Board
Officers
President
Leonard P. Rybak, MD, PhDSpringfield, IL
Dr. Rybak is Professor of Surgery, Division of Otolaryngology, at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois. He received his MD from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and did his residency, and received a Ph.D., in Otolaryngology from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine. Dr. Rybak and his wife Connie Forbes Rybak have six children and six grandchildren.
President-Elect
Jan R. Hemstad, MDYakima, WA
Dr. Jan R. Hemstad currently practices medicine as a cardiovascular anesthesiologist at Yakima Regional Hospital and Cardiac Center in Washington State. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Anesthesiology and the National Board of Echocardiography.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry from Bowdoin College and earned a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Washington where he completed his residency in anesthesiology and fellowship training in cardiovascular anesthesia. He practiced medicine at Providence Medical Center in Seattle, Washington for eleven years until moving to Yakima in 2002.
Dr. Hemstad and his wife, Darcy, have been married 18 years. They have five children educated through Mother of Divine Grace Home Study. He and his wife are board directors and certified instructors of the Billings Ovulation Method Association - USA. Dr. Hemstad converted to Catholicism in 1988.
Vice-President
Maricela P. Moffitt, MD, MPHPhoenix, AZ
Marci Moffitt graduated from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston in 1986. She completed training in Internal Medicine and served as a Chief Resident in Houston, Texas in 1990. She later obtained a master's degree in Public Health in 1994 from the University of Arizona.
Dr. Moffitt currently holds the academic rank of Associate Professor of Medicine and serves as the Director of the Doctoring Curriculum at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. She is a part-time Hospitalist at the VA in Phoenix.
Dr. Moffitt serves on the 1st Way (crisis pregnancy center) Board of Directors as Past President; as Secretary for the Phoenix Diocesan Council of Catholic Women; and on the board of the Catholic Physicians Guild of Phoenix. She teaches with her husband, Dr. Robert A. Moffitt, in the RCIA program at Corpus Christi parish. Drs. Moffitt and Moffitt have three children.
Treasurer
John I. Lane, MDRochester, MN
Dr. John Lane currently practices neuroradiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Radiology with a Certificate of Added Qualification in Neuroradiology.
Dr. Lane received his Bachelor of Sciences degree in biology from the University of Scranton and earned a Doctor of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed a residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the Reading Hospital and Medical Center, Reading, Pennsylvania and a fellowship in Neuroradiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Dr. Lane served 4 years in the U.S. Navy in Oakland, California. He joined the Mayo Clinic in 1999 after 4 years of private practice in Great Falls, Montana.
Dr. Lane and his wife, Mary Frances, have been married 26 years and have four children.
Secretary
Paul Braaton, MDModesto, CA
Paul Joseph Braaton, M.D., is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon specializing in the care of the foot and ankle. He has over thirteen years of private practice experience.
Dr. Braaton's clinical interests and expertise include: foot & ankle reconstructive surgery, ankle arthroscopy, tendon problems, diabetic foot neuropathy, foot deformities, fallen arch, plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis and total ankle replacements.
Dr. Braaton received his Doctorate of Medicine degree from Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. He completed a foot and ankle fellowship at the University of Texas and his residency at the University of Tennessee's Campbell Clinic. He also served as a lieutenant commander in the United States Naval Reserve in 1997.
Dr. Braaton attended the Legion of Christ Seminary from March 1993 to March 1995. He has also volunteered on numerous medical mission trips to Mexico. He is currently an orthopaedic surgical partner at the OrthoMed Center of Modesto, CA.
Immediate Past President
Louis C. Breschi, MDTowson, MD
Dr. Louis Breschi is a Board-certified urologist in part-time practice at a large, single specialty group in Baltimore County, Maryland. He received a B.S. degree from Loyola College (Maryland) and completed a surgical and urology residency at the University of Maryland Hospital. He entered private practice following 6 years in the U.S. Air Force.
