Guest Presenters

Alfreda Burke made her Carnegie and Orchestra Hall debut in Strauss’ Elektra (Fourth Maid) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Daniel Barenboim. She has made solo debuts with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia under Erich Kunzel, Chicago Opera Theater, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, MSU Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival, Rackham Symphony Choir & DSO/Michigan Opera Theater, Todi Music Fest, Lancaster Festival, Auditorium Theatre, Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, Chorus Angelorum, WSCU, Harper Festival Chorus, Metropolis Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, WSSO, and the Wheaton Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Burke, along with Rodrick Dixon, starred in Hallelujah Broadway, broadcast on PBS stations nationwide in 2010. The musical extravaganza, featuring the Prague Filmharmonic Orchestra and Choir, was filmed in Prague in February 2010. Hallelujah Broadway was released on DVD and CD in September 2010.

Rodrick Dixon’s dramatic stage presence and stunning vocal qualities have established him as one of the rising stars in opera, contemporary opera, oratorio, concerts, and recitals. In 2009, Dixon made his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut as Oedipus Rex and his return to the Cincinnati May Festival. In 2008, Rodrick Dixon delivered a powerfully gripping performance with the Los Angeles Opera and Philadelphia Orchestra as the Dwarf in the opera Der Zwerg, conducted by James Conlon. Opera News considered his portrayal of the Dwarf a triumph. In 2008, he performed the Beethoven 9th and appeared as Trabuco in the concert version of La Forza del Destino, both at the Cincinnati May Festival, and reunited with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Millennium Park for a Gala Concert celebrating the city of Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid.

DAVID BRONSON, M.D.

David Bronson, M.D., serves as president of the Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and as a member of the executive management team. He also practices internal medicine on the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic. He is chairman of the board of governors of the American College of Physicians and serves as treasurer of the board of directors of the American Medical Association. He has published and presented papers in the areas of preoperative assessment, quality improvement, smoking cessation, predictive instruments, practice management, and patient satisfaction. Bronson has been with Cleveland Clinic since 1992, where he served as chairman of the department of general internal medicine before chairing the division of medical regional practice from 1995-2007. Before 1992, he was an associate professor of medicine and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Vermont. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maine and his M.D. degree from the University of Vermont. He completed residencies in internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Vermont, where he served as chief resident.

BARRY MILLIGAN, Ph.D.

Barry Milligan is the interim chair of the Department of English Language and Literatures at Wright State University. He is a professor of English. His concentration is in 19th Century literature, romanticism, literature and the history of medicine, poetry, and music. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, and his master’s and doctorate degrees from Duke University.

NICHOLAS RIZZO, M.D.

Nicholas Rizzo, M.D., is a clinical instructor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is an internist with Chicago Lake Shore Medical Associates at Northwestern. Rizzo is the author of the book, Championship Nutrition and Performance: The Wrestler’s Guide to Lifestyle, Diet and Healthy Weight Control. He coauthored the book The Arsenal: The Wrestler’s Training Log, with Alan Fried, an NCAA national champion. He volunteered as an assistant wrestling coach at Marist High School for 14 years. He works as a ringside physician for professional boxing and MMA events. He is a board member of the Association of Ringside Physicians and is a member of the State of Illinois Athletic Commission Advisory Board. He also has a certificate in culinary arts.

J. WALTON TOMFORD, M.D.

J. Walton Tomford, M.D., is a staff physician in the infectious diseases department at Cleveland Clinic. He received a master clinician award from the Cleveland Clinic in 2006 and a master educator award from the Cleveland Clinic in 2001. His fellowship was with University Hospitals of Cleveland in infectious disease. He specializes in fever, fungal infections, general infectious diseases, granulomatous infections, mycobacterial infections, non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (ASB), osteomyelitis, pneumonia, surgical site and hospital acquired infections, and tuberculosis. He is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Ohio Thoracic Society, and Infectious Diseases Society of Ohio.

Gretchen Hallerberg is the director of the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Library. The library provides information to support patient care, research, education, and administration to the Cleveland Clinic. The library’s collection includes some 9,300 texts on clinical medicine, nursing, and the basic sciences. The library also provides access to more than 70,000 journal publications online