Ask the Doctor

An Intergenerational & Interactive
Wellness Virtual Event
for Women

Click here to download the digital program for this event. 

7:00 pm Sign-in to Zoom 

7:05 pm Welcome & Introductions by Event Co-Chairs

7:15 pm Split Audience between Adult and Teen Panel Zoom Rooms

8:05 pm Both Groups Reunite for 10-Minute Presentation by Laurie Levy, Natural Foods Personal Chef, Culinary Teacher and Food Consultant

8:15 – 8:30 pm Joint Q & A from Audience to Panelists

Adult Audience Panel: Moderated by Dr. Audrey Boxwell

Nancy Carlson, MD, Pediatrician (Retired)
Julie Gelman, MD – Ob/Gyn
Sing-I Palat, MD – Geriatric, Hospice & Palliative Medicine
Lisa Greenstein Sokol, DMD -Dentist
Sherrie Somers, DO – Internal Medicine
Leslie Stewart, MD – Dermatology

Teen Audience Panel:

Cynthia Lackner- MH Therapist  
Stephanie Frankel, MD – Dermatologist  
Annie Sarid, MD -Emergency Medicine Physician
Stephanie Aya Ann – Acupuncturist 
Regina Topelson – Nutritionist/Dietician

Meet our Panelists for the Adult Audience…

Audrey Boxwell, Moderator. Audrey has a PhD in psychotherapy and a ThD  (doctorate in theology) , she is board-certified pastoral counselor, specializing  in end-of-life issues and the author of Soul to Sole: A Daily Prescription for  Moving Forward in Your Life. 

Nancy Carlson, MD earned her medical degree at the University of Colorado  Medical School in 1985, and completed her residency and chief residency in  Pediatrics at the University of Colorado. She worked as a general pediatrician at  the Children’s Hospital for five years before moving into private practice. She  joined Southeast Denver Pediatrics in 1999 and retired in March of 2020. She has  been recognized as a Top Doc by both Denver’s 5280 Magazine and US News and  World Report. Dr. Carlson trained in traditional western medicine but she also  believes in the use of complementary therapies such as acupuncture, homeopathy, nutrition consultation, yoga and mindfulness meditation. In the post COVID-19 era,  Dr. Carlson hopes to resume plans to teach mindful parenting workshops with her colleague Dr. Peggy Sheehan a pediatrician and leader of the Denver Zen Center. 

Julie C. Gelman, MD is a board-certified Ob/GYN who has been practicing  medicine in Colorado since 1996. She joined the Rocky Mountain Division of  Obstetrix, as an ob/gyn hospitalist at Swedish Medical Center in 2017. She  obtained a bachelor of science in nutritional biochemistry at The University of  Vermont. Following, she completed her medical degree and ob/gyn residency  at George Washington University. Prior to her time as an ob/gyn hospitalist  she practiced general ob/gyn in Summit County, Colorado and gynecology with an emphasis on minimally invasive surgery in Littleton, Colorado. She enjoys  teaching as an associate professor at Rocky Vista University of Osteopathic Medicine. She finds joy in giving back to women in communities near and far speaking at  community events, volunteering with women’s shelters, and participating in medical mission  trips to Guatemala and Montserrat. She has a passion for obstetrics, preventative women’s  health and minimally invasive surgery. She also has a new love since 2015 for Stress Management  and Resilience Training. She extends her healthy practices to her friends and family. She enjoys  Colorado’s great outdoors of biking, hiking and skiing with her husband and two children.  

Sing-I Palat, MD, Geriatric Medicine, Hospice & Palliative Medicine. Dr Palat  practices Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. She completed medical school and  residency training at the University of Pittsburgh and a geriatrics fellowship at  the University of Colorado. Since 2006, she has been serving older adults in the  Denver-metro area. As an associate with LTC Rehab Consultants, Dr. Palat  provides Medical Director services to nursing homes and has marveled at the  resilience of the nursing home industry throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She advocates for older adults on the board of CMDA The Colorado Society for Post acute and Long-term Care Medicine. She serves on the clinical faculty at the University of  Colorado and Rocky Vista University. She lives in Golden CO with her husband and son. 

Lisa Greenstein Sokol, DMD is an active member in the American Dental  Association, Colorado Dental Association, Metro Denver Dental Society,  Colorado Prosthodontics Society and American Association of Oral Biologists.  Growing up on Denver’s east side, Lisa was raised in a vibrant and warm  Jewish community and attended three of the local schools – Hillel Academy,  Denver Academy of Torah and Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy. Lisa graduated from Stern College for Women in New York, Midwestern University College of Dental  Medicine in Arizona, and completed a Dental Residency at Brookdale Hospital in New York before  returning to Denver to join her family’s dental practice – Cherry Creek North Family Dentistry on  Adams Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. Lisa recently founded Metro Denver Concierge Dentistry where she provides comprehensive general dental care to patients in the comfort of  their own homes. Outside of the office Lisa enjoys skiing, working out, spending time in the  beautiful mountains, painting, floral arranging, cooking, baking, being active in the Jewish community and attending Broncos games with her family. 

Sherrie Somers, MD is a board-certified internist who has been practicing in  Colorado for 25 years; fifteen in the outpatient setting and the last 10 in the  hospital setting. She is currently the Medical Director for New West Physicians  Hospitalist programs. Dr. Somers will speak about COVID-19 and its impact on  medical care in our nation, review the most common reasons for hospital  admission and morbidity, along with preventive measures. She will also touch  on the growing need for Palliative care and clear advanced directives and  DPOA. 