Once in private practice, Dr. Breschi became active in State Medical Society committees involving professional ethics. Subsequently organizing a separate Ethics Committee at the State Medical Society and at his primary hospital in the early 1980s, Dr. Breschi took basic and advanced bioethics courses at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. Dr. Breschi has been a member of the Catholic Medical Association for 12 years.
Dr. Breschi and his wife Jackie, have been married for 48 years and are blessed with 5 children and 15 grandchildren.
Past President
Kathleen M. Raviele, MDTucker, GA
Dr. Kathleen Raviele is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist in the private practice of gynecology in the Atlanta area. She graduated with a BS degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y. and attained her doctor of medicine degree from Albany Medical College of Union University in 1974 in a combined six-year biomedical program. She completed a rotating internship and four-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology in 1979 from Case Western Reserve University Hospitals of Cleveland. She and her family moved to Atlanta where she was on the clinical faculty at Emory University in obstetrics for five years and where she completed a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital. She has been in private practice since 1985 in the Atlanta area. Her husband, Anthony, is a pediatric cardiologist on the faculty at Emory and does interventional catheterizations as well as intensive care. They have been married since 1974 with two adult children and several grandchildren.
Dr. Raviele “reverted” to the Catholic faith as a result of Our Lady and and since 1991, has had an NFP-only practice. She promotes and teaches natural family planning in her practice and gives marriage prep and diocesan programs on NFP. She assisted the Institute of Natural Family Planning in the College of Nursing at Marquette University in developing the Marquette Method of NFP as well as developing a marriage prep talk on NFP, available to members through the CMA. She has appeared several times on EWTN's Living His Life Abundantly on women's issues and is a regular columnist for Canticle magazine. She is on the board of Georgia Right to Life and assists in the passage of pro-life legislation in Georgia. She joined the Catholic Medical Association in 1996.
Regional Director Representative
Lynne Bissonnette-Pitre, MD, PhDPortland, OR
Lynne Bissonnette-Pitre is a psychiatrist in private practice in Portland Oregon. She is co-author, along with Most Rev. Robert Vasa, Bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, of Healthy Families: Safe Children – The Power of Relationships, which responds to Pope Benedict XVI’s call to develop sound policies and programs to protect children from sexual abuse.
Regional Director Representative
Lester A. Ruppersberger, DOWashington Crossing, PA
Dr. Ruppersberger graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (both located in Philadelphia, PA). He did his post graduate training at Allentown Osteopathic Hospital (Allentown, PA) and Parkview Hospital (Philadelphia, PA). He has been with the Center for Women’s Health, since its formation in 1995. Dr. Ruppersberger is an attending physician at Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol, PA and at Saint Mary Medical Center in Langhorne, PA. Dr. Ruppersberger is also a family life medical advisor and a certified instructor of natural family planning for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He has been married to his wife, Betty, for 38 years, and has two sons and six grandchildren.
Episcopal Advisor
Most Rev. Robert F. Vasa, JCL, DDDiocese of Baker, OR
Bishop Vasa was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Glennon P. Flavin for the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 22, 1976. He was named a Prelate of Honor, with the title of Monsignor, by Pope John Paul II, in 1995. After serving the Diocese of Lincoln in many capacities for more than 20 years, including service as Vicar General, he was named Bishop of the Diocese of Baker in 1999, and consecrated as Bishop of Baker on January 26, 2000. Bishop Vasa became the Episcopal Advisor to the CMA in 2002.
Chaplain
Rev. John Ehrich, STLPhoenix, AZ
Rev. John Ehrich, STL, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Phoenix in 2000. After five years of parish ministry, he studied moral theology at the Accademia Alfonsiana in Rome where he earned his Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 2007. Fr. Ehrich is currently the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Phoenix, AZ.
