Dr. George Cheriyan, MD, FRCP (Lon), FRCPI, MBA is the Corporate CEO and Chief Medical Officer of the King Hammad American Mission Hospital (KHAMH) in Bahrain, the oldest hospital in the GCC. He worked as a Neonatologist for over 25 years after obtaining his post graduate training in Pediatrics in London at The Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, and sub-specialization in Neonatology at the Hospital for Sick Children, in Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Cheriyan has also worked as a Consultant Neonatologist in the National Health Service In London before moving up to take up a position as Head of Neonatology at the Saudi Aramco Hospital where he worked for 18 years in various capacities of leadership. He is a trained 'Improvement Advisor' in Healthcare quality from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Boston, MA where he was adjunct teaching member of the faculty and has been an invited speaker at various healthcare Forums both in and outside of the US.
He further obtained training in Healthcare management at the Harvard Business School and is both an alumni of the Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. His area of interest is the economics in developing a model of non-profit healthcare which is both affordable and of high quality.
Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Mayo Clinic, leads the No. 1 ranked hospital by U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek. Powered by a 76,000-person workforce, Mayo Clinic cares for more than 1.4 million people each year with serious or complex illnesses from all 50 U.S. states and 140 countries. With a singular focus on the need for patient-centered health care transformation, Dr. Farrugia is a leading voice in the movement of health care from a linear pipeline operational model to a platform-based model.
Prior to his appointment as CEO, Dr. Farrugia served as CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida. Under his leadership, Florida established itself as a destination medical center for the Southeast. He also led the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine, which brings genomics into routine clinical care, and co-founded the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation. He is a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees and Governors.
Dr. Farrugia has been a Mayo Clinic physician for more than 30 years. He is jointly appointed in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, and the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering. He also is a professor of medicine and physiology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. He completed his undergraduate training at St. Aloysius College and earned his medical degree from the University of Malta Medical School.
Dr. Farrugia is the co-author of "Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast: A Blueprint for Transformation from the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation", a book highlighting the need for change in the delivery of health care. He is a past president of the American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society. An active translational scientist and NIH researcher, he has published more than 350 academic articles. He also is co-chair of the Global Health and Healthcare Governors, World Economic Forum.
Prof. Eyal Zimlichman is an internal medicine physician, a health care executive and a researcher focused on assessing and improving health care quality and value, patient engagement and patient safety.
Prof. Zimlichman currently serves as Chief Transformation Officer and Chief Innovation Officer at Sheba Medical Center, Israel's largest hospital. In this position he oversees the transformation efforts carried out at the Medical Center as it aims to redesign healthcare to be focused on patients, while being more effective, efficient and equitable. For these reasons, Prof. Zimlichman founded Sheba's global innovation program (ARC - Accelerate, Redesign and Collaborate). Prior to this Prof. Zimlichman held the position of Chief Medical Officer and before that as Chief Quality Officer, both at Sheba.
Preceding his work at Sheba, Prof. Zimlichman held the position of Lead Researcher at Partners Health Care Clinical Affairs Department in Boston where he was involved in the efforts to bring about a strategic care redesign initiative. In that capacity, Prof. Zimlichman established their program for collecting and reporting patient reported outcomes across the continuum of care, a program that earned international appraisal. During that time, Prof. Zimlichman held an appointment at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School affiliated Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, where he conducted research on implementing technology to improve quality and patient safety.
Prof. Zimlichman is a founding member of the International Academy of Quality and Safety in Health Care and an International Expert at the International Society of Quality in Healthcare (ISQua). He also served as an advisor to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2007 Prof. Zimlichman was selected as a member of Sheba's Talpiot Medical Leadership Program, a program aimed at advancing the brightest young physicians into leadership roles. In 2017 he was appointed head of the program. Prof. Zimlichman is a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health Master of Science in Healthcare Management program and has earned his MD at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.
Dr. Maan Fares, MD, is a practicing cardiologist in the Robert and Suzanne Tomsich Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Chairman of Global Patient Services, at the Cleveland Clinic.
The Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. The Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names the Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey.
As a global health care organization with an international reputation for excellence in specialty care particularly in cardiovascular diseases. The department of Global Patients Services helps in organizing the care and management of more than 5,000 patients annually. Patients arrive from all corners of the globe with immensely diverse backgrounds seeking various health care needs. Their care demands excellence in management of complex medical illnesses and special cultural awareness to ensure a better experience and superb outcomes.
