 prior to Beijing Olympics. Starting from Athens, the Human Rights Torch Relay spanned from July 2007 to July 2008, with stops at more than 100 cities around the world in order to raise international awareness of China’s human rights situation.  Mr. Su was instrumental in making San Jose as the first stop of the torch relay in North America.

Besides his involvement in the public, Mr. Su holds a Master degree in Engineering and has been a professional engineer for over 20 years. Mr. Su has been married for 27 years, and currently lives with his wife and two daughters in San Jose, California.

There are a million microorganisms in a speck of seawater, and we have only a limited understanding of what these organisms ‘do’—what they ‘eat,’ how they survive, or how they interact.  However, we do know that the collective activities of these tiny cells drive global cycles of biologically‑essential elements such as nitrogen and carbon, and that global biogeochemical cycles have been subsequently altered by human activities.

Their Mission is to repair children’s broken smiles by providing free comprehensive treatment for cleft lip and palate anomalies in under-served areas of the world. They organize and send surgical teams to sites for two-week missions. A surgical team is comprised of approximately 15 medical volunteers, supported by approximately 5 non-medical volunteers. During a mission 70 to 100 under-served children receive surgery for cleft lip & palate anomalies. The AfS team works side-by-side with local medical practitioners to exchange ideas on proper medical techniques and procedures, as well as to provide follow-up care.
AfS provides care to all patients, regardless of sex, age, economic status, educational background, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity or marital status.

Because many of you asked to have Dr. Doty visit our club. Dr. Doty is the author of the NY Times Bestselling book: Into the Magic Shop. It's a neurosurgeon's quest to discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart. 

Today he is the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, of which the Dalai Lama is a founding benefactor. But back then his life was at a dead end until at twelve he wandered into a magic shop looking for a plastic thumb. Instead, he met Ruth, a woman who taught him a series of exercises to ease his own suffering and manifest his greatest desires. Her final mandate was that he keep his heart open and teach these techniques to others. She gave him his first glimpse of the unique relationship between the brain and the heart.