Scientific committee members

David Keast

David H. Keast BSc, MSc, Dip Ed, MD, CCFP, FCFP(LM)

Dr. Keast, a native of London, Ontario, Canada, graduated from Western University with a Masters Degree in Chemistry and taught high school for 11 years before entering Queen’s University (Canada) to study medicine, graduating in 1985.

He is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. He practised Family Medicine for 25 years before focusing his practice on chronic wound and lymphoedema management. He is currently the Medical Director of the Outpatient Chronic Wound Management Clinic at the Parkwood Institute, London. Dr. Keast is Clinical Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and Associate Scientist in the Parkwood Research Institute, part of the Lawson Health Research Institute.

He has research interests in wound assessment tools, and the nature and characteristics of people living with lymphoedema. He has participated in multiple clinical trials. Dr. Keast is a founding board member and Past President of the Canadian Association of Wound Care (now Wounds Canada), the founding co-chair of the Canadian Lymphedema Framework and one of the founding members of the World Alliance for Wound and Lymphedema Care in cooperation with the World Health Organization. Dr. Keast is an internationally recognized educator and has published over 90 papers and eight book chapters.

Dr. Keast joined the ILF Board in June 2018.


Anna Kennedy

Anna Kennedy

Anna spent 30 years in corporate senior management, working in the areas of training and communications for international companies like Thomas Cook and American Express. Her last business role was Vice-President with Indigo-Chapters, Canada’s largest retail book store, before she transitioned to the charitable sector in 2006.

Anna is now well entrenched within the lymphedema community on multiple levels. She is a Founding Director of the Canadian Lymphedema Framework and provides leadership in her role as both the CLF’s Executive Director and Editor of Pathways – Canada`s lymphedema magazine. She was appointed in 2012 to the Board of the International Lymphoedema Framework and since 2015 has been serving in her role on the ILF Executive Committee as Executive Secretary. Her contributions to the ILF include communications and conference organization. She was responsible for organizing the first International Lymphoedema Framework conference outside of England – (2011 Canada) and has been on the organizing committees of all the ILF subsequent conferences.

In 2012, Anna was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her leadership and contribution to the lives of Canadians. As a cancer survivor, living with lymphedema, Anna advocates healthy living and a positive attitude to help manage her life-long condition. She has presented on patient advocacy initiatives at numerous national and international conferences.


Susan Nørregaard

Susan Nørregaard RN, DH

Susan is a specialist nurse in wound healing and lymphoedema working at Bispebjerg University Hospital in Copenhagen. She graduated from Sankt Lukas Stiftelsens Nursing School in Hellerup in 1988. Together with Professor Finn Gottrup and other collaborators, she established the Copenhagen Wound Healing Center in 1996 working as staff nurse in the outpatient clinic, with clinical responsibility for the development of clinical guidelines for the treatment of venous leg ulcers.

Susan has 25 years of experience in treating chronic oedema and in 2006, she established the first multidisciplinary lymphoedema clinic in Denmark, at the Copenhagen Wound Healing Center together with Dr. Tonny Karlsmark and Dr. Bo Jørgensen.

Together with Dr. Tonny Karlsmark she established the Danish Lymphoedema Framework in 2010 and she has been an ILF board member since 2011.

Susan has been a teacher at postgraduate education for healthcare professionals in Copenhagen and has developed teaching programmes for nurses treating patients with compression therapy. She has coordinated several international research projects and has been author and co-author on scientific articles.


Neil Piller

Professor  Neil  Piller  Neil  is  Vice-Chair  of  the  International  Lymphoedema  Framework,  an  editorial  board  member  of  Journal  of  Lymphoedema,  Lymphatic  Research/Biology  and  Lymphology.  He  is  director  of  the  Lymphoedema  Clinical  Research  Unit  at  Flinders  and  Patron  of  the  South  Australian  Lymphoedema  Support  Group.  Neil  is  committed  to  improving  outcomes  for  patients  by  ensuring  treatment/management  is  targeted/sequenced  and  that  patient’s  needs  are  at  the  core  of  these  actions  and  intents.  


Isabelle Quéré

Professor Isabelle Quéré MD, PhD

Isabelle is a physician, Professor of Vascular Medicine at the University of Montpellier in France where she is Head of the Vascular and Lymphology Medicine Department.