Dr. Fares is board-certified in cardiovascular disease, nuclear cardiology/cardiovascular imaging (Level II, including SPECT and PET) and echocardiographic imaging (Level II) and has completed Level II training in cardiac CT angiography. He performs nearly 2,000 nuclear stress tests, 2,000 adult echocardiograms, and more than 2,500 stress tests and EKGs each year.
Dr. Fares earned his medical degree from the University of Damascus, School of Medicine, Syria. He completed a residency at the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio, and a fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at New England Medical Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Fares spent time on staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, as a clinical associate in echocardiography. Prior to his appointment to the Cleveland Clinic medical staff in 2013, Dr. Fares was a member of the Ohio Permanent Medical Group/Kaiser Permanente medical staff and Chief of Cardiology. Additional positions he held with Kaiser Permanente Ohio include Associate Medical Director for Medical Specialties and member of the Board of Directors.
He is a member of the American College of Cardiology, American Society of Echocardiography and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and is a founding member of the Syrian American Medical Society.
Dr. Deborah L. Birx, MD, is a world-renowned medical physician and expert on HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases and a diplomat who served as a special representative for global health diplomacy. Most recently, Dr. Birx served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force from Feb. 2020 to Jan. 2021. Her three-decade-long career has focused on HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health. As the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Dr. Birx oversaw the implementation of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history, as well as all U.S. government engagement with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Serving as the U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, she aligned the U.S. Government's diplomacy with foreign assistance programs that address global health challenges and accelerate progress toward achieving an AIDS-free generation; ending preventable child and maternal deaths; and preventing, detecting, and responding to infectious disease threats.
In 1985, Dr. Birx began her career with the Department of Defense (DoD) as a military-trained clinician in immunology, focusing on HIV/AIDS vaccine research. From 1985-1989 she served as an Assistant Chief of the Hospital Immunology Service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Through her professionalism and leadership in the field, she served as the Director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research from 1996-2005. Dr. Birx helped lead one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history (known as RV 144, or the Thai trial), which provided the first supporting evidence of any vaccine's potential effectiveness in preventing HIV infection. During this time, she also rose to the rank of Colonel, bringing together the Navy, Army, and Air Force in a new model of cooperation - increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. military's HIV/AIDS efforts through inter-and intra-agency collaboration. Then known as Colonel Dr. Birx, she was awarded two prestigious U.S. Meritorious Service Medals and the Legion of Merit Award for her groundbreaking research, leadership and management skills during her tenure at DoD.
From 2005-2014, Dr. Birx served as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA) in the CDC Center for Global Health. As DGHA Director, she utilized her leadership ability, superior technical skills, and passion to achieve tremendous health impact. She successfully led the implementation of CDC's PEPFAR programs around the world and managed an annual budget of more than $1.5 billion. Dr. Birx was responsible for all of the agency's global HIV/AIDS activities, including providing oversight to more than 400 staff at headquarters, over 1,500 staff in the field, and more than 45 country and regional offices in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Recognized for her distinguished and dedicated commitment to building local capacity and strengthening quality laboratory health services and systems in Africa, in 2011, Dr. Birx received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the African Society for Laboratory Medicine. In 2014, CDC honored her leadership in advancing the agency's HIV/AIDS response with the highly prestigious William C. Watson, Jr. Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the CDC.
Dr. Birx received her medical degree from the Hershey School of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University. She trained in internal medicine and basic and clinical immunology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Birx is board certified in internal medicine, allergy and immunology, and diagnostic and clinical laboratory immunology. She has published over 220 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, authored nearly a dozen chapters in scientific publications, as well as developed and patented vaccines.
Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD, MBA joined the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York back in 2001. Dr. Abou-Alfa specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers and in particular, liver cancer. Dr. Abou-Alfa received his medical degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and completed his post-doctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine. He received his MBA from Columbia University.
Dr. Abou-Alfa serves as the chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Task Force for Hepatobiliary Cancers, the chair of the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) Non-AIDS Defining Malignancies (NADC) Liver/GI Task Force, and is the President-Elect for the International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology. Dr. Abou-Alfa has lectured worldwide on the subject on gastrointestinal malignancies. He serves as the chair the medical/scientific board of the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation and the Blue Faery Liver Foundation, and also serves on the National Medical Advisory Committee of the American Liver Foundation.
