MD Experts

Dr. Kagan is nationally recognized in the fields of Nuclear Medicine and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). He has consistently introduced cutting edge medical technology with its clinical applications to Florida physicians and their patients. In 1977, he opened the first Nuclear Cardiology laboratory in Florida. In 1983, when it was still considered an experimental technique, he opened the first outpatient MRI facility in Florida. His was the first facility to receive FDA approval on April 1, 1984. He provided the first mobile MRI service in 1986. In 1987, he opened the first Open MRI center in the state of Florida. In the 1990's, he provided the first outpatient installation in South Florida of the Siemens Somaton Sensation, a 16 multi-slice detector spiral CT Scanner. This is the only non-invasive diagnostic test which can detect non-obstructive coronary artherosclerosis and therefore can predict who is susceptible to the development of coronary artery disease years before any symptoms may occur.

Dr. Kagan is the Medical Director of the MRI Scan & Imaging Centers. He is also the Medical Director of Body Vision, a diagnostic facility which houses South Florida's first ultra-fast 16 multi-slice CT scanner. This test is non-invasive, inexpensive and can be completed in less than five (5) minutes. Prior to opening the first outpatient MRI center in Florida, Dr. Kagan was the Medical Director of Nuclear Medicine at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale and Clinical Assistant Professor of Radiology at the University of Miami. He is Board Certified in Clinical Pathology, Nuclear Medicine and Hyperbaric Medicine.

Dr. Kagan received his M.D. degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. His postgraduate medical education included a medical internship at the University of California San Francisco and residency training programs in Pathology and Nuclear Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. He completed fellowships in Magnetic Resonance Imaging at the University of California San Francisco and Huntington Memorial Research Laboratories in Pasadena. he has held professional offices in several organizations including President of the Florida Association of Nuclear Physicians and Chairman of the Board of the Nuclear Medicine Resource Committee of the College of American Pathologists.

Dr. Kagan has published many papers in peer reviewed journals and has been an invited lecturer nationally and internationally in Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Nuclear Medicine. In 1992, President Clinton appointed Dr. Kagan as the only physician commissioner on the White House Fellowship Commission. He is a member of numerous medical societies including the Radiologic Society of North America, the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the International Society of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, the Institute for Clinical PET American College of Nuclear Physicians, the College of American Pathologists, Society for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and the American Roentgen Ray Society.

Mark S. Gold, MD
Distinguished Professor & Associate Chair for Education
Dr. Gold is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Anesthesiology, and Community Health & Family Medicine at the University Of Florida College Of Medicine. He is also a member of the McKnight Brain Institute. Dr. Gold is Chief of the Addiction Medicine Division in the Department of Psychiatry and the department's Associate Chair for Education.

Dr Gold is a teacher of the year, researcher and inventor who has worked for 35 years to develop models for understanding the effects of tobacco and other drugs on the brain and behavior. Dr. Gold has developed animal models which have led to new treatments for addicts and also conceptualized hypotheses which were more than novel but also yielded new approaches to treat patients. Under his leadership, the Division of Addiction Medicine at the University of Florida has grown from Dr. Gold in 1990 to 12 full-time clinical physicians treating drug abuse and dependence and an equal number of researchers with major funded projects and research groups in proteomics, self-administration, functional imaging, public health, impaired professionals, and nanotechnology.

Research/Educational Interests and Accomplishments
Dr. Gold's pioneering work on the brain systems underlying the effects of opiate drugs led to a dramatic change in the way opiate action was understood. Gold was the senior author on the discovery paper and was awarded a patent for the discovery of clonidine (Catapres) which remains widely used for opiate withdrawal and pain management. During the mid-1980s Gold and colleagues developed a new theory for cocaine action in the brain. Gold's work on cocaine led to a complete change in thinking about cocaine's addiction liability, acute and chronic actions. In addition to theory, Dr. Gold's research has led to changes in the treatment of opiate and also cocaine addiction. Dr Gold, a Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Pharmacology and the American Psychiatric Association, has made many recent contributions to the understanding of the second hand effects of all drugs that are smoked and the consequences of expired medications in closed spaces such as an operating room (see Nature.com, CESAR FAX, and Chemical & Engineering News). In 2005, Gold and co-workers were first to demonstrate that intravenously administered anesthetics and analgesics were exhaled and these controlled and dangerous substances are active in the air of operating rooms and other sites where given to patients. Second-hand drug exposure, like second hand tobacco smoke, is being studied in self-administration, fMRI, and proteomic studies in his research group. In this case, the research is going from man and the operating room to animal models as Gold tries to explain the role of the workplace environment in physician drug abuse and addictions.

