Welcome to our webpage!
Announcing the blast off of a new club for our MARS seniors named PACESETTERS.
The primary purpose of Pacesetters is to provide a social club for MARS Associates senior members (75+) to share life experiences, camaraderie, meals, books, etc. via email interactions, “Zoom” like calls, and periodic lunch gatherings. Members are not required to pay additional dues beyond those of MARS Associates members.
If you are 75+ and have not joined PACESETTERS yet to enjoy the camaraderie of your retired senior friends please call Bill Wise at 720 636 5823 or email him at wisewj@aol.com.
LOCATION:
All PACESETTERS Meetings are held at the Landsdowne Arms 9352 Dorchester St, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. Everyone pays for their own meal and separate checks are provided. A big thank you to the Landsdowne management (Steven) and hostess (Mikala).
A few words about logistics. Please be on time at 11:00 when the restaurant opens. Stick on your hand written name tag. This is to prevent forgetting your best friend’s name. Be ready to start ordering from the menu as soon as soon as the hostess comes.
REMEMBER: CARPE DIEM!
Club Point of Contact: Bill Wise (720) 636 5823 wisewj@aol.com
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PACESETTERS Mark Your Calendars for 2025
April 16, 2025: Dermatology
Speaker: Dr. Caroline Hagan, Dermatologist.
Dr. Caroline Hagan, MD serves patients in the Denver area. She grew up In Shreveport, Louisiana and went on to attend Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she graduated summa cum Laude. She then attended medical school at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, where she received the Chancellor’s Award for academic excellence.
Dr. Hagan completed an internship at Presbyterian St Luke’s Hospital in Denver. She then completed dermatology residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where she served as the chief resident. During residency she received exceptional cosmetic training in a variety of procedures including neuromodulators, dermal fillers, and energy- based laser devices.
Dr. Hagan is an active Member of American Academy of Dermatology as well as the Academy of Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery.
Dr Hagan will discuss skin diseases common to seniors and various ways for seniors to care for their skin. There will be time for Q&A.
May 14,2025: Ophthalmological Senior Eye Care
Speaker: Dr. Shane Nau, Ophthalmologist.
Dr. Shane Nau is a board-eligible Ophthalmologist, His areas of expertise include comprehensive medical ophthalmology, glaucoma management and cataract surgery.
Dr. Nau completed his undergraduate and Master of Science at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2015 and later received his medical degree from the University of Colorado, school of medicine in 2019. He completed an internal medicine internship in 2020, followed by residency in 2023 – both at the University of Colorado.
Throughout training, Dr. Nau received numerous honors, awards and grants including the President’s Scholar Award, Graduate Experiences for Multicultural Students (GEMS) Scholarship, Bioscience Research Grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Biological Research and Training Grant.
During medical school and residency, Dr. Nau has published several peer-reviewed articles on unique clinical cases, an updated review of glaucoma management, and original research using a large Colorado-based data database on cataract surgery outcomes on patients with autoimmune disease. He is currently working with the University of Colorado leadership to implement an ICU (Intensive Care Unit) protocol designed to protect the eyes and vision of critically ill patients.
Dr. Nau has robust volunteer involvement. He has also served as a long- term mentor at both the Denver Rescue Mission and at Breakthrough Kent Denver.There will be time for Q&A.
June 11, 2025: Ears, Nose, Throat (ENT) Topics for Seniors
Speaker: Dr. Nicolette A Picerno, MD.
Dr. Picerno is Board-certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and Board-certified by the American Board of Facial and Reconstructive Surgery.
Dr. Picerno holds an M.D. degree from Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. In addition, her Surgery residency and internship were at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA
Dr Picerno is experienced and conversant in the following topics: Invasive treatment and surgery for the head, face, and neck; Medical and surgical treatment of nasal and sinus problems; Treatment of adult voice, tonsil and adenoids; Hearing loss and cures; Vertigo and treatment; Nutritional and lifestyle contributions for good health.
