2025 Session IV Archives - Page 2 of 2

Dr. Keith Crawford

Aug 3, 2023

Director of Clinical Trials and Patient Education

PHEN

Dr. Keith Crawford joined PHEN in 2019. As Director of Clinical Trials and Patient Education, he is responsible for implementing programs in these areas as well as working with patients and PHEN partners.

Dr. Crawford has more than 20 years of experience in the Life Sciences and completed his graduate and post-graduate training at Harvard Medical School where he developed competencies in the area of genomics, proteomics, immunology, microbiology, infectious diseases, and regenerative medicine.

During his post-doctoral training, Keith was selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a Harold Amos Fellow. His work in the field of immunology caught the eye of the Department of Defense where he received funding to develop antidotes for chemical and biological weapons exposure as well as create a high throughput platform for the detection of biological weapons and emerging infectious agents.

After completing this directive, Dr. Crawford became the Director of the Center for Molecular Orthopedics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He was responsible for leading research efforts at the center, which gave rise to the discovery of a novel population of early lineage adult stem cells. Dr. Crawford and his colleagues were responsible for the preclinical studies, which laid the foundation for a spinal fusion therapeutic.

Dr. Crawford is a graduate of Prairie View University, the University of Texas Medical School in Houston (Medical Doctorate), and Harvard University (Doctor Philosophy) where he studied cell biology and immunology.

Mr. Thomas A. Farrington

Aug 2, 2023

President and Founder

PHEN

Thomas Farrington founded the Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN) in 2003 after receiving treatment for prostate cancer in 2000 and publishing his first book Battling The Killer Within in 2001. Under Mr. Farrington’s leadership, PHEN is recognized as the leading prostate cancer education and advocacy organization with national programs and initiatives focused on the needs of African Americans.

A key foundation for PHEN’s success is its national network of prostate cancer survivors and their loved ones who support the organization’s efforts within their communities. PHEN partners with hundreds of churches across the nation to bring education and awareness programs into their communities and recruit local prostate cancer medical specialists as educators for these events.

PHEN also makes extensive use of online programming to reach and support individual educational needs. Mr. Farrington’s background is in Information Technology. Farrington currently serves as a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) Prostate Cancer Treatment Guidelines Panel and the NCCN Prostate Cancer Early Detection Guidelines Panel. He serves as a trustee of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and as an advisor to a number of other healthcare organizations and programs. Mr. Farrington received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1966.

Mr. Rausan Battle

Sep 2, 2021

Survivor

It started when Rausan Battle noticed he was losing energy and did not feel well, for no obvious reason. “Physically, I couldn’t recover quickly from simply walking up some stairs,” he said. “I knew something was wrong.” He was diagnosed with prostate cancer October 2018 when he was only 45-yeras old. When he started chemotherapy treatments, his PSA was over 1400. A body scan and CAT scan revealed the disease had metastasized “all over my body—rib cage, jaw, all over.” Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) put the disease at bay. After the shots, his PSA dropped drastically and “the lesions on bones vanished.” Best of all, ”I feel good and am back to work full time.”

Covid-19 pandemic changed his work schedule. After a 14-day quarantine as a precaution, Battle now works in a rotation with other facility management teams—two weeks in the office and two weeks working remotely. Of the 134 people employed at his site, only 15 people are allowed in the facility at a time. “It was weird when I first started,” (working remotely). “Everybody on Zoom, on the phone and computer all day.” He goes for a walk every morning, and uses a home gym for workouts.

Thanks to PHEN, Battle is finding a supportive community and resources to “explain terminology and best practices to me.” “He was also invited to a meeting with PHEN sponsor, the biopharma company Amgen,—and found that experience refreshing. “It was my first time being around others going through the same thing,” He’s finding the information, “very helpful.”