MCA Speaker Series

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• Speaker Series - Larynx Transplants and Medical Ethics

  • When
    November 19, 2025
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center
  • Spaces left
    52

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  Larynx Transplants and Medical Ethics

  Presented by MCA Member Marshall Strome

  Registration opens 9/19/25

  
  

  The history of Medicine in so many ways was most influenced by those who challenged convention and had the leadership skills and chutzpah to do such. Transplanting a human Larynx for malignancy is still looked upon with negativity by the unenlightened.

  For those with the vision to see what the latter can’t, and the drive to defy convention, patients with laryngeal cancer can choose to live a near normal life.

  I will share the story of the difficulty and time it took to get approval for the first total laryngeal transplant that I performed in 1998. It stands today as the only organ transplant performed for the first time when immunosuppressants were required to prevent rejection and remain functional for 14 years.

  Today it still remains ethically controversial to transplant a larynx for malignancy because the larynx is considered by some to be a non-vital organ. It begs the question as to whether a person with capacity has the right to choose quality of life verses the potential for a decrease in longevity. The human larynx is remarkable in its ability to project one’s humanism. Further, it is the guardian of the airway preventing aspiration and as such the potential for preventing chronic pulmonary pathology. Finally, in my paradigm the voice the larynx produces is the window to the soul.

  Dr. Marshall Strome

  Dr. Marshall Strome, M.D., M.S., F.A.C.S. is a board certified otolaryngologist with a special interest in head and neck cancer surgery. He has been chair of the Otolaryngology section of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School followed by Professor and Chairman of Cleveland Clinic Head and Neck Institute. During his tenure,  it was recognized  as the number one program in the country by “US News and World Report”. Most recently he was a Professor of Bioethics and Humanism at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix.  

  Having received multiple national and international awards and honors including the Medal of the City of Paris, France, he was recognized as one of a select group of physicians by the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the millennium for their contribution to medicine in the last 250 years. He was one of 13 physicians recognized as “Medical Hero's”  in the Guinness Book of World Records Millennium Edition. 
  

  
  

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• Speaker Series - The Pentagon Papers

  • When
    January 15, 2026
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Iser Jewish Cultural Center
  • Spaces left
    75

  Registration is closed

  

  
  

  
  

  The Pentagon Papers
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Registration Opens Nov 16

  
  

  MCA Member Neil Adelman

  
  

  Neil Adelman will speak about Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. Ellsberg copied a secret government report on the Vietnam War. Nixon tried to stop its publication, culminating in a Supreme Court case. Ellsberg was then tried for espionage. Just as the Alger Hiss case began Nixon’s career, the Ellsberg case helped end it.

  Was Ellsberg a hero or a traitor?

  This will be Neil’s fourth talk on the great trials of the mid-20th century.

  
  

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• Speaker Series - Customer Service Centers Explained

  • When
    January 29, 2026
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Iser Jewish Cultural Center
  • Spaces left
    75

  Registration is closed

  
  

  
  

  Call Centers Explained

  
  

  Ever Been Stuck in Call Center "Hell"?

  Couldn't Speak to an Agent?

  Felt Like You Were Going in Circles?

  
  

  Get the Answers 

  MCA Member Rob Brown

  
  

  (Registration Opens Nov. 30)

  
  

  
  

  Hear from an industry insider how call centers are designed and work. Get answers to questions we all have:

  • Do they really take calls in the order received?
  • Do they use Artificial Intelligence?
  • Why is it so hard to get to a live person?
  • If I have them call me back, will I keep my place in line?
  • What is their objective? Do they care what I want?

  
  

  Rob Brown:
  

  Rob worked for AT&T (Bell System), designing and implementing Service  Centers for AOL and Time Warner Cable, among others. Upon retiring from AT&T, Rob went to work for Citibank, where he had responsibility for voice and chat technology in Citi's Treasury organization. Rob will provide a "behind the curtain" view of the technology and business strategy within modern service centers.
  

  
  

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• Speaker Series - Presidential Power: More or Less?

  • When
    February 26, 2026
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Iser Jewish Cultural Center
  • Spaces left
    75

  Registration is closed

  
  

  

  
  

  Presidential Power:

  More or Less?

