Professor, Associate Dir of the Nutrition Program
Arizona State University (ASU)Celiac Disease, Diet, Gluten, Health, Nutrition, Obesity
Johnston is Professor and Associate Director of the Nutrition Program in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion at Arizona State University. She chairs the Institutional Review Board at ASU which oversees human subject research at the university.
Health, Health Disparities
Swapna Reddy specializes in analyzing U.S. health care policy and law. As a clinical assistant professor in the College of Health Solutions, her focus is on how policy can be used to improve health outcomes, increase health care access and equity, and reduce health disparities among minority and underserved populations. Ms. Reddy regularly comments to the media on issues related to U.S. health policy, including the Affordable Care Act, and has been featured on BBC, PBS, NPR, KJZZ, NBC News, Bloomberg News, Phoenix Business Journal and ABC 15.
Antibodies, B Cells, Health, HIV, Immune System, Immunology, Infectious Disease, Influenza, Medicine, Pandemic, T Cells, Viruses
Shane Crotty, Ph.D., and his team study immunity against infectious diseases. They investigate how the immune system remembers infections and vaccines. By remembering infections and vaccines, the body is protected from becoming infected in the future. Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective medical treatments in modern civilization and are responsible for saving millions of lives. Yet, good vaccines are very difficult to design, and very few new vaccines have been made in the past 10 years. A better understanding of immune memory will facilitate the ability to make new vaccines. Dr. Tony Fauci, NIH, referred to some of the Crotty lab work as “exceedingly important to the field of immunogen design.”
Dr. Crotty is a member of the LJI Coronavirus Task Force. The Crotty Lab, in close collaboration with the lab of LJI Professor Alessandro Sette, Dr. Biol. Sci., was the first to publish a detailed analysis of the immune system’s response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 (). The made a number of important findings. Most importantly, it showed that the immune system activates all three major branches of “adaptive immunity” (which learns to recognize specific viruses) to try to fight the virus: CD4 “helper” T cells , CD8 “killer” T cells, and antibodies. The LJI team found good immune responses to multiple different parts of SARS-CoV-2 (imagine the virus is made out of legos, and the immune system can recognize different individual legos), including the Spike protein, which is the main target of almost all COVID-19 vaccine efforts.
Dr. Crotty has a major focus studying human immune responses to vaccines. His lab is hard at work on candidate HIV vaccines with the CHAVID consortium. His lab is also hard at work on vaccine strategies for influenza, strep throat, and COVID-19. The Crotty lab studies new vaccine ideas and strategies that may be applicable to many diseases, based on a fundamental understanding of the underlying immune responses, and how the cells of the immune system interact.
Dr. Crotty regularly does media outreach on vaccines and immunity to infectious diseases. Dr. Crotty is also the author of Ahead of the Curve, a biography of Nobel laureate scientist David Baltimore, published in 2001, and reviewed in The Wall Street Journal and other publications. He earned his B.S. in Biology and Writing from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1996, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology/Virology from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2001.
Antibodies, Biology, Coronavirus, cryo-electron microscopy, Ebola, Ebola Virus, Global Health, Health, Infectious Disease, Lassa Fever, Marburg, Medicine, Rabies, Structural Biology, Virology, zoonotic disease
Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D. serves as President and CEO of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. She is one of the world’s leading experts in pandemic and emerging viruses, such as Ebola, Marburg and Lassa. Dr. Saphire directs the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Immunotherapeutic Consortium (VIC), an NIH-funded Center of Excellence in Translational Research. The VIC unites 43 previously competing academic, industrial and government labs across five continents to understand which antibodies are most effective in patients and to streamline the research pipeline to provide antibody therapeutics against Ebola, Marburg, Lassa and other viruses. Dr. Saphire's research explains, at the molecular level, how and why viruses like Ebola and Lassa are pathogenic and provides the roadmap for developing antibody-based treatments. Her team has solved the structures of the Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, Bundibugyo and Lassa virus glycoproteins, explained how they remodel these structures as they drive themselves into cells, how their proteins suppress immune function and where human antibodies can defeat these viruses. A recent discovery revealed why neutralizing antibodies had been so difficult to elicit against Lassa virus, and provided not only the templates for the needed vaccine, but the molecule itself: a Lassa surface glycoprotein engineered to remain in the right conformation to inspire the needed antibody response. This molecule is the basis for international vaccine efforts against Lassa.