July 16, 2025: Artificial Intelligence
Speaker: Dr. AD Alghourabi, University of Denver
Professor Alghourabi is a fellow adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver, as well as a practitioner, leveraging AI in creating applications. He will talk about the history of AI, current techniques/status, current use cases of AI, and what the future holds.
August 13, 2025: Senior Living Options
Speaker: TBD
Discussion will be on the assorted options for senior retirement living and the PROs and CONs for each, on this important subject impacting Seniors today.
September 17 2025: Understanding Earth, Our Solar System, and Beyond
Speakers: Tonya Ladwig and Paul Anderson, Lockheed Martin Space
Ms. Ladwig is Vice President & Deputy for the Commercial Civil Space line of business for Lockheed Martin. In this role she is responsible for overseeing the management of commercial and civil space programs for human and robotic deep space exploration, weather and remote sensing and other leading-edge technologies. She is a strong advocate of the NASA ARTEMIS mission, for which Lockheed Martin is building the ORION spacecraft. Mr. Anderson is Spacecraft Engineering Senior Director for Lockheed Martin Space.
October 15, 2025: Senior Fraud Prevention
Speaker: TBD from the Denver Officer of the FBI
November 12, 2025: Neurological Science
Speaker: Dr Adam Wolff MD
Dr. Wolff most recently hails from the prestigious Stanford University where he completed a fellowship in Neurophysiology. He is a Chicago native who graduated from the Rush Medical College and completed his neurology residency at Northwestern University. He is board certified in Neurology, Neurophysiology and serves as the Director of Neurology and Stroke at Porter Adventist Hospital. Dr. Wolff welcomes patients with all neurological problems and as a Neurologist has special interests in EMG and Botox therapy. An electromyography (EMG) is a medical test that measures the electrical activity of muscles and nerves. It helps diagnose conditions that affect the neuromuscular system, such as muscle weakness, numbness, tingling, and muscle spasms.
PACESETTERS Past Events
February 19, 2025: NORAD-US Northcom, Purpose and Operations
Speaker: COL Pat Hanlon (30 year Air Force Retiree), past NORAD-US Northcom Command Center Director, F-16 pilot, Graduate of the Air War College, Chief of Nuclear Ops @ Air National Guard Readiness Center Andrews AFB, MD
Pat is a 1990 Distinguished Graduate of the Air Force Academy and spent 2 years as a Command Center Director at NORAD-US Northcom Command Center in CO Springs, responsible for the one of the 24/7shifts. He served as a F-16 pilot during his entire career, with combat experience overseas and 2 yrs as Squadron Commander at Buckley AFB. He retired as a Colonel from the AF in 2020 while serving as Vice Commander of the 140th Wing, Buckley AFB. He is now a UA First Officer on overseas 787 flights.
Pat did two one hour presentations for us; the first on his experience as a Command Director for 2 years at NORAD-US Northcom in Colorado Springs in 2014-2017, and the second on his experience as a Flight Lead for Buckley’s F-16 120th Fighter Squadron’s deployment to Southwest Asia to support the 2003 Iraq War early in 2003.
We had great attendance of 40 present. Great spirited interaction with Q and A.
Enjoy the summary pictures taken at the event.
January 15, 2025: Colorado Alzheimers Association Presentation
Speaker: Jeff Clawson.
The presentation discussed the definition and scientific profile of Alzheimer’s disease risk factors, prevention techniques that are empirically validated, how to obtain a diagnosis, treatment options and navigating the health care system, and help that is available for families.
November 13, 2024: Gene Dionne presentation on “Blue Zones”, Landsdowne Arms
Speaker: Gene Dionne, retired Air Force Officer and former LM Vice President, gave an introduction to the concept of “Blue Zones”, specific geographic places where people live unusually long and healthy lives. He then showed two TED Talks by some of the key scientific investigators of this topic, and we followed up with a lively discussion by the MARS attendees.