Dr. Abou-Alfa has also spearheaded many international projects since 2006, and now serves on the institutional leadership panel for international healthcare. Dr. Abou-Alfa helped Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center establish a strong relationship with many institutions worldwide, with an ongoing faculty exchange, repeated video-link conferencing, and class-training courses with China and the Middle East. These joint collaborations have led to the development of the first joint tissue bank with a shared database with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and supported fellowship opportunities for excelling medical graduates. Dr. Abou-Alfa has also helped promote and enhance the MSKCC international patients' referral base.
Dr. Mark A. Davis is an international healthcare expert and physician leader with extensive experience and success in driving business and healthcare network growth, operations, technological innovation, and transnational ventures. Dr. Davis is currently chief operating officer at Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida. At Miami Cancer Institute, he is responsible for operational excellence and patient-centered care, playing a key role in developing long-term strategy in the areas of clinical care and developing and acquiring the latest technologies.
Prior to joining Miami Cancer Institute, Dr. Davis came from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was vice president of Brigham Health International, leading academic collaborations between Brigham and multiple international parties, and executive director of Business Development and Strategic Initiatives, working on health system and hospital design, education, research and operations both nationally and internationally. He served most recently as senior advisor of Strategic Initiatives and Partnership and as an associate professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Davis has more than 20 years of experience as a national and global health leader and emergency medicine physician. In collaboration with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, he helped establish a multi-billion-dollar advanced cancer hospital in China. He has served as a visiting scientist at NASA Johnson Space Center, an international ambassador to Romania and Israel through the American College of Emergency Physicians, and a member of the World Health Organization's Essential Trauma Care Program Steering Committee. He has also advanced telehealth platforms internationally and among Native American underserved populations.
Dr. Davis received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was recognized with the Medical Scholar award in 1990. He also has a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. He completed an internship and residency in emergency medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center. His numerous honors include the Humanitarian Award from the Hippocrates Society, Brigham and Women's Hospital; the Best Faculty Clinician Award, Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program, Brigham and Women's Hospital; and an International Emergency Medicine Fellowship Award from the Ronald Reagan Institute of International Emergency Medicine, George Washington University School of Medicine.
Dr. Davis serves on the editorial boards of many professional journals and has served as reviewer for such publications as the Physician Leadership Journal, Annals of Emergency Medicine, American Journal of Emergency Medicine, European Journal of Emergency Medicine and Biomed Central.
Dr. Gabi Hanna, MD is an Associate Director at the Duke Cancer Institute, surgical and imaging facility which leads translation medicine and drug development to clinical work, foster innovations design and conduct preclinical researches translational to clinic and patient care. Collaborate and work with Biotech and pharmaceutical industry to conduct preclinical and translation research at Duke, including: Clinical trial; GLP good laboratory practice; IND new drugs development; IDE and medical device development; novel imaging methods.
Dr. Hanna worked with GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceutical on antiangiogenic therapy project. He led the multidisciplinary team at Duke to develop new treatment protocol based the tumor oxygenation after evaluation the different antiangiogenic therapies on cancer prognosis; microenvironment; vascular; drug delivery; EMT; VGF; PDGF.
Dr. Hanna is also the President, Chairman of North Carolina Society of Physician Entrepreneurs. As serial entrepreneurs, Dr. Hanna took the role to be the president and chairman for the professional society dedicated to advancing healthcare innovation. By linking clinicians, entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, VC/ PE, universities, industries and policymakers with creative business strategy to create next generation of technology to get to the new area of medical practice.
Dr. Hanna newest technology start-up is AMERICAN REMOTE HEALTH and TeleCancer. It is the first and only Telemedicine service and app that focuses on cancer and chronic diseases to improves the outcome care. By utilizing telecommunication technology, it helps extend the medical advanced knowledge and research of academia centers and top universities like Duke, Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, NIH, Harvard, etc. beyond the wall of universities.Patients have the option to upload their complete medical records (via HIPPA compliant apps or EMR web system) and communicate to the top 2% of doctors in US. American Remote Health doctors will provide a written treatment plan including genetic personalized treatment and clinical trials; collaborate on the treatment with the local doctors; or arrange the treatment and logistic for patients to come to the best hospital to receive the treatment/ surgery upon the next day of their arrival. American Remote Health is not just saving lives and improving outcome but eliminating unnecessary surgeries, and possibly "wrong" treatments.