Dr. Saphire is the recipient of numerous accolades and grants, including the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering presented by President Obama at the White House; the Gallo Award for Scientific Excellence and Leadership from the Global Virus Network; young investigator awards from the International Congress of Antiviral Research, the American Society for Microbiology, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the MRC Centre for Virus Research in the United Kingdom; the Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the Surhain Sidhu award for the most outstanding contribution to the field of diffraction by a person within five years of the Ph.D. Dr. Saphire has been awarded a Fulbright Global Scholar fellowship from the United States Department of State and a Mercator Fellowship from the German research foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, to develop international collaborations around human health and molecular imaging through cryoelectron microscopy.
Dr. Saphire received a B.A. in biochemistry and cell biology and ecology and evolutionary biology from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Scripps Research. She stayed on at Scripps Research as a Research Associate to conduct postdoctoral research and rose through the ranks to become a Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology. In early 2019, Dr. Saphire joined La Jolla Institute for Immunology to establish a molecular imaging facility for cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) at the Institute. The extremely detailed images produced by cryo-EM reveal precisely how essential mechanisms of the immune system operate.
Vice President & Executive Medical Director, Virtual Care
Houston MethodistHealth, Telemedicine
Dr. Sarah N Pletcher is the Vice President and Executive Medical Director of Virtual Care at Houston Methodist. In this role, she leads the health system on strategies, processes, practice and education around system-wide virtual care and digital health programs across the organization. Prior to joining Houston Methodist, Dr. Pletcher was the founder of the Centers for Connected Care & Telehealth at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, where she led the health system in the selection and implementation of new strategies utilizing telehealth technology platforms, and developed new clinical products and telemedicine programs across multiple specialties, and in multiple settings. As a consultant, Dr. Pletcher has advised health systems, policymakers, and investors about disruptive technologies and new business models that can provide value in serving populations. She is frequently sought as a thought leader and invited speaker in areas of telemedicine, health, innovation, clinical quality improvement, provider education, and rural program development; and has been the principal investigator on over 15 million dollars of grant and foundational funding to advance these initiatives.
Professor of Strategy Herman Smith Research Professor in Hospital and Health Services Management Director of Healthcare at Kellogg
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of ManagementBiopharmaceutical, Health, Healthcare, Innovation, Strategy
Professor Garthwaite is the Herman R. Smith Research Professor in Hospital and Health Services, a Professor of Strategy, and the Director of the Program on Healthcare at Kellogg (HCAK). He is an applied economist whose research examines the business of healthcare with a focus on the interaction between private firms and public policies. His recent work in the payer and provider sectors has focused on the private sector effects of the Affordable Care Act, the impact and operation of Medicaid Managed Care plans, the responses of non-profit hospitals to financial shocks, and the economic effects of expanded social insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare for All. Professor Garthwaite also studies questions of pricing and innovation in the biopharmaceutical sector. In this area he has examined the effect of changes in market size of investments in new product development, the evolving world of precision medicine, expanded patent protection on pricing in the Indian pharmaceutical market, the innovation response of United States pharmaceutical firms to increases in demand, and the relationship between health insurance expansions and high drug prices. His research has appeared in journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the New England Journal of Medicine. In addition, he is a frequent media commentator appearing in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and The New York Times. He has also appeared as a guest on various television and radio shows such as Nightly Business Report and NPR Marketplace. In 2015, Professor Garthwaite was named one of Poet and Quants 40 Best under 40 Business School Professors. Garthwaite received a B.A. and a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan and his PhD in Economics from the University of Maryland. Prior to receiving his PhD, he served in a variety of public policy positions including the Director of Research for the Employment Policies Institute. He has testified before the United States Senate, United States House of Representatives and state legislatures on matters related to the healthcare markets, prescription drugs, the minimum wage, and health care reforms.
