Doan Y Dao, M.D., is a co-founder and the first past President of V-VHA. He is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.  Dr. Dao manages patients with general gastrointestinal diseases or chronic liver diseases. His research focuses on HBV cure. He also dedicates a large portion of his time and efforts to live and work in his native Vietnam towards viral hepatitis elimination.

Fluent in English and Vietnamese, Dr. Dao’s personal passion and professional commitment is the study of and care for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV).  He has worked in the HBV field including clinical research, basic science training, patient care, and outreach and advocacy programs for more than 12 years, beginning early in medical school when he took two years off to do HBV translational research. His devotion to HBV in partly stemmed from the large unmet needs in HBV endemic underserved areas of Africa and Asia. He was born and grew up in Vietnam.

Robert R. Gish, M.D., FAASLD, is a co-founder and Secretary of V-VHA.  Dr. Gish began his medical training in 1974 when he was enrolled in the Pharmacy School at the University of Kansas. He transferred to the University of Kansas Medical School in 1977 and finished his MD degree in 1980.

Dr. Gish is currently a Professor Medicine at Loma Linda University, an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas, a Clinical Professor at the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, and a Clinical Professor at the University of California Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In addition, he is also the Medical Director of the Hepatitis B Foundation and Medical Director of the American Pacific Health Foundation (formerly Asian Pacific Health Foundation). Dr. Gish has joined the consulting faculty at La Maestra in San Diego to establish a liver care program in the Federally Qualified Health Care clinic. He is currently seeing patients, both in-person and via telemedicine, at various clinics in San Diego, Folsom, San Jose, Santa Rosa, Valley Springs and via Telemed2U.

Gary Mize, MBA, is a co-founder and first Board Chairman of V-VHA. Mr. Mize serves as a Senior Management Advisor to V-VHA.  Mr. Mize has been playing a key role in developing VVHA’s first strategic plan and its first plan for hepatitis screening and access to care in Vietnam.

Prior to his retirement, Mr. Mize was a Vice President at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) where he was in charge of Worldwide Strategic Product Planning for the cardiovascular area. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Marketing in the Bristol-Myers U.S. Pharmaceutical Division. Mr. Mize’s career at BMS spanned over 20 years following his service in the Army Medical Service Corps where he achieved the rank of Captain while working as Chief of the Management Services Division for a 150-bed Army hospital.

After retiring from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mr. Mize became a management consultant and advisor to BMS, DuPont-Merck Pharmaceutical Company, Mead Johnson Nutritionals, Bristol-Myers Squibb – China, and the Center for Applied Value Analysis – a company founded to develop value analytics solutions in the health care area.

Mr. Mize received his BS in General Management from Indiana University and his MBA from the Indiana University Graduate School of Business.

William M. Lee, M.D., FACP, FAASLD, is a co-founder and Board member of V-VHA.  Dr. Lee is a renowned liver disease expert and Professor at UT Southwestern. He completed training at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, and Kings College Hospital, London before embarking upon a career in academic medicine. He joined the UT Southwestern Medical Center faculty in 1990. Dr. Lee’s clinical research and patient care has focused on all forms of hepatitis—causes of inflammation and damage to the liver.

Dr. Lee became a hepatologist because the diseases of the liver are fascinating and represent unusual and important lessons in medicine. Dr. Lee remains active in clinical research on viral hepatitis and drug-induced liver injury. He has been site investigator for four National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases-sponsored Networks: the HALT-C Trial, the Acute Liver Failure Study Group, the Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network, and the Hepatitis B Research Network.

He is a member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the American Gastroenterological Association, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Gastroenterology. In 2009, he gave the prestigious Leon Schiff Memorial Lecture at the Annual AASLD meeting and in 2011 he received the Award for Excellence for Outstanding Contributions in Health/Sciences from the Dallas Historical Society.

Dr. Lee obtained his B.A. from Amherst College and received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He did his training in Internal Medicine at the Presbyterian Hospital, New York City (Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center) and served as Chief Resident on the Internal Medicine service. He was Honorary Registrar and Research Fellow to Dr. Roger Williams at the Liver Unit, Kings College Hospital, London from 1973-74. He has been on the faculty of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and was Director of the Gastroenterology Division at the Medical University of South Carolina before coming to UT Southwestern in 1990.

Ronald E. McAdams, MBA, is a co-founder and past Board member of V-VHA. He has broad business experience, serving since 1979 as President, CEO, or Chairman of a number of companies, both private and public. He has founded over 10 companies, ranging from high technology companies in Silicon Valley to a natural meat company in Billings, MT.

In his early career Mr. McAdams worked in corporate finance for two Fortune 500 companies in the energy and chemical markets, ending as Treasurer of Raychem, Inc. in 1979. He started his first company after leaving Raychem, resulting in an IPO in 1984. This company and a number of other companies he founded were in the medical technology field, an area where he has extensive experience. In 1986 he became Chairman and CEO of a public medical company, leading a turn-around that advanced the stock price from $1.50 to $21.50 before resigning to move to Montana in 1991.

Mr. McAdams has also taught Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management at the university level, including being Executive Entrepreneur in Residence at Montana State University for four years. Mr. McAdams has a BS from the University of Evansville and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, where he was a Joseph Wharton Fellow. Prior to receiving his degrees he was in the military, working first at several Naval Hospitals before being assigned to Alpha Company, 1stBattalion1stMarines, in Vietnam, as a medical corpsman with the USMC. In summer of 1966 he attended the Intensive Vietnamese Language Program in Danang, Vietnam, and in January 1967, he received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star with Combat “V” for Valor.