Dr. Hanna graduated medical school from Aleppo, surgical internship acting at University of Texas Medical Branch and his Radiation Oncology postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University.
BioSAFE technology provides environmentally responsible solutions for the treatment and disposal of biologic and medical waste. The company also serves specialized high containment government and private laboratories, vaccine production facilities, and leading agricultural research centers, to eliminate the threat of hazardous or infectious agents.
Prior to leading BioSAFE Engineering, Mr. Mervis was COO of Mervis Industries, one of the largest private recyclers in the USA, recycling over 1 billion pounds per year of metals, plastics, paper, and electronics. Mr. Mervis has leveraged this experience to make BioSAFE a leader in solutions that enable recycling medical and laboratory plastics.
Dr. Fredrick L. Echols, the Chief Executive Officer for Cure Violence Global, ranked the No. 9 NGO in the world by NGO Advisor. Dr. Echols is an accomplished physician and public health professional. He has experience in the public and private health sectors. Prior to starting is tenure with Cure Violence Global, he served as the Director of Health and Health Commissioner for the City of St. Louis. In these roles, Dr. Echols oversaw all public health regulations and departmental operations and led the City of St. Louis' COVID-19 pandemic response.
Prior to serving as the director, Dr. Echols served as director of Communicable Disease, Emergency Preparedness, Vector and Veterinary Programs for the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, where he was responsible for overseeing daily operations, staff development and training, establishment of public-private partnerships, strategic planning, fiscal management of a multi-million-dollar budget and program development and implementation.
Before his position with St. Louis County, Dr. Echols served as Chief of Communicable Diseases for the Illinois Department of Public Health and as a physician in the U.S. Navy, where he managed a staff of medical and ancillary personnel. Additionally, Dr. Echols has served as the principal investigator for local and federally funded public health research initiatives and provides guidance to national and international health workgroups.
Mr. John (Johnny) P. Walker II is a graduate of Pace University and the United States Marine Corp where he started his experience in logistics serving in the MT Platoon, Service Company, 6th Comm BN, 4th DV USMC as a 3521 (Diesel Mechanic: 2E). Honorably Discharged at the rank of E-3 in 2002. From there he gained extensive experience in Stevedoring operations from Break Bulk; Liquid transfer; Supervising Union Labor; Trucking; Equipment Control; and Container Marine Operations, in one of the busiest Ports in the western hemisphere. Other areas of Logistical experience include Route Logistics; Warehouse Shipping and Receiving; and, exporting new products globally for product introduction to various Global markets.
Mr. Walker has been featured in two documentaries: The "Science Channel's" - "Mega Machines - Sea Giants: Season 1: Episode 8 'New York Mega Port'" and this year's winner for "Best Featured Documentary - New York Movie Awards" - "Healing the Heroes of 9-11: The Way Forward". other appearances include National Television: NewsMax "America Right Now" (two appearances to date). He also has three published articles in various global media outlets.
PROFILE
Researcher • Author • Formulator Product / Ingredient Platform Development More than 35 years of experience in developing ingredient platforms for medical and nutraceutical products domestically and internationally. Devoted to developing natural health products that are genetic based and genetically compatible. Concentrating on ingredient profiles that are based on traditional food resources that address the large and growing need for genetic based nutrition.
HISTORY
- Research/Development/Technology
- Nutraceuticals for the prevention and long term reversal of type 2 Diabetes.
- Platform for fruit & vegetable extracts for health and Diabetes.
- Plant based high viscosity polysaccharides for menopause symptoms.
- Nutraceuticals for immune system enhancement.
- Pure Minerals for bone, teeth, osteoporosis and dental health.
- Plant based weight loss formulas and body composition improvements that work thru the digestive system.
- Anti-inflammatory formulas to dampen systemic inflammation.
A tech industry pioneer who helped build influential brands like broadcast.com and Yahoo!
Woodward has invested in over 70 early-stage ventures since 1995 and participated in several successful IPOs, including Broadcast.com and Ascend, that had a combined market valuation of nearly $30 billion at the time of their acquisition by Yahoo! and Lucent, respectively.
