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Medical & Scientific Advisory Council

The Medical and Scientific Advisory Council (MSAC) is composed of senior level pediatric scientists from locations throughout North America. To prevent any conflicts of interest, scientists currently receiving funding from First Candle/SIDS Alliance are ineligible for Council membership. In addition, retired MSAC members provide assistance and advice on policy issues as Senior Advisors; other specialists are utilized, as needed, to assist in the review of grant proposals and new research studies.

Bradley Thach, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri and a member of National Institute of Child Health and Human Development SIDS Five Year Strategic Planning Committee, was recently recruited to assume the Chairmanship of the MSAC. Floyd Gilles, MD, Professor of Pathology at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles Children's Hospital serves as Vice Chairman.

MSAC Membership: 

Dr. Bradley Thach, Chair,
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri 

Dr. Floyd Gilles, Vice-Chair,
Los Angeles Children’s Hospital
Los Angeles, California 

Dr. John Brooks,
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Meriden, New Hampshire 

Dr. Robert Brouillette,
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada 

Ruth Cecilia Fretts M.D., M.P.H
Stillbirth Researcher
Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates
Wellesley, MA

J. Frederik Froen MD. PhD.
Stillbirth Researcher
Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Oslo, Norway

Dr. Fern Hauck,
University of Virginia Health System
Charlottesville, Virginia 

Dr. Julien Hoffman,
University of California Medical School
San Francisco, California 

Dr. Edward Lawson,
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland 

Dr. Lewis Lipsitt,
Brown UniversityProvidence, Rhode Island 

Dr. Henrique Rigatto,
The Manitoba Institute of Child HealthWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canada