Over the past decade, Dr. Gold has pioneered the hypothesis of hedonic overeating or pathological attachment to food as an addiction. This work has led to new approaches to treat the obese as well as to prevent overeating in recent post-addicts. Dr. Gold and his nanotechnology colleagues at the Brain Institute have been awarded recent patents for the invention of breath tests for marijuana and other drugs of abuse which someday may become as commonplace as breathalyzer for alcohol intoxication. Dr. Gold has also been a co-inventor for the invention of breath tests for adherence, compliance and therapeutic drug monitoring for medications used to treat epilepsy and other medical conditions. With major collaborations within the McKnight Brain Institute Gold has expanded his work to include drug-related brain cell injury and death and stem cell repair. Dr. Gold and his research group are currently working with Barry Jacobs, Ph.D. at Princeton on neurogenesis effects of drugs and also with Dennis Steindler, Ph.D. McKnight Brain Institute Director on stem cell augmenting methods and inventions to reverse the neurotoxic and other effects of drugs of abuse. Drs. Gold and Steindler are embarking on a revolutionary research initiative to reverse drug and alcohol-related brain cell injury and loss with stem cells.

Dr. Gold has been able to mentor MD, PhD, and MD/PhD students at the University of Florida as part of a degree program and also as part of the University Of Florida College Of Medicine's research track. Dr. Gold and the Division provide basic science of addiction training in Pharmacology, Human Behavior, and Medical Neuroscience for all UF medical students. Most recently, he has developed and UF medical students have begun mandatory two-week clerkships in addiction medicine during their clinical rotations. Since physicians learn how to evaluate and treat patients by watching and learning at the bedside, this new program is very important to the millions of patients in the State of Florida and elsewhere who might go to a physician for a tobacco, alcohol, drug or overeating problem. UF is the first medical school to expect clinical competency in addiction medicine just like obstetrics or neurology or surgery. UF is a national teaching site for the Annenberg medical student summer training program in addiction medicine. Over the past 30+ years, Gold has mentored many of the nation's current leaders in eating disorders and addiction education and research.

Leadership And Service
Dr. Gold has been a leader at the University, State, National and International level in drug abuse prevention, treatment advocacy and research. He has been a member of various Chair Search Committees, the Admissions Committee, the Curriculum Committee, and the Director of the Alcohol Education Center and Impaired Physicians Task Force here at UF. Nationally, Dr. Gold has worked with a variety of governmental agencies concerned with drug use and youth. Dr. Gold has worked to reduce stigma and increase access to treatment as a contributor to the national drug strategy, advisor, participant in consensus panels, and with the National Institutes. Dr. Gold is an Editor of the Journal of Addictive Disease, Editorial Board member of a number of Journals and reviewer for many, many more. He reviews more than 50 journal articles yearly. Dr. Gold is a member of the University Of Florida College Of Medicine's Alumni Board of Directors, Betty Ford Institute Board in Palm Springs, California and also serves on the Board of the Institute for Behavioral and Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Gold is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington University in St Louis where he also was awarded the 1989 Distinguished Alumni Award. He was an Honors Graduate of the University Of Florida College Of Medicine where he was also AOA and a Wall of Fame award recipient. Dr Gold was awarded by the NAATP their prestigious annual Nelson J. Bradley, M.D. life time achievement award at their 2006 Annual Conference. Gold has also received awards from DARE and also DEA for decades of volunteer service. Since its inception, Dr. Gold has been listed as one of the Best Doctors® in America. Since beginning his career in research at the University of Florida in 1970, he has been the author of over 900 medical articles, chapters, and abstracts in journals for health professionals on a wide variety of psychiatric research subjects and authoring twelve professional books including practice guidelines, ASAM core competencies, and medical text books for primary care professionals. He is the author of 15 general audience books. According to a review in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA 272:18, 1996), "Mark S. Gold, M.D. the most prolific and brilliant of the addiction experts writing today….." Dr. Gold has spent his career trying to bridge the gap in medical education and practice with the belief that addictions are diseases and that all physicians have a critical role in prevention and, if that fails, in early identification and prompt treatment".