Professor of Physical Activity & Public Health
University of BristolExercise, Health, Mental Health, Physical Activity, Public Health, Sports and Recreation
Charlie Foster OBE is the Head of the Centre for Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences. He influences public guidance about the types and levels of physical activity needed to offset health concerns and has produced UK national guidelines on physical activity for every age group. Dr Foster's specialisms include communicating exercise guidelines to healthcare professionals, common measurements of public health improvements, the benefits of hi-intensity physical activity (HIT) sessions, the impact of regular exercise on the brain, and the relationship between accessing green spaces and positive mental health. Dr Foster is one of the UK's leading epidemiologists for physical activity and health and was awarded an OBE for his services to physical activity promotion in 2019. Outside of the UK, he has worked with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA, and the government of South Korea. He has also been the President of the International Society of Physical Activity and Health. He provided evidence and expert testimony to the House of Lords All Party Parliamentary COVID-19 Committee on the impact of Covid on physical activity and the impact of technology use on health. Education 1989 - BEd Education, University of Exeter, 1997 - MSc Health Promotion, Birmingham City University, 2006 - PhD Medical Sciences, University of Warwick Accomplishments 2016 - President of International Society for Physical Activity and Health, 2017 - Elected Fellow by Distinction (FFPH), Faculty of Public Health, 2019 - Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the promotion of physical activity
Associate Vice Provost for Health Sciences; Distinguished Professor
Indiana UniversityAffordable Care Act , Economics, Health, Health Economics, Health Insurance, health insurance reform, Health Policy, policy analysis, Public finance, Social Policy, Vulnerable Populations
Kosali Simon is a Distinguished Professor and Herman B Wells Endowed Professor in the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and associate vice provost for health sciences. She is a nationally known health economist who specializes in applying economic analysis in the context of health insurance and health care policy. Her research focuses on the impact of health insurance reform on health care and labor market outcomes, and on the causes and consequences of the opioid crisis.
Professor, Materials Science and Engineering and Director, Institute for Design and Manufacturing Innovation
University of California, IrvineAdvanced Manufacturing, Aerospace Engineering, Health, Materials Science, Metamaterials
Prof. Valdevit received his MS degree (Laurea) in Materials Engineering from the University of Trieste, Italy (in 2000) and his PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University (in 2005). He worked as an intern at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center and as a post-doctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He joined the faculty in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of California, Irvine in 2007. In 2018, he moved his appointment to the newly established Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where is currently a professor. He is serving as the inaugural director of the Institute for Design and Manufacturing Innovation in the School of Engineering. Prof. Valdevit works in the general area of mechanics of materials, developing analytical, numerical and experimental techniques across multiple length scales. His primary research goal is the optimal design, modeling, fabrication and experimental characterization of metamaterials and structures with unprecedented combinations of properties. Some key research accomplishments have been the development and optimization of multifunctional sandwich panels for thermo-structural applications (including hypersonics), the mechanical characterization, numerical modeling and optimal design of ultralight hollow micro-lattices and 2D and 3D shape-reconfigurable materials, the development of novel topology optimization algorithms for the optimal design of architected materials with complex unit cell designs, and the advancement of novel additive manufacturing processes (in particular two-photon polymerization Direct Laser Writing, Direct Metal Laser Sintering and Cold Spray).
Attachment, Clinical, Developmental, Health, Mental Health, Parent-Child Relationships, Parenting
Jessie Borelli is an Associate Professor of Psychological Science at University of California, Irvine. She is a clinical psychologist specializing the field of developmental psychopathology; her research focuses on the links between close relationships, emotions, health, and development, with a particular focus on risk for anxiety and depression. Jessie Borelli also maintains a small private practice where she sees children, adolescents, adults, couples and families, with a specialization in the areas of anxiety disorders, eating disorders, adoption, and parenting (www.compass-therapy.com).
