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.