Recent Publications (selected from over 900 papers, book chapters and abstracts; 26 books):

Gold MS, Aronson MD. Treatment of Alcoholism, UpToDate, www and CD ROM Educational Program, 2003, 2004.Liu Y, Gold MS. Human fMRI of Eating and Satiety in Eating Disorders and Obesity. Psych Ann, 33:127-132; 2003.

Szabo ST, Gold MS, Goldberger BA, Blier P. Effects of Sustained Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (GHB) Treatments on Spontaneous and Evoked Firing Activity of Locus Coeruleus Neurons. Biol Psychiatry, 53:119, 2003.

Goldberger BA, Lessig MC, McCusker RR, Cone EJ, Gold MS. Evaluation of Current Caffeine Content of Coffee Beverages: Recommendations for Clinicians Regarding Caffeine Exposure. Biol Psychiatry, 53:570, 2003.

Tullis LM, Frost-Pineda K, Dupont R, Gold MS. Marijuana and Tobacco: A Connection, J Add Dis, 22(3):51-62, 2003.

James GA, Gold MS, Liu Y. Interaction of Satiety and Reward Response to Food Stimulation. J Add Dis, 23(3):23-39, 2004.

Repetto M, Gold MS. Cocaine (and Crack): Neurobiology In Substance Abuse a Comprehensive Textbook, 4th edition (also in 1, 2, and 3). Lowinson JH, Ruiz P, Millman RB (eds). Williams and Wilkins, 195-218, 2004.

Gold MS, Jacobs W. Cocaine (and Crack): Clinical Aspects. In Substance Abuse a Comprehensive Textbook, 4th Edition (also in 1, 2, and 3). Lowinson JH, Ruiz, P, Millman, RB (eds). Williams and Wilkins, 218-251, 2004.

Gold MS, Star J. Eating Disorders In Substance Abuse a Comprehensive Textbook, 4th edition. Lowinson JH, Ruiz P, Millman RB (eds). Williams and Wilkins, York, PA, Chapter 27, 469-488, 2004.

Kleiner K, Jacobs WS, Lenz-Brunsman B, Perri MG, Frost-Pineda K, Gold MS. Body Mass Index and Alcohol Use. J Add Dis. 23(3):105-118, 2004.

Hodgkins CC, Cahill KS, Seraphine AE, Frost-Pineda K, Gold MS. Adolescent Drug Addiction Treatment and Weight Gain. J Add Dis. 23(3):55-66, 2004. Gold MS. Dual Diagnosis: Substance Abuse and Psychiatric Dual Disorders: Focus on Tobacco. J Dual Diagnosis, 1(1):15-36, 2004.

Gold MS, Byars JA, Frost-Pineda K. Occupational Exposure and Addictions. Psychiatr Clin North Am, 24:4, 2004.

Bruijnzeel A, Repetto M, Gold MS. Neurobiological Mechanisms in Addictive and Psychiatric disorders. Psychiatr Clin North Am, 27(4):661-674, 2004.

Galanter M, Kleber HD (Ed). The American Psychiatric Press, New York. Chapter 15:167-188, 2004.

Jacobs WS, Cahill KS, Gold MS. Historical and Conceptual Issues in Dual Diagnosis Riecher-Rossle A, Steiner M (Eds) .N0 172 pp.1-11, 2004.

Bruijnzeel A, Repetto M, Gold MS Neurobiological Mechanisms in Addictive and Psychiatric disorders. Psychiatr Clin North Amer, 27(4):661-674, 2004.

Byars JA, Frost-Pineda K, Jacobs WS, Gold MS. Naltrexone augments the effects of nicotine replacement therapy in female smokers. J Addict Dis, 24(2):49-60, 2005.

Gold MS, Frost-Pineda K, Melker RJ. Physician suicide and drug abuse. Am J Psychiatry, 162(7):1390, 2005.

Warren MW, Kobeissy FH, Liu MC, Hayes RL, Gold MS, Wang KK. Concurrent calpain and caspase-3 mediated proteolysis of alpha II-spectrin and tau in rat brain after methamphetamine exposure: a similar profile to traumatic brain injury. Life Sci, 5;78(3):301-9, 2005.