Professor and Director of Institute of Clinical Bioethics, and the John McShain Chair in Ethics
Saint Joseph's UniversityBioethics, Ethics, Health, Hospital, Legal, Medical
Peter A. Clark, S.J., Ph.D. is a Professor of Medical Ethics and Director of the Institute of Clinical Bioethics at Saint Joseph鈥檚 University in Philadelphia. He is also the Bioethicist for the Mercy Health System of Philadelphia, Shriners Hospital for Children and St. Christopher鈥檚 Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. As Bioethicist, Father Clark is responsible for the ethical training of the medical interns/residents/fellows in all affiliated hospitals. He does weekly Ethics Teaching Rounds at the three acute care facilities in the Mercy Health System and the 4 Jefferson Health Hospitals, co-chairs the hospital ethics committees, IRBs and the Corporate Ethics Committee and is on consult 24/7 for all hospitals. Father Clark is author of numerous articles in medical and bioethics journals on topics, which include: medical futility, pain management, prejudice in the medical profession, the medical use of marijuana, tube feedings and PVS patients, male circumcision and HIV/AIDS, face transplantation, organ transplants, safe injection sites, palliative care and hospice and the Ashley treatment, etc.
Health, Mental, sculpting
Carrie Fonder, associate professor, teaches 2D design, 3D Design, drawing, sculpture and general education art appreciation. Fonder is a mixed media sculptor whose practice focuses on the exploitation of humor for cultural critique. Her conceptually motivated pieces often revel in material exploration that moves fluidly between traditional and contemporary media and methods. Her work engages the history of kitsch but moves it beyond the concepts of irony or judgment. It embraces the typical self-conscious knowing but uses humor and style for vehicles of socio-cultural examination. Humor creates a space for politics to enter while style knowingly distracts. Formally, her work shifts between 2D and 3D as it investigates the real versus the represented. Fonder often utilizes devalued materials and methods, including polystyrene foam, airbrushed acrylics, and plywood. Fonder has exhibited nationally and internationally from Detroit, Michigan to New Delhi, India. She is a member of Good Children Gallery in New Orleans and has attended numerous artist residencies including the Wassaic Project, New York, and the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont. Before coming to UWF in 2015, Fonder taught at several institutions in the greater Detroit Metro Area, including the College for Creative Studies.
Health, sedentary behaviour, Wearable Technology
Assistant Professor
College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAging, Health, Technology
As a lifespan psychologist, I see individuals as producers of their own development. This means that to the extent that they are able, individuals strive to support their own health and well-being. However, the ability to act and change is not constant but varies—both across individual differences in access to resources and also within individuals as they face challenges and opportunities in daily life. To truly support health and independence, health technologies must be sensitive to the context and complexity of life as it is lived. Therefore, my research examines the processes by which older adults understand their health and use health technologies. My goal is to guide the development and implementation of health technologies that respond to the dynamics of older adults’ psychological, social, and biophysiological needs, goals, and abilities.
Autoimmunity, Biology, Cancer, Cellular Biology, Children's Health, Genomics, Health, Immune System, Immunology, Inflammation, Innate Immune System, Monocytes, Women's Health
LJI Associate Professor Sonia Sharma, Ph.D., is an expert in using unbiased, genome-scale approaches to unravel innate immunity, the body’s early immune response to microbial pathogens and neoplastic cells. Innate immunity has also been implicated as a common causal factor in many inflammatory, allergic and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Sharma integrates cutting-edge genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, computational and translational approaches to define the key genetic mechanisms regulating cellular innate immunity and determine how they impact human health and disease.
Dr. Sharma has an outstanding record of research accomplishments, including high impact discoveries published in top scientific journals. Her work has made her an internationally recognized expert in the use of high throughput, genome scale approaches, in particular RNA interference and CRISPR/Cas9, to dissect complex cellular signaling pathways and questions of immunological relevance. Her use of these technologies is a powerful tool that can be applied to any cellular pathway or disease process.