Woodward currently sits on the board of and is a seed investor in IPTalons, an innovation protection platform for corporate, university and government research and development. Prior to this, Woodward seed-funded and was a co-founder of MyLifeIQ, a genomics health and wellness company that was sold to Recuro Health and Quantum Symphony Group, a cyber security consulting firm. He is the former CEO and Chairman of MVPindex, Inc., a social and digital sponsorship valuation platform for sports and entertainment brands, teams, leagues, properties, and influencers.
Dr. Rothman began his research career as an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied E. coli DNA repair under Graham C. Walker. He completed his B.S. in biology in 1980 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then entered medical school at Yale University. While at Yale, Dr. Rothman studied T cell subsets in the lab of Leonard Chess at Columbia University. He received his medical degree in 1984, earning a place in the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.
Dr. Rothman went on to a medical residency and rheumatology fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City before joining the medical faculty of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1986.There, he also completed a postdoctoral biochemistry fellowship with Frederick W. Alt, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, studying immunoglobulin class-switch recombination. At Columbia, Dr. Rothman was appointed the Richard J. Stock Professor of Medicine (Immunology) and Microbiology and chief of the pulmonary, allergy and critical care division.
A molecular immunologist, Dr. Rothman's research focused on immune system molecules called cytokines. He investigated the role these molecules play in the normal development of blood cells, in addition to the abnormal blood-cell development that leads to leukemia. He also studied the function of cytokines in immune system responses to allergies and asthma. The National Institutes of Health consistently funded his work.
In 2004, Dr. Rothman accepted a position as head of internal medicine at the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. In 2008, he was named dean of the Carver College of Medicine and leader of its clinical practice plan, a role in which he served for four years. In 2012, he became the 14th dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the second CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Dr. Rothman is on the Board of Directors of Merck and Company, as well as the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre in Saudi Arabia.Dr. Rothman began his research career as an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied E. coli DNA repair under Graham C. Walker. He completed his B.S. in biology in 1980 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then entered medical school at Yale University. While at Yale, Dr. Rothman studied T cell subsets in the lab of Leonard Chess at Columbia University. He received his medical degree in 1984, earning a place in the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.
Dr. Rothman went on to a medical residency and rheumatology fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City before joining the medical faculty of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1986.There, he also completed a postdoctoral biochemistry fellowship with Frederick W. Alt, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, studying immunoglobulin class-switch recombination. At Columbia, Dr. Rothman was appointed the Richard J. Stock Professor of Medicine (Immunology) and Microbiology and chief of the pulmonary, allergy and critical care division.
A molecular immunologist, Dr. Rothman's research focused on immune system molecules called cytokines. He investigated the role these molecules play in the normal development of blood cells, in addition to the abnormal blood-cell development that leads to leukemia. He also studied the function of cytokines in immune system responses to allergies and asthma. The National Institutes of Health consistently funded his work.
In 2004, Dr. Rothman accepted a position as head of internal medicine at the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. In 2008, he was named dean of the Carver College of Medicine and leader of its clinical practice plan, a role in which he served for four years. In 2012, he became the 14th dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the second CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Dr. Rothman is on the Board of Directors of Merck and Company, as well as the King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre in Saudi Arabia.
In January 2021, Israel opened an embassy in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with Ambassador Na'eh serving as head of the mission. In November of 202 he began working at the Israeli embassy in Manama, vacating his temporary posting in Abu Dhabi, where he spent nine months serving as the first diplomat to represent Israel in the United Arab Emirates. Israel signed normalization agreements with the UAE and Bahrain in September 2020, with Morocco and Sudan joining what is now known as the Abraham Accords a few months later.
Dr. Toby Cosgrove M.D., is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Clinic and currently serves as an Executive Advisor for the Cleveland Clinic global health system.
Dr. Cosgrove is a sought-after speaker worldwide. He has addressed the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos, Switzerland, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in Washington, D.C. He is regularly quoted and featured in national magazines and newspapers, including a cover story in Time, and major articles in Newsweek, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He has appeared on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, "The Charlie Rose Show" on PBS, and other national media outlets.
The recipient of the Cleveland Clinic's Master Clinician Award, Innovator of the Year Award and Lerner Humanitarian Award, Dr. Cosgrove is also a member of the Cleveland Medical Hall of Fame and Cleveland Business Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was named Cleveland Business Executive of the Year by the Sales and Marketing Executives of Cleveland, and Castle Connolly's National Physician of the Year. He also received the Woodrow Wilson Center Award for Public Service as well as Harvard Business School's Award from HBS Alumni, Cleveland, and the Humanitarian Award of the Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio. Dr. Cosgrove topped Inside Business's "Power 100" listing for Northeast Ohio, and is highly ranked among Modern Healthcare's "100 most powerful people in healthcare" and "most powerful physician executives".
