President Bob Grady opened the meeting right on time with a shout out to the Boys and Girls Club’s Steak and Burger Event he had attended recently. Not only did it feature some of Tucson’s best and brightest students, but President Bob also noted that so many of these young people were there because of the support Catalina Rotarians has provided over the years. Paul Bennett then offered the invocation.

Guests
Past President Pat Egbert introduced his guest, Jill-Ann Weickhardt, Associate Attorney with Waterfall Economidis Caldwell, Hanshaw & Villamana, PC. Jill-Ann focuses her practice primarily on real estate, environmental, and general business legal matters. Welcome to Catalina Rotary!

Announcements
President Bob reminded the club that next week would be DG Kirk Reed’s official visit to the club, with a much-anticipated interactive meeting on the agenda. There will be a Board meeting that same day at 10:45.

Secretary Tony Spear also reminded us to send him emails with make–ups and any other club business that he can help with. Please send all emails to secretary@catalinarotary.org.

Queen of Hearts
Jo Anne Westerman led us in the Queen of Hearts drawing with Dick Carlson drawing the winning ticket. Fortunately (for the rest of us), no Queen! So, the pot rolls over once again!

Sergeant At Arms (SAA)
SAA Norm Rebenstorf fulfilled his duties admirably by focusing our attention on The Rotarian magazine. Table by table, he found that we all needed to read it a bit more closely. All except the Chessers, of course, who knew all the answers. He ultimately had to disqualify them from answering so he could fill that proverbial can.

Program
Dr. Jordan Lancaster, PhD, was today’s speaker. Dr. Lancaster is affiliated with the UA Sarver Heart Center, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Avery Therapeutics, Inc., an avid cycler, and husband of former Catalina Rotarian Teresa Lancaster. Welcome Jordan! His presentation today focused on his efforts at both the UA and Avery Therapeutics to create regenerative heart grafts. This cutting-edge research, now in pre-clinical trials, involves cell-based therapies that were unheard of just a short time ago. In essence, his efforts and those of Avery Therapeutics are designed to engineer therapeutic tissues that can be used in degenerative diseases and offer a new approach to treating heart failure. The product, called MyCardia TM, can be produced in large batches, cryo-preserved, and sent around the world to patients who need it. UA has contributed significantly in helping Avery move this produce toward the market place. Catalina Rotary is fortunate to have had such an informed and visionary scientist as a presenter. Exceptional speakers characterize Catalina Rotary presentations, and today was certainly no exception!

President Bob adjourned the meeting at 1:30 PM.

Next Week’s meeting features our very own DG Kirk Reed!

Check out these photos from the meeting! If you’d like to view captions, click on a photo to open the gallery.