Her main research areas include venous thromboembolism (VTE) disease, lymphatic and venous post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS), and rare vascular diseases. She has published internationally. She also teaches in a range of other subjects at the University.

Isabelle has experience working closely with International Societies and Charities, some of which she has been a Chair or a an active member of.

Since 2011 Isabelle has been the Head of the French Lymphoedema Framework, Partenariat Français du Lymphoedème –(PFL). She was the organiser and President of the last ILF Conference held in Montpellier in 2012 where she also ran a one week camp for nine children and young adults with lymphoedema, from four different countries.


Melanie Thomas

Melanie  is  a  Chartered  Physiotherapist  and  is  the  National  Clinical  Lead  for  Lymphoedema  Services  in  Wales,  UK.  She  was  instrumental  in  developing  equitable  lymphoedema  services  in  Wales  and  now  manages  the  award  winning  Lymphoedema  Network  Wales.    Melanie  qualified  as  a  lymphoedema  teacher  in  2005  as  part  of  the  Macmillan  Lymphoedema  Education  Programme  and  leads  on  the  education  programme  in  Wales,  delivering  MLD  and  lymphoedema  advanced  update  courses.    Melanie  has  been  the  principal  investigator  in  numerous  research  trials  in  lymphoedema.  She  has  just  submitted  her  Doctorate  with  Swansea  University  on  the  lymphoedema  risk  reducing  recommendations  for  people  treated  for  breast  cancer.  She  has  presented  and  published  widely  in  delivering  innovations  in  lymphoedema  care.      Melanie  is  currently  the  Programme  Manager  for  the  delivery  of  the  Lymphatic  Venous  Anastomosis  super  microsurgery  development  and  the  national  Paediatric  Services  in  Wales.    In  2012,  Melanie  became  the  first  Macmillan  Cancer  Fellow.  In  2013  was  awarded  a  MBE  in  the  Queen’s  Birthday  Honours.  In  2014,  she  was  presented  with  a  Distinguished  Service  Award  by  the  Chartered  Society  of  Physiotherapy  and  in  2015  was  awarded  a  Fellowship  by  the  Chartered  Society  of  Physiotherapy.  Melanie  joined  the  Board  of  Directors  for  the  International  Lymphoedema  Framework  in  June  2018.    


Jane Armer

Dr.  Jane  Armer  is  Professor,  University  of  Missouri  Sinclair  School  of  Nursing,  and  founding  Director,  American  Lymphedema  Framework  Project,  a  national  organization  housed  at  University  of  Missouri  which  aims  to  increase  awareness  of  lymphedema  and  improve  care  for  persons  with  lymphedema  in  the  US  and  around  the  world.  She  focuses  her  research  on  the  more-than-3-million  breast  cancer  survivors  who  are  at  risk  for  lymphedema.  She  has  conducted  extensive  work  in  lymphedema  incidence  and  prevalence;  signs  and  symptoms;  fatigue;  and  self-management  of  chronic  illness.  She  has  expertise  in  anthropometric  measurements  and  lymphedema  management.  Armer  has  published  more  than  100  research  articles,  more  than  60  of  which  are  focused  on  lymphedema.  She  holds  certification  as  a  lymphedema  therapist  and  serves  on  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Lymphology  Association  of  North  America  and  lead  for  the  Oncology  Nursing  Society  Lymphedema  Care  Guidelines.    Armer  has  received  numerous  honors,  including  the  International  Lymphoedema  Framework’s  Outstanding  Contribution  to  Research  award.  In  2008,  she  was  named  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Nursing.  In  July  2017,  she  was  inducted  into  the  Nurse  Researcher  Hall  of  Fame  of  Sigma  Theta  Tau  International,  the  nursing  honor  society.  She  was  named  Extraordinary  Professor,  University  of  Western  Cape,  RSA. 


Marcia Beck

Marcia S. Beck ACNS-BC; CLT-LANA

Mrs. Beck is a Clinical Nurse Specialist-Adult Health, and a Certified Lymphedema Therapist. She is a 25 year Breast cancer survivor, which changed the focus of her nursing career.

