Amy Lauren Fairchild is Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Texas A&M, and a historian who has worked in the field of public health ethics and policy. She approaches pressing dilemmas in the ethics and politics of contemporary public health debates from the perspective of history, with its broad focus on the social forces that produce disease, shape policy, and determine the societal responses to both. The central intellectual theme of her work has been to explore the functions and limits of the State with an emphasis on harm reduction and tobacco, privacy and surveillance, immigration and outbreaks, and fear and panic. She holds an MPH and a PhD from Columbia University.

@AmyLFairchild

Yao Sodahlon is the director of the Mectizan Donation Program (MDP), and is responsible for the overall success of the program by ensuring that Mectizan® (ivermectin) reaches the millions of people who need it. He works closely with partners to shape strategies for the elimination of onchocerciasis (commonly known as river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis (commonly known as elephantiasis). Sodahlon joined the program in 2006 to manage the Mectizan (donated by Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA) for the control and elimination of river blindness and albendazole (donated by GSK, Brentford, UK), which is co-administered with Mectizan to eliminate lymphatic filariasis in African countries and Yemen where onchocerciasis is co-endemic. He is also responsible for monitoring the distribution of Mectizan to ensure that it is safely administered during mass drug administration. Before Sodahlon joined the MDP, he worked in the ministry of health in Togo, his home country, as director of the Division of Clinical Laboratories (health system policy and development) and contributed to various communicable disease control programs (malaria, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, and lymphatic filariasis). He also taught clinical parasitology at the Lomé School of Medicine in Togo and consulted for WHO supporting African countries with malaria policies and drug monitoring. Sodahlon has authored and contributed to dozens of peer-reviewed articles on tropical disease and public health. He holds an MD from the University of Lomé, Togo; a diploma of clinical pathology from Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg (France); and a master’s degree in international health from Victor Segalen University of Bordeaux (France).

@YaoSodahlon

Sally Casswell is a professor of social and health research and the co-director of the SHORE and Whariki Research Centre, College of Health at Massey University, New Zealand. Her research interests are in social and public health policy, particularly in relation to alcohol. She has carried out research on the development and implementation of public policy at the national and community levels and in the evaluation of these initiatives. A focus for some years has been on the commercial marketing of alcohol products. She is involved in international alcohol policy as a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence and Alcohol Problems, and SHORE is a WHO Collaborating Centre. Professor Casswell also is actively involved with the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector as chair of GAPA (Global Alcohol Policy Alliance). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an Officer of the Order of New Zealand.

@MasseyUni

Derek Yach, a global health expert and anti-smoking advocate for more than 30 years, is the president of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. Throughout his career, he has supported and led smoking cessation research and policy development, and has been a strong proponent of harm-reduction policies, calling for a greater emphasis on harm reduction as early as 2005. He is also a passionate advocate of health promotion and disease prevention, and is advancing his career’s work at the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. Yach is a former World Health Organization (WHO) cabinet director and executive director for noncommunicable diseases and mental health, where he was deeply involved with the development of the world’s treaty on tobacco control, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. He is also the former chief health officer of the Vitality Group, executive director of the Vitality Institute, senior vice president of global health and agriculture policy at PepsiCo, director of global health at the Rockefeller Foundation, and a professor of global health at Yale University. Yach has authored or coauthored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles on global health, and has served on several advisory boards, including the World Economic Forum, Cornerstone Capital, and the Wellcome Trust. From 2007 to 2016, he served on the program advisory committee of the Clinton Global Initiative. Yach is a native of South Africa and holds an honorary DSc from Georgetown University, an MBChB from the University of Cape Town, a BSc (Hons Epi) from the University of Stellenbosch, and an MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

@swimdaily

Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition and Medicine, and Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The oldest and most renowned graduate school of nutrition in North America, the Friedman School’s mission is to produce trusted science, future leaders, and real-world impact. He has authored more than 300 scientific publications on the dietary priorities to reduce cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity in the United States and globally, and on evidence-based systems innovations and policies to effectively reduce these burdens. Mozaffarian has served in numerous advisory roles, including for the US and Canadian governments, American Heart Association, Global Burden of Diseases study, World Health Organization, and United Nations. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Time Magazine, and many other media outlets. In 2016, Thomson Reuters named Mozaffarian as one of theWorld’s Most Influential Scientific Minds. Mozaffarian holds a BS in biological sciences from Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa), an MD from Columbia University (Alpha Omega Alpha), and clinical training in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine from Stanford University and the University of Washington. He also holds an MPH from the University of Washington and a doctorate in public health from Harvard University. Before being appointed as Dean at Tufts in 2014, Mozaffarian was at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health for a decade and clinically active in cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is married, has three children, and actively trains as a Black Belt (second degree) in Taekwondo. The Friedman School pursues cutting-edge research and education from cell to society, including in molecular nutrition, human metabolism, data sciences, clinical trials, behavior change, community and organizational interventions, media and communication, food systems and sustainability, global food security, humanitarian crises, and food economics and policy. Friedman School graduates are active in academics, policy, advocacy, government, industry, public health, community service, and entrepreneurship. The School’s unique breadth, engagement with the world, and entrepreneurial spirit make it a leading institution for nutrition education, research, and public impact.