Leslie Stewart, MD completed her dermatology training at the University of  Pennsylvania and was selected by Dr. Albert Kligman, the creator of Retin-A,  to be his first Cutaneous Aging Fellow, performing many clinical studies on skin aging with him. Subsequently, she became Chief of Dermatology at  National Jewish Health in Denver where she developed their Occupational and Contact Dermatitis Clinic. Since 1995, she has been in private practice and currently practices at the Colorado Center for Dermatology and Skin Surgery in Greenwood Village where she  focuses on all aspects of medical, surgical, and cosmetic dermatology. Dr. Stewart has been the author of both journal articles and textbook chapters and has been a speaker at many national  dermatology meetings in her career. She has been recognized by NCJW as one of their Jewish Businesswomen of Colorado awardees in 2011. She is married with three daughters and one dog.

Meet our Panelists for the Teen Audience…

Stephanie Aya Ann, MSOM, LAc, DiplOM – Oriental Medicine, Acupuncturist is a board-certified and licensed Chinese Medicine practitioner, Acupuncturist and Herbalist with a private practice Wheat  Ridge, Colorado. She has also practiced acupuncture at the Center for  Integrative Medicine at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, Colorado and  the Marcus Institute for Brain Health at the Anschutz Campus in Aurora,  Colorado. Stephanie is a cancer survivor who has walked through the fire of  health crisis to a journey of healing mind, body and spirit. Stephanie believes  that the health crisis is a transformational opportunity that goes beyond pills and procedures. She practices transformational medicine through the patient’s story, not their illness, and by offering lifestyle support around food, exercise, sleep, stress management  and mood balance through the principles of Chinese Medicine and the 5 Elements. She blends mind-body tools to bring together psycho-emotional and physical symptoms that may seem  separate but are often connected. Stephanie specializes in working with people from teenagers to elders who have suffered, or are  suffering through chronic life changing illness. This can range from mood disorders like anxiety  and depression, cancer support, chronic pain, digestive disorders, autoimmune conditions, PTSD  or life changing transitions like perimenopause and menopause. 

Stephanie Frankel, MD grew up in Denver and attended Yale University  where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Anthropology. She then received her medical degree from Northwestern University in Chicago, IL.  Finally, she completed her internship in Internal Medicine and residency in  Dermatology at the University of Michigan before returning home to  Colorado. Dr. Frankel is board-certified by the American Board of  Dermatology and is a member of the American Academy of Dermatology and  Colorado Dermatology Society. She is the former chief of Dermatology at St.  Joseph’s Hospital and has lectured many future physicians on various skin related subjects. Within dermatology she is particularly interested in skin cancer detection and prevention, as well as inflammatory skin diseases such as acne, rosacea, eczema and psoriasis. In  her free time, Dr. Frankel enjoys spending time with her family and enjoying all that makes Colorado so incredible. She loves to travel, read and volunteer in her daughter’s elementary school (which happens to also be her alma mater!). In 2018, she founded Core Dermatology in  order to provide personalized dermatologic care for patients of all ages in a private practice setting.

Cynthia Lackner, MA, CMHIMP, MH Therapist holds a BA degree from Goucher  College, Towson, Maryland and an M.A. in clinical psychology, from Antioch University, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Cynthia is a Certified Emotional Brain Training  Provider and a Certified Mental Health Integrative Medicine Provider. For the past  19 years, Cynthia Lackner has created, co-produced, designed, facilitated, taught  and implemented programs and workshops that help people examine their lives, learn skills and tools to diminish stress, and make changes toward living a life focused on thriving  rather than just existing. True health is not the absence of disease; it’s about the presence of vitality. In addition to her private practice, where she works with clients on FaceTime or Zoom,  she is also the Director of Psychotherapy Services for Health6Fit. 

Annie Sarid, MD was born and raised in New York City. Dr. Sarid graduated with  a BS degree from Cornell University, and earned her medical degree from Sackler  School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University. She completed her residency in  Emergency Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dr.  Sarid has worked in both the community and academic settings, providing patient  care in both trauma centers and stand-alone emergency rooms. She also worked  as a medical director for a hospice company that provides end of life care for  patients in their homes. Dr. Sarid currently works for a company that combines telemedicine and  artificial intelligence and feels that this is an exciting time to be an emergency medicine physician.  Her hobbies include: Photography, Improvisational Comedy and nature walks in the Rocky  Mountains with her family.  

Regina Topelson, Registered Dietitian and Founder of Life Well-Lived. She is a 9  News Nutrition Expert, CHIP Facilitator, podcaster, speaker, and advocate of  lifestyle medicine. She has been in private practice for ten years making the world a healthier place one person at a time. She is a wife and mother of two boys and one Lucky Girl! She enjoys reading, riding (her bicycle up very BIG  mountains), writing, recording (podcasts and videos), and roaming the world. 

Final Presentation:

Laurie Levy, Natural Foods Chef is a Denver-based natural foods personal chef, food  consultant and culinary teacher. She specializes in preparing organic whole foods and  is a doTerra Essential Oil Wellness Advocate. Laurie is the owner of Eat Nourish  Thrive.

To register for this event, please complete this form.

Questions?  Contact Cecile Zelinsky at cecile.zelinsky@gmail.com or (512)965-7839.