Irin Carmon – Author, Notorious RBG, Senior Correspondent, New York Magazine & CNN
Contributor Irin Carmon is a journalist, the bestselling co-author of Notorious RBG, and a frequent speaker around the country. A New York magazine senior correspondent and on-air CNN contributor, she reports and comments on gender, politics, and the law. Carmon and her coauthor were featured in the award-winning and Oscar nominated 2018 documentary RBG. The New York Times described Carmon as being “known for her smarts and feminist bona fides. In 2017 and 2018, Carmon teamed up with the Washington Post’s investigative team to break the news of sexual harassment and assault allegations against Charlie Rose, as well as CBS’s knowledge of his conduct. That work was recognized with a 2018 Mirror Award. She was also a contributing writer to the Post’s Outlook section. Carmon previously served as staff reporter focusing on women’s rights at MSNBC and NBC News, Salon and Jezebel. Her reporting and commentary has appeared across print, radio, television, and digital platforms. ” Of Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2015) which spent three months on the Times’ bestseller list, the paper’s staff book critic wrote, “That I responded so personally to it is a testimony to Ms. Carmon’s storytelling and panache.” She speaks frequently across the country on women’s leadership and rights. In 2011, she was one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Media. She graduated from Harvard, magna cum laude with highest honors in literature, in 2005.

Topics:

• I Dissent: How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Became the Notorious RBG
• What Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life & Work Can Teach Us About Reproductive Freedom
• What’s at Stake for Women at The Supreme Court
• Reporting on #MeToo: An Account from the Journalistic Trenches

Rebecca C. Thurston, PhD. Dr. Thurston is Professor of Psychiatry, Epidemiology, Psychology, and Clinical and Translational Science, and Director of the Women’s Biobehavioral Health Research Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Thurston’s research interests focus on midlife women’s psychosocial experiences, reproductive aging, and cardiovascular health. She takes a biopsychosocial perspective, focusing on exposures prevalent among women and important to their cardiovascular health. As such, Dr. Thurston is Principal Investigator of NIH R01-funded studies on cardiovascular disease and brain aging in women as well as a NIH K24 award supporting interdisciplinary mentoring and training in midlife women’s cardiovascular health. For the past 14 years, Dr. Thurston has been an investigator of the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation, one of the largest multiethnic prospective cohort studies of midlife aging in women. Dr. Thurston is a recipient of the Henry Burger Award from the International Menopause Society, is President Elect of the North American Menopause Society, and is an elected fellow of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.

Wafaa El-Sadr is the founder and director of ICAP at Columbia University, University Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine and Mathilde Krim-amfAR Professor of Global Health at Columbia University.

She established ICAP at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, a large Center engaged in the design and implementation of programs in more than 30 countries around the world.
Dr. El-Sadr currently serves as co-principal investigator of the NIH-funded HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) which supports diverse HIV prevention research studies around the world.
Her research interests are diverse and include research on the prevention and treatment of HIV, tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases, maternal-child health among others.
She was born in Egypt, received her medical degree from Cairo University, a masters in public health (in Epidemiology) from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and a masters in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She was named as McArthur fellow in 2008 and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Geoff Garnett works as a Deputy Director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on improving the effectiveness and sustainability of HIV testing, treatment and prevention programs. Prior to this Geoff was a Professor at Imperial College London researching the epidemiology, evolution and control of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Geoff’s work combines mathematical modeling of the transmission dynamics of HIV and STIs and methods of evaluation and uses mathematical models to understand the potential impact, effectiveness, cost effectiveness and budget impact of interventions. His current research interests include the use of HIV prevention cascades in the planning and monitoring of HIV prevention interventions, understanding the drivers of HIV risk behavior and adoption of prevention interventions, and how targets and indicators can be sued to improve HIV interventions.

Dr. Kevin Hybiske is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. He has adjunct appointments in the Departments of Microbiology and Global Health at the University of Washington. His ongoing research interests concern the pathogenesis of and mechanisms of host manipulation by Chlamydia.

Rena Janamnuaysook is a transgender woman and a health and human rights advocate from Bangkok, Thailand. She works as a program manager for transgender health at the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre, where she established the Tangerine Community Health Center, the first sexual health and well-being clinic for transgender people in the region.
Rena also leads the Tangerine Academy for Transgender Health, where she provides technical assistance and capacity building interventions on key population-led health services, including HIV testing, PrEP, Same-Day ART and implementation research to community-based health centers, government partners and private sectors. Rena co-founded the Thai Transgender Alliance, the first transgender-owned human rights organization in Thailand. She received a master degree in international development from the University of Birmingham, UK. Rena currently serves as a board member of the Asia Pacific Transgender Network and the Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand.