Marcia received her BS in Nursing from Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, and a MS in Nursing from University of Missouri Columbia. 

Marcia is a certified Healthy-Steps instructor, member of the American Lymphedema Framework Project (ALFP) steering committee, Board member Lymphology Association of North America (LANA), and on the Symptom Management Group for Oncology Nurses Society (ONS).

As a member of ALFP and ONS, co-authored publications:

*Website Updates to Oncology Nurses Society Putting Evidence into Practice PEP (Lymphedema)

* Precision health and precision phenotype assessment of breast cancer-related Lymphedema.

ADVANCE for Nurses, 2(9): 14-16.

*Simplifying evidence-based management of breast cancer-related Lymphedema

EXPERT REVIEW OF QUALITY OF LIFE IN CANCER CARE Vol.1, ISS.5, 2016

*Putting Evidence into Practice, a Pocket guide to cancer Symptom management 

ONS Publications, Ch 13, pp.149-155.


Michael Bernas

Michael  Bernas,  MS  Mike  is  currently  an  Associate  Professor  and  the  Director  of  the  Scholarly  Pursuit  and  Thesis  student  research  projects  at  the  TCU  and  UNTHSC  School  of  Medicine.  He  has  been  involved  in  many  aspects  of  basic,  clinical,  and  translational  Lymphology  since  starting  his  work  in  the  lymphatic  field  at  the  University  of  Arizona  in  1989.  His  expertise  is  in  imaging  techniques  of  the  lymphatic  system,  animal  models  of  lymphedema  and  treatment,  transgenic  mice,  lymphatic  and  blood  vascular  growth  factors,  genetics  of  lymphedema,  and  diagnosis/evaluation  of  patients  in  the  clinic.  In  addition,  Mike  is  the  Executive  Editor  of  the  scientific  journal  Lymphology  which  is  the  official  publication  of  the  International  Society  of  Lymphology.    


Joseph Feldman

Joseph Feldman, M.D., CLT-LANA is the Medical Director of the NorthShore University HealthSystem Lymphedema Treatment Center, Evanston, IL and a Senior Clinician/Educator , University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine,  Chicago, IL.

Dr. Feldman is the Co-Director of the American Lymphedema Framework Project.  He is a founder and is President of the Lymphology Association of North America. Dr. Feldman manages patients with primary and secondary lymphedema and lectures to medical professionals and cancer support groups.   He has published several articles and has contributed to book chapters.

Dr. Feldman is the Program Director of the 9th ILF Conference.


Mei Fu

Dr.  Mei  R.  Fu  (PhD,  RN,  FAAN)  is  a  Tenured  Associate  Professor  of  Nursing  at  Rory  Meyers  College  of  Nursing  from  New  York  University.  Dr.  Fu  is  a  Fellow  of  American  Academy  of  Nursing,  Senior  Fellow  of  Geriatrics  at  the  Hartford  Institute  of  Geriatrics  and  Fellow  of  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine.  She  is  in  the  Sigma  Theta  Tau  International  Nurse  Researcher  Hall  of  Fame.  Her  scientific  focus  has  been  on  lymphedema,  cancer-related  symptoms,  and  management  of  chronic  illnesses.  Her  research  incorporates  qualitative  and  quantitative  methods,  genomic  and  biomarker  approaches  and  cutting  edge  technology  as  well  as  innovative  behavioral  interventions.  Her  research  has  been  supported  by  National  Institute  of  Health,  National  Science  Foundation,  the  Oncology  Nursing  Society,  the  Hartford  Institute  of  Geriatric  Nursing,  the  Avon  Foundation,  Judges  and  Lawyers  for  Breast  Cancer  Alert,  Pfizer  Independent  Learning  and  Change  grant.  She  has  over  100  high  quality  publications  in  peer-reviewed  journals,  professional  journals,  book  chapters,  and  scholarly  professional  publications.  She  has  over  130  invited  or  peer-reviewed  keynote  and  podium  presentations  at  international,  national,  regional,  and  local  conferences.  Her  research  has  been  recognized  with  numerous  awards  from  the  Oncology  Nursing  Society,  International  Lymphology  Association,  Journal  of  Nursing  Diagnosis,  and  International  Research  Promotion  Council.