@Dmozaffarian

Sherry L. Pagoto is a professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut and a licensed clinical psychologist and director of the UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media. Pagoto is also the president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and co-chair of the Indoor Tan-Free Skin Smart Campus Initiative. Her research focuses on leveraging technology in the development and delivery of behavioral interventions targeting diet, physical activity, and cancer prevention behaviors. She has had federal funding for her program of research for 14 consecutive years and has published 184 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Pagoto has received several awards for her work, including the UMass Medical School Women in Science and Health Achievement Award in 2015, the Obesity Society Pioneer in mHealth/eHealth Award in 2014, the Society of Behavioral Medicine Early Career/Young Investigator Award in 2006, and the Western Michigan University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011. Devoted to science communication, she has more than 23,000 followers on Twitter and is a contributor to US News & World Report, Chronicle of Higher Education, STAT News, and Psychology Today. Her work has been featured in major news outlets, including CNN, NPR, NBC News, ABC News, and Good Morning America.

@DrSherryPagoto

Travis McCready is the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a $1 billion public–private partnership with the mission of advancing the life sciences ecosystem in Massachusetts. He directs and oversees the center’s investment strategy, including the agency’s operations, programs, and partnerships. Previously, McCready served as the vice president for programs at the Boston Foundation, directing the Foundation’s grants and community investment strategy to benefit the people of Greater Boston. He was the first executive director of the Kendall Square Association, responsible for growing the innovation economy of Kendall Square, one of the Commonwealth’s most economically robust districts. McCready has held the COO and CFO positions at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, overseeing the operations and finances for three convention centers in Massachusetts. A native of Brooklyn, he began his career as a public schoolteacher in the Bronx, New York. McCready serves on the Trustee Boards of the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Conservation Law Foundation, the New England Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and WBUR. He served on the Economic Development Planning Council under two governors, including co-chairing the subcommittee on innovation and entrepreneurship. McCready currently serves on the Massachusetts Digital Healthcare Council and the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative. In 2017, he was named one of Boston’s 50 most powerful people by the Boston Business Journal. McCready is a frequent speaker on economic development strategy as it relates to the convergence of private, public, and not-for-profit interests, and his blog, Life Sciences Discourses, has been recognized by The Boston Globe. McCready holds a BA from Yale University and a JD from the University of Iowa.

@MALifeSciences

Christine Lemke is the cofounder and president of Evidation Health. Previously, Lemke was the cofounder and chief operating officer of Sense Networks, developers of the first machine learning platform for mobile phone activity data (exited to YP.com). She also held positions at 3i Group (Paris) and Microsoft Xbox, and cofounded Chicago-based Channel IQ, a product analytics platform. Lemke holds a BA from the University of Washington and an MBA from HEC Paris.

@cklemke

Mylea Charvat is the CEO and founder of Savonix. She is committed to advancing the integration of cognitive health data into mainstream healthcare, and works with global leaders to advance the integration of cognitive test data into mainstream health and wellness. Charvat became interested in the brain at age 13 when her grandmother began to suffer cognitive problems. A clinician with a business background, she was an early employee with Travelocity in the 1990s and went on to train as a clinical neuropsychologist and neuroscientist. Charvat founded Savonix in 2015. At Savonix, she drives strategy to address dementia globally with business and clinical leaders, and works as a domain expert in digital cognitive assessment, with partners from Boston University, to Fortune 50 CEOs seeking to detect and prevent cognitive decline and dementia. Charvat has authored several peer-reviewed publications in mental health and neuroimaging. She is a contributor for Psychology Today, has written for Tech Crunch and Huffington Post, and has appeared as a subject matter expert at many conferences, including MedTech Showcase, the Atlantic Council, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and with the Duke Leadership Program. Charvat holds a PhD from Palo Alto University and completed her fellowship in clinical neuroscience at Stanford University School of Medicine. She has been a lecturer at Stanford University, the University of San Francisco, and San Francisco State University.

@MyleaCharvat