  
  

  MCA Member Bob Levy

  (Registration Opens Dec. 28)

  Can the president lower drug prices, suspend habeas corpus, punish sanctuary cities, cancel our refugee and asylum programs, ban immigrants from selected countries, require illegal aliens to register, demand proof of citizenship, and rescind the rights of public sector workers? Are Trump's crypto connections and his receipt of an airplane from Qatar conflicts of interest? Do Trump's UK and China deals vindicate his tariff strategy? Can he serve more than two terms as president? 

  Bob Levy, chairman emeritus of the Cato Institute, will discuss the limits of presidential power.

  Bob Levy

  Bob Levy was, for 14 years, chairman of the board of directors at the Cato Institute.  He is now chairman emeritus. Bob joined Cato as senior fellow in constitutional studies in 1997 after 25 years in business. The Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies is named in his honor. He has also served on boards of the Federalist Society, the Foundation for Government Accountability, and the Institute for Justice. Bob received his PhD in business from the American University in 1966, then founded CDA Investment Technologies, a major provider of investment information and software. At age 50, after leaving CDA in 1991, Bob went to George Mason law school, where he was chief articles editor of the law review and class valedictorian. He received his JD degree in 1994. The next two years he clerked for Judge Royce Lamberth on the US District Court and Judge Douglas Ginsburg on the US Court of Appeals, both in Washington, DC.

  For many years, Bob was an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, National Review, and many other publications. He has discussed public policy on national radio and TV programs, including ABC’s Nightline, Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor, PBS’s Newshour, and NBC’s Today Show. Bob’s latest book, co-authored with William Mellor, is The Dirty Dozen: How 12 Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom. Bob served as co-counsel in District of Columbia v. Heller, the successful Supreme Court challenge to Washington, D.C.’s gun ban.

  
  

  
  

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• Speaker Series - Jews in Baseball

  • When
    March 26, 2026
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Iser Jewish Cultural Center
  • Spaces left
    75

  Registration is closed

  

  
  

  Jews in Baseball

  
  

  
  

  When Sandy Sat, Greenberg Didn’t Bat and More Of That

  
  

  MCA Member Marshall Tanick

  
  

  (Registration Opens Jan. 25)

  
  

  
  

  The role of Jews in baseball - as players, managers, owners, writers, broadcasters and fans - from the 1870s to today. We'll have slides, discuss the Jewish Hall of Fame, will conclude with a Quiz and a have a prize for the winner.

  
  

  Marshall Tannick

  Marshall, a Minnesota native who joined MCA in early 2024, spoke to us last season about Free Agency after the Curt Flood case. He's an attorney who, for 45 years, has represented clients in matters ranging from employment law, constitutional law, education law; animal law, and land law to business disputes. He has taught at the University of Minnesota Law School, among others, and is a frequent Continuing Education lecturer. He's also a big fan of the Twins.
  

  
  

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• Speaker Series - Climate Change: An Inconvenient Reality

  • When
    April 23, 2026
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Nina Iser Cultural Center

  Registration is closed

  

  
  

  Climate Change

  An Inconvenient Reality!

  
  

  
  

  David Marsh

  (Registration Opens February 22)

  Climate Change has gone from "An Inconvenient Truth," as Al Gore labeled it nearly 20 years ago to what might now be labeled an "Inconvenient Reality." Its effects are evident in fires, floods, tornadoes, heatwaves, droughts, rising sea levels, migration, and widening geographic range of disease-transmitting animals and insects. The list could go on.
  

  Dr Marsh will discuss:

  • ·       Why Gore’s “planetary emergency alarm” failed to get “universal” acceptance.
  • ·       Why a “Net Zero” target  (aiming to keep average global temperatures from rising by less than 1.5^oC from pre-industrial levels by 2050) is both unrealistic and the wrong target!
  • ·       How we are now on a path to irreversible climate disasters.
  • ·       Why countering fake news is crucial to combating runaway climate change, massive migration, and a rise in extremist ideologies.  His thesis is entitled: “Extrapolation2100^TM, Climate Change: The Lull Before the Stormtroopers.” 

  David Marsh

  David received a B.S. in Pharmacy and Masters in Medicinal Chemistry at Northeastern University, and then a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Rhode Island.  David worked for over 40 years in research and development of advanced drug formulations at Baxter International, Bausch & Lomb, Alcon Pharmaceuticals and Allergan International. 

  
  

  While not a climatologist by training, David has followed the science of Climate Change for over 25 years. He has made multiple presentations on the subject and written countless letters to politicians, scientific newsletters and editors - in a hope for action and a better future for our children and grandchildren.

  
  

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