Bruijnzeel AW, Gold MS. The role of corticotropin-releasing factor-like peptides in cannabis, nicotine, and alcohol dependence. Brain Res Brain Res Rev, 49(3):505-28, 2005.

Coleman JJ, Bensinger PB, Gold MS, Smith DE, Bianchi RP, DuPont RL. Can drug design inhibit abuse? J Psychoactive Drugs, 37(4):343-62, 2005.

Gold MS, Melker RJ, Dennis DM, Morey TE, Bajpai LK, Pomm R, Frost-Pineda K. Fentanyl abuse and dependence: further evidence for second hand exposure hypothesis. J Addict Dis, 25(1):15-21, 2006.

Warren MW, Kobeissy FH, Liu MC, Hayes RL, Gold MS, Wang KK. Ecstasy toxicity: a comparison to methamphetamine and traumatic brain injury. J Addict Dis, 25(4):115-23, 2006.

Husted DS, Gold MS, Frost-Pineda K, Ferguson MA, Yang MC, Shapira NA. Is Speeding a Form of Gambling in Adolescents? J Gambl Stud. 2006 Jun 29; [Epub ahead of print]

McAuliffe PF, Gold MS, Bajpai L, Merves ML, Frost-Pineda K, Pomm RM, Goldberger BA, Melker RJ, Cendan JC. Second-hand exposure to aerosolized intravenous anesthetics propofol and fentanyl may cause sensitization and subsequent opiate addiction among anesthesiologists and surgeons. Med Hypotheses, 66(5):874-82, 2006.

Warren MW, Zheng W, Kobeissy FH, Cheng Liu M, Hayes RL, Gold MS, Larner SF, Wang KK. Calpain- and caspase-mediated alphaII-spectrin and tau proteolysis in rat cerebrocortical neuronal cultures after ecstasy or methamphetamine exposure. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol, 2006 Aug 2:1-11 [Epub ahead of print]

McCusker RR, Fuehrlein B, Goldberger BA, Gold MS, Cone EJ. Caffeine content of decaffeinated coffee. J Anal Toxicol, 30(8):611-3, 2006.

Bruijnzeel AW, Zislis G, Wilson C, Gold MS. Antagonism of CRF receptors prevents the deficit in brain reward function associated with precipitated nicotine withdrawal in rats. Neuropsychopharm, 32(4):955-63, 2007.

Bruijnzeel AW, Marcinkiewcz C, Isaac S, Booth MM, Dennis DM, Gold MS. The effects of buprenorphine on fentanyl withdrawal in rats. Psychopharm (Berl), 191(4):931-41, 2007.

Last updated on 08.23.07

Dr. Martin N. Zaiac, M.D.
Biography

One of the leading dermatologists in South Florida, Dr. Martin N. Zaiac is the co-founder of The Greater Miami Skin and Laser Center, the first dedicated skin and laser center in Miami Beach, a consultant with the area’s most prestigious hospitals, an instructor at South Florida’s top medical schools and universities, and an expert in new technologies and treatments for cosmetic and medical dermatological conditions. “Dr. Marty”, as known in the Miami community, is a renowned expert on skin cancer, as well as MOHS surgery, facial peels, laser treatments, BOTOX and more. His extensive experience has earned him an international reputation for excellence and is a frequent presenter at medical seminars and conferences around the world.

Dr. Zaiac is Director of the Department of Dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, section Chief of Dermatology at The Mount Sinai/Miami Heart Institute, and an associate clinical professor in dermatology for both the University of Miami School of Medicine and Barry University School of Graduate Medical Sciences. Martin Zaiac MD is currently one of the directors of the Florida Academic Dermatology Centers in Miami, Florida. In addition, he is also the dermatologist-in-residence at Fisher Island, the exclusive private island residence that is home to some of the world’s leading millionaires and diplomats, sports stars and celebrities.

A world-renowned dermatologist, “Dr. Marty” has improved the appearance of many with his expertise in cosmetic laser surgery and cosmetic dermatology. GMS&LC offers the latest in laser technology for the treatment of birth marks, tattoos, hair removal, pigmented lesions, Telangiectasia, Photo-Rejuvenation, Vitiligo, Psoriasis, and Skin Cancer. They provide the ultimate personalized rejuvenation programs, products and treatments that include: Laser Resurfacing, Botox®, Collagen and other tissue fillers, chemical peels, and Microdermabrasions.