X-Message-Number: 15624 Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 09:09:55 -0700 From: Linda Chamberlain <> Subject: One Week and Counting As this is my first Cryonet posting, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Jerry B. Lemler, a Board Certified Psychiatrist, with but one week under my belt as Alcor's Medical Director. My wife (Paula) and I have recently relocated to Scottsdale from the Cumberland Gap area of East Tennessee. We are both Alcor members, as is our daughter Jessica, who will be moving to Phoenix within the month. Our son Russell is a senior cadet at the United States military Academy in West Point, NY, and will graduate in June. My recently updated CV can be found on the Alcor website, as can my 7 page cursory introductory paper by keying in "In a Hurry?". My vision for cryotransport is to augment the building of our organization to the point where we are unhesitatingly prepared to achieve the highest level of cryoprotection available to our members in an expeditious fashion. Naturally, this will not happen overnight, but I assure you it will indeed become reality in the not too distant future. I intend, with the assistance of key benefactors, to replace (in stages) Alcor's all volunteer cadre of transport personnel with a full-time professional staff. While we move towards this superior level of capability, we have no intention of abandoning those outstanding volunteers whose knowledge and experience remain essential to us all. They will continue to be trained in cryotransport, and work under both my direction and our full-time paramedic staff. Certainly, on those rare occasions during which we have multiple suspensions occurring simultaneously, volunteer staff efforts become even more necessary, without argument. Additionally, in the past week I have become familiar with some Cryonet and e-mail postings, specifically grouped under the title "Concern Over Vitrification". As you are aware, up to this point in time Alcor has been (perhaps unusually) silent on the matter. Please allow me to "break the ice", (pardon the pun--it was intended, though), at this time. Robert Ettinger has recently criticized Alcor's announcement of the arrival of vitrification for our neuro patients. We believe both the announcement and practice of applying advanced vitrification technology to neuro patients was and is appropriately based on solid scientific evidence which has been amply described in detail, and based on the moral imperative to provide the highest standard of care possible, acknowledging uncertainty regarding some important details. All evidence available indicates that gylcerol as a cryoprotectant in concentrations of 86% weight over volume produces ice crystals prior to vitrification, whereas the newer cryoprotectants, (used by Alcor in the last two suspensions), will vitrify without producing ice crystals when used in the specified concentrations. In our judgement, Mr. Ettinger's comments appear primarily political in nature, and should not be taken seriously as scientific criticism. To date, the most valid criticism is that more information is needed, and as research proceeds, such will indeed be forthcoming. We believe in the near future Mr. Ettinger's criticisms will be rendered obsolete, so expending time in answering him point by point now would largely be a misuse of our time. We hope and trust that others, (even those who from time to time engage us, as General Douglas McArthur was so fond of saying, "On friendly fields of strife..."), will understand the propriety of our position on this topic, and follow suit. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible, and hope you will feel free to contact me with your concerns and suggestions. I would no doubt be remiss if I did not thank Linda and Fred Chamberlain for having the vision to create this opportunity for me, as well as Saul Kent for his financial and moral support in turning vision into reality. When the paperwork seems daunting, there's too many items on the "to do list", the phone is ringing off the desk, and the multitude of demands on my time are impossible to manage, I have found a remedy to pull me out of the doldrums every time. I simply walk back to the patient care bay, and stare at those dewars containing our 43 Alcor members. Then, I am ready for whatever, I promise you! Linda Chamberlain Executive Director Alcor Life Extension Foundation 7895 E. Acoma Dr., Suite 110, Scottsdale AZ 85260-6916 Phone (480) 905-1906 x 113 FAX (480) 922-9027 () Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=15624