Dr. Sharma also directs the La Jolla Institute for Immunology's Sex-Based Differences in the Immune System Initiative, which aims to shed light on why many diseases affect men and women differently.
Antibodies, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Data Science, genomic analysis, Genomics, Health, Immune System, Immunology, Infectious Disease, Medicine
Dr. Tal Einav’s accomplishments included the development of sophisticated computational methods to understand viral behavior and predict how individuals react to vaccination or infection. This research earned Einav a prestigious Damon Runyon Quantitative Biology Fellowship and emphasized the importance of pursuing machine learning to analyze big data in immunology.
“We have these tremendous datasets that we’re just barely tapping into,” says Einav. These data allow Einav to understand the immune response in different contexts, from the young to the elderly, from healthy people to individuals who are immunocompromised. All with the goal to discover key patterns that let us understand and harness our immunity. Einav’s work has already demonstrated that blending biophysics and computer science enables researchers to predict the antibody response against new viral variants.
This work paves the way for a fundamentally new form of personalized medicine. For example, Einav imagines tailoring an individualized vaccine strain or dosage based on a patient’s specific antibody repertoire to create a stronger response that lasts for years, if not their entire life.
Adolescent Health, Bioethics, Health, Men鈥檚 Health, Obesity
Santo Coleman’s areas of research are men’s health and masculinity across the lifespan, including adolescent health and fatherhood. Currently, his focus is the effect of gender on health behavior outcomes such as obesity. Additionally, he examines the role of culture on gender performance and academic outcomes.
Coleman received his doctorate in public health with a focus on social and behavioral health science at University of Connecticut, his master’s in public health with a focus on public health policy and management from the Mel and Enid Zuckerman School of Public Health at University of Arizona and his bachelor’s degrees in political science and Spanish from Georgia State University.
Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Health, Materials Engineering
Anton is a research and teaching academic, and the Applied Chemistry and Translational Biomaterials (ACTB) Group leader at the Clinical and Health Sciences (CHS) Unit at the University of South Australia (UniSA). His research group works at the interface between chemistry, biomaterials and pharmaceutical sciences to develop innovative solutions to current and emerging biomedical and environmental challenges. Anton also teaches into first year chemistry, and second year analytical and organic chemistry courses.
The ACTB Group has a strong focus on the translation of fundamental principles to applied outputs and end-user informed solutions. Currently the group is collaborating with various biotech (Carina Biotech; Vetter Pharm.; D&R Pharm.; CRC CTM) and conservation (FAME; Ecological Horizons) groups to develop innovative technologies to deliver more efficient, efficacious and sustainable processes.
After completing a PhD in Organic and polymer chemistry from the University of Reading (UK) under the supervision of Prof. Wayne Hayes in 2006, Anton joined the Polymer Science Group at the University of Melbourne as a Postdoctoral Fellow, where he worked on several CRCs (CRC for Polymers; Cotton Catchment Communities CRC) and ARC Linkage (DuPont; PolyActiva) funded projects. In 2009, he was awarded an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2013, Anton moved to UniSA as a Senior Research Fellow to contribute and manage several CRC projects (Vision CRC; Wound Management Innovation CRC; CRC for Cell Therapy Manufacturing (CTM)), before joining Pharmacy School (now CHS) in 2015 to establish the ACTB Group.
Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology and Center for Neuroscience
University of Colorado BoulderGut Bacteria and Health, Health, Microbiome, Physiology, Stress
Christopher A. Lowry, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology and Center for Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Center for Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (AMC), a Principal Investigator in the Department of Veterans Affairs Eastern Colorado Health Care System, VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education, & Clinical Center (MIRECC), Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), and director of the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Laboratory at CU Boulder. He is Co-Director, with Dr. Lisa Brenner, of the Military and Veteran Microbiome Consortium for Research and Education (MVM-CoRE). Dr. Lowry's research program focuses on understanding stress-related physiology and behavior with an emphasis on the role of the microbiome-gut-brain axis in stress resilience, health and disease.