Consultant to the President
Clement F. Cunningham, MDRock Island, IL
Dr. Clement P. Cunningham began practicing Family Medicine in Rock Island, IL in 1947 following discharge from the U.S. Army; he retired in 1989. His early education was provided by his parents and parochial schools K-12. Other education included undergraduate studies at St. Ambrose University, Loyola University School of Medicine, and Resident Staff at Cook County Hospital. He served in the U.S. Army during WWII as a U.S. Army Transport Surgeon stationed in Brooklyn, NY.
Dr. Cunningham is one of six children. A brother was a local judge, a brother an ophthalmologist, a sister who was married to an architect, a sister who owned and operated a religious goods store, and a younger brother who at age 80 was pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Rock Island, IL. Msgr. Ambrose Cunningham passed away December 3, 2006.
Dr. Clement and Florence Cunningham were married 48 years. They had four children: a son who is an internist, a second son who is an engineer, a daughter who is a nurse, and a son in business.
His extra-curricular activities include golf, photography, travel, and computers. He is involved in a variety of church-related organizations and was honored by Pope John Paul II as a Knight of St. Gregory.
Consultant to the President
George Isajiw, M.D.Lansdowne, Pa.
Dr. George Isajiw, MD, is board-certified in Internal Medicine, and has been in private practice in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania since 1978. Dr. Isajiw received his B.S. from LaSalle College his M.D. from the Thomas Jefferson University Medical School, and completed residency in Internal Medicine at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Darby, Pa. He served as a General Medical Officer in the U.S. Army from 1971 to 1973, and practiced Emergency medicine from 1973-74, and 1976-77.
Dr. Isajiw was president of the Philadelphia Guild of the CMA from 1990-91, as president of the Catholic Medical Association from 1992-93, and as vice-president of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) from 1999-2002. Dr. Isajiw has been recognized for his outstanding work and witness in the pro-life movement, receiving the James D. Kelly, M.D. Pro-Life Pioneer Award in 1985, the Delaware County Lawyers Respect Life Award in 1986, the Pennsylvanians for Human Life Margaret Way Hoffner Award in 2002, and LaSalle University's Holroyd Award in 2004. Dr. Isajiw and his wife Patricia are the parents of seven children.
Consultant to the President
Thomas M. Pitre, MDPortland, OR
Thomas M. Pitre, MD, is a practicing urologist at the NW Urological Clinic in Portland, Oregon. He is a diplomat of the American Urological Association, Past President of the Oregon Urological Society, Past Medical Staff President of Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland and continues to serve on the clinical faculty of Oregon Health Science University. He is an active Board Member of the Physicians for Compassionate Care which opposes physician assisted suicide.
Dr. Pitre earned a B.A. degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He received his M.D. degree from the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, cum laude, and did his internship and residency training in Urology at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon.
Consultant to the President
R. Steven White, MDDaytona Beach, FL
Dr. Steven White is currently in the private practice of pulmonary medicine and medical director of respiratory care and pulmonary rehabilitation services at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Pulmonary and Internal Medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Louisville, and completed his internal medicine training at George Washington University and pulmonary fellowship at Georgetown University.
Dr. White is Past President of the CMA, 2004-2005. His area of particular interest is healthcare reform and he currently serves as Chair of the healthcare policy committee of the CMA. He and his wife Tina have two children.
FIAMC Representative
Kevin Murrell, MDAugusta, GA
Dr. Murrell is a member of the Psychiatry staff at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. Before joining the Augusta VAMC, he was a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Georgia and Chairman of the MCG Hospital Ethics Committee. He is a graduate of the Medical College of Georgia and is board-certified in psychiatry. Prior to medical school, Dr. Murrell served in the U.S. Army as a helicopter pilot. His time in Vietnam helped direct him towards the profession of medicine.
Dr. Murrell is a past-president of the Catholic Medical Association and is currently a North American delegate to FIAMC, the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations.
Dr. Murrell has been married for 42 years, and he and his wife have 5 children and 9 grandchildren.
Executive Director
John F. Brehany, PhD, STLPhiladelphia, PA
In addition to his other duties noted above, Dr. Brehany serves the Board of Directors in an advisory capacity.
Directors
Advisory Members