Infection Preparedness; Bacteria, Parasites, and Fungi, Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark

Dr. Jensen is a consultant physician at SSI where he is heading the Research Unit for Reproductive Microbiology.
For more than 25 years, he has been working with mycoplasmas, in particular Mycoplasma genitalium. His current focus is on M. genitalium antimicrobial susceptibility aiming to improve treatment. He has been part of the European STI Guidelines Project Editorial Board since 2006 and was the lead author on the M. genitalium guideline – an area where hard evidence from treatment trials is limited.

Dr. Charlotte Loppie is a Professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy and Research Lead for the Faculty of Human and Social Development, University of Victoria. Dr. Loppie’s research partners have included individual First Nation communities, regional and national Indigenous organizations as well as provincial and national government stakeholders.
Dr. Loppie has undertaken research and published in the areas of: Indigenous health, Indigenous HIV/AIDS, social determinants of Indigenous health, racism and cultural safety, Indigenous ethics and research capacity building as well as the sexual and reproductive health of Indigenous women.

Dr. Marra completed residency training in Neurology and fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington, USA. She is Professor and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs in Neurology, and she has an adjunct appointment in Medicine (Infectious Diseases), at the University of Washington. Dr. Marra directs a US National Institute of Health-funded clinical and translational research program on factors that influence the clinical course of syphilis, with a particular focus on HIV and on neurosyphilis. She received the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association Achievement Award in 2014 for work in this area. She also participates in multi-center clinical research on the neurological consequences of HIV, and she provides general neurological care in inpatient and outpatient settings, including a multispecialty HIV clinic. 

Johan Melendez, MS, PhD, is a research fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Melendez has almost 20 years of experience in the development and evaluation of molecular approaches for characterization of gonorrhea, chlamydia and other infectious agents, and biomarkers of human sexual behavior. His current research focuses on the development, evaluation, and implementation of rapid tests for the diagnosis of STIs and characterization of antimicrobial resistant gonorrhea. 

“Edgar Berman Professor & Chair, Department of International Health. Director, Alliance for a Healthier World
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

David Peters is an internationally renowned expert in health systems who has worked as a researcher, policy advisor, educator, manager, and clinician in dozens of low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Peters’ work seeks to improve the performance of health systems in LMICs through implementation science, and by building institutional capacity and creating innovations in organization, technology, and financing of health systems. He has published 8 books and monographs, more than 20 book chapters, and over 125 peer-reviewed articles. While working at the World Bank, he pioneered the Sector Wide Approaches (SWAps) in health, which is used by countries to define and implement national strategies and the allocation of foreign aid. In India, he led a research program to examine health systems and inequities, which became the basis for national policies to improve access and financing for health care. In Afghanistan, he created the first nationally implemented Balanced Scorecard to assess and manage health services.”

Dr. Poteat is an Assistant Professor of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina in the Center for Health Equity Research. Her research, teaching, and clinical practice focus on HIV and LGBTQ health with particular attention to the role of stigma in driving health disparities. Certified as an HIV Specialist by the American Academy of HIV Medicine, she is a leader in HIV research and care with transgender persons. She has a special interest in the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and health. Dr. Poteat received a Master of Medical Science degree from Emory University’s Physician Assistant (PA) Program; a Masters of Public Health from Rollins School of Public Health; and a PhD in the Social and Behavioral Interventions Program in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Helena Seth-Smith uses genomic data to investigate bacterial evolution. In her current role within the Division of Clinical Microbiology at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, she tries to answer questions relating to emerging pathogens, outbreaks and transmission. An ongoing interest is in sexually transmitted pathogens, having worked for many years on Chlamydia trachomatis (in addition to Chlamydia suis, abortus and pecorum), published cases on sexually transmitted Shigella sonnei, and now exploring diversity and antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. She cut her genomic teeth at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, analysing the genomes of many and varied pathogens. Her PhD at the Institute of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge identified a gene cluster involved in explosive breakdown by Rhodococcus. As bacterial pathogens show no sign of weakening, and STIs will always transmit, she is pleased that she has chosen a fascinating and satisfying career in a field which can only expand. 

David Wilson is Program Director in the World Bank’s Health, Population and Nutrition global practice. He leads the World Bank’s Global Solutions Groups in support of Health Systems Strengthening for UHC and also leads a Decision Science initiative focusing on technological innovation. Before joining the Bank in 2003, David worked as an academic, development practitioner and global health advisor for 20 years. David has over published over 100 scientific papers and delivered over 1,000 scientific addresses. He has worked in high- and low-income contexts in over 50 countries on all continents.