Prof. Kreiss is highlighted for his revolutionary initiatives in his esteemed role as Director General of Sheba Medical Center, the largest hospital in the Middle East. In 2018, Professor Kreiss was ranked as the 5th most influential person in the country, by The Marker, the leading business publication in Israel
Since he became Director General of Sheba, Prof. Kreiss has demonstrated powerful leadership skills and many pioneering accomplishments. He expanded Sheba's research programs significantly and introduced many breakthrough innovations to improve global healthcare. Prof. Kreiss advanced Sheba as an epicenter for ultra-progressive medical studies and care, thereby helping to save lives in health facilities around the world.
In particular, TheMarker cites the modern and promising City of Health Project, which is renovating and upgrading Sheba's campus with cutting-edge technologies and facilities. This project is regarded as having a tremendous potential impact on Israel and on medicine worldwide. "We not only want to influence patient care and the future of medicine in Israel, but also on a global scale," says Prof. Kreiss.
Prof. Kreiss is also credited with helping to garner international respect for Sheba Medical Center's global humanitarian efforts, as well as for the way the hospital is an oasis of peace in the region. Sheba's campus in Tel HaShomer includes an acute care hospital and a rehabilitation hospital, and it welcomes patients from all over the world indiscriminately.
Professor Kreiss also served in the Israel Defense Forces in various capacities for 25 years, achieving the rank of Brigadier General. In 2011, he was appointed Surgeon General of the IDF.
Dr. Steven Hahn studies the molecular machines that make mRNA. At any given time, only certain genes are copied into mRNA because only those proteins are needed for specific cellular functions. Our genes act as a recipe book for our cells. They contain the instructions for making all the proteins that cells need — but there are only two copies of each gene, and our cells need hundreds if not thousands of copies of a protein to function properly. To address this, cells make many copies of a gene, which can be used by the protein-building factories as protein-making instructions. These copies are called messenger RNA, or mRNA.
Dr. Hahn seeks to understand how the mRNA-producing machines work, and how cells turn them on and off at the right time. Alterations in this process occur in many human diseases, making it critical for researchers to better understand this fundamental process.
Ms. Seema Verma served as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and the insurance markets, from 2016 - 2020 during the Trump Administration. She was named as "Modern Healthcare's" 2019 number one most influential person in health care. Her health care articles have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Health Affairs, Modern Healthcare, Newsweek, CNN, and USA Today.
Ms. Verma was vice president of the Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County and worked at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in Washington, D.C. She founded health policy consulting firm SVC, Inc., in June 2001. She was president and CEO of the company, which worked with state insurance agencies and public health agencies in preparation for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. She assisted Indiana and Kentucky, as well as other states, in the design of Medicaid expansion programs under the ACA. In her work with Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, she developed Medicaid reform programs under the Section 1115 waiver process.
Ms. Verma received a bachelor's degree in life sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1993. She earned a Master of Public Health, with a concentration in health policy and management, from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1996.
Dr. Jeffrey Graves joined 3D Systems in May 2020. Prior to joining the company, from 2012 to May 2020, he served as CEO, President and Director of MTS Systems Corporation, a global supplier of test, simulation, and measurement systems. From 2005 until 2012, Dr. Graves served as President and CEO of C&D Technologies, Inc.
He also held leadership roles with Kemet Corporation as Chief Operating Officer (2001-2003) and CEO (2003 to 2005). Previously he held a number of leadership and technical roles with GE, Rockwell Automation and Howmet Corporation. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Hexcel Corporation.
Dr. Graves holds a bachelor's degree in metallurgical engineering from Purdue University. He also holds a master's degree and PhD in metallurgical engineering from the University of Wisconsin. He has been recognized with the distinguished alumni award from both universities and is also a master black belt in six sigma.
