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
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 created and led the DU University College inaugural course in AI a couple of terms ago.
Professor Alghourabi 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: Marnie Biln
NOTE: Arrive as usual at 1100am to order lunch. The presentation will last 2 hours – from 1130am until 130pm. Please plan accordingly.
Marnie is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA), Certified Placement & Referral Specialist (CPRS), and President of the Colorado Placement Referral Alliance (COPRA)
Marnie has compiled and organized information on hundreds of senior living options in the Denver metro area. The presentation will include the following: Independent living communities; Large assisted living communities; Small assisted living communities (often referred to as “board and care” or “residential care facilities”); Memory care facilities; Nursing homes; Multi level-care communities; Continuing care retirement communities (often referred to as “Life Care Communities”)
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: Fraud and Scams Targeting Colorado
Speaker: Officer Scott Moore, Crime Prevention Specialist, Louisville CO Police Dept
This presentation will address the top 10 scams facing older adults in Colorado. Learn how to recognize these scams, and what to do to protect yourself from being a victim.
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
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 provided an informative talk about eye issues that are common to seniors and various remedies and treatments that are available today. A copy of his slide package is included below. Approximately 18 Pacesetters were present and enjoyed the talk and the Q&A afterwords.
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 gave a wide ranging presentation discussing skin diseases common to seniors and various ways for seniors to care for their skin. There was a strong focus on the various types of skin cancer, how to recognize them, how they are treated, and how to avoid them. Her presentation was very well received by the group, and can be viewed in its entirety at the link below.
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.