Speaker and Participant Bios

Abbott is professor and vice chairman of family medicine and associate dean of medical curriculum at USC's Keck School of Medicine. His areas of expertise and interest include exercise prescription and promotion, as well as how much physical activity is enough.

Jane E. Allen

Allen joined The Times' Health section a year ago after five years as the L.A.-based science and medical writer for the Associated Press. At The Times, she has explored such subjects as osteoporosis, heart failure and caregiver stress in families of minority patients with Alzheimer's.

Dr. Charles A. Anderson

Co-director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Pasadena's Huntington Memorial Hospital, Anderson is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and the USC Medical School. He is board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, critical care and sleep medicine.

Johanna Asarian-Anderson

Asarian-Anderson is manager of the Nutrition Program for the Public Health Programs and Services branch of the L.A. County Department of Health Services. She holds a master's of public health nutrition and is a registered dietitian.

Carole Bartolotto

Bartolotto has a bachelor of science degree in dietetics and nutrition, and a master's degree in exercise physiology from Cal State Northridge. She is a member of the health education and promotion department at Kaiser Permanente's regional offices.

Dr. Jack M. Berger

Berger, an associate professor of clinical anesthesiology at USC, has worked in the area of pain management since 1982. Berger has served as director of the L.A. County-USC Medical Center's Symptom Management and Palliative Care Program since 1998.

Daniel Bernhardt

Bernhardt, star of the syndicated series "Mortal Kombat: Conquest," has been studying the martial arts since he was a teenager. His training led him to open his own martial arts academy at 17.

Sarah Bernhoit

Bernhoit works as a pharmacy specialist for B. Braun/McGaw. The president-elect of the Los Angeles district of the California Dietetic Assn., Bernhoit became a registered dietitian in 1994.

Sharon Bernstein

Bernstein covers health care for The Times' Business section and specializes in bringing together questions of business, policy and patient care. Her coverage of health-care issues won first place for investigative reporting from the Greater Los Angeles Press Club for 1998.