Dr. Peter Lechman MD, MBA, is responsible for provider operations for 160 primary care providers in 11 sites. He is a Member of Clinical Faculty at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and The Lurie Children's Hospital at Northwestern. An important role for Dr. Lechman is supervising and teaching pediatric resident physicians. Dr. Lechman earned a BS from the University of Wisconsin, a Master of Business Administration from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
Ms. Jessica Morrissey focuses on expanding Northwestern Medicine's outreach and footprint globally. She brings a wealth of both healthcare and business management expertise. Ms. Morrissey has extensive experience in providing business solutions to health systems, Fortune 50 and private companies. She built her career at The Walt Disney Company and Mars Inc. in Los Angeles, where she led programs in business process improvement, system integration and implementation, and strategy. She additionally served in several leadership-level roles for Jiahui Health in Shanghai, China during commissioning and opening of their tertiary level hospital and outpatient sites. Most recently, she served as director for the Office of CEO, where she focused on strategy and governance, global outreach, and clinical optimization. Prior to her work in China, she developed the international strategy and programs at City of Hope National Medical Center, a cancer center in the US. Ms. Morrissey holds a Master of Arts in industrial relations from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Mariam AlHilli, MD, is a Staff Physician in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cleveland Clinic. She graduated with honors from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Dr. AlHilli completed residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) and a three-year fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at Mayo Clinic.
Dr. AlHilli specializes in the surgical management of women with gynecologic cancers including ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, cervical cancer, and vulvar cancer. She also specializes in the postoperative treatment (chemotherapy) and follow-up of women with gynecologic cancers. Her interests include robotic and minimally invasive surgery, complex gynecologic surgery, gynecologic cancer screening, and evaluation and management of hereditary gynecologic cancers. She is passionate about improving the quality of patient care and experience.
Dr. AlHilli is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology. She is a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a member of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology.
Dr. Zahraa Alhilli is a general surgeon and is affiliated with Cleveland Clinic, Bahrain. She received her medical degree from Royal College of Surgeons Ireland and has been in practice between 11-20 years.
Dr. Jameela Al-Salman graduated with honors from the medical school at Arabian Gulf University, where she is also an Associate Professor. She joined the Salmaniya Medical complex in 1996. Dr. Al-Salman holds three American Board certifications: American Board in Internal Medicine, American Board in Geriatric Medicine, American Board in Infectious Diseases.
Dr. Al-Salman completed her residency and fellowship programs in the United States, where she finished the internal medicine residency in Eason, Hahnemann University, Pennsylvania, USA. Then she did a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Temple University in Pennsylvania, followed by a fellowship in infectious diseases at Yale University, IN, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. She was awarded for the program of antibiotic stewardship for the best governmental practices for 2016 by the Prime Minister in the Kingdom of Bahrain in 2016.
Dr. Al-Salman has received several honors and awards for her scientific contribution internationally. She is a member of several professional societies, including: the American College of Physicians; the Infectious Diseases Society of America; the Bahrain Medical Society; and, the Saudi Society of Infectious Disease and Infection Control.
Mr. Michael "Mick" Merritt is the Chief Operating Officer of Signature Services at Penn Medicine. In this role, he is responsible for Penn Medicine's global strategy and programs, patient facilitated services, executive health, and membership programs. He has over twenty years of experience in healthcare and academic medicine as a management consultant and health system leader. His more than twelve-year consulting career has spanned clinical, education and research-related strategic and operational advisory services to academic medical centers and health systems across the U.S. and abroad where he served in leadership roles at Manatt Health and The Chartis Group.
Mr. Merritt's academic health system leadership experience was developed over nine years at New York-Presbyterian (NYP) in collaboration with the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medicine, where he last served as Vice President of Global Services. In this role, he led a team of nearly 90 people focused on positioning the organization for referral and revenue growth through direct-to-patient strategies, institutional collaborations, employer initiatives, and global education and training programs.
A recognized industry leader, Mr Merritt served on the Vizient Global Executive Services Council Steering Committee, and he helped establish and was on the founding Advisory Council of the U.S. Cooperative for International Patient Programs. He is also a published author who most recently co-authored a Future of Academic Medicine Series report of the American Association of Medical Colleges entitled "Next-Generation Funds Flow Models: Enhancing Academic Health System Alignment" in October, 2018. He is a graduate of Cornell University with a B.A. in psychology.
Mr. Ransel Potter has been a guest speaker at financial and healthcare events in the Arab region and the United States. His contacts throughout the Arab world and the United States are with the top global financial institutions; high net worth families; and, government representatives, including several Sovereign Wealth Funds and Foreign Ministries; U.S. Department of State; United Nations; U.S. Department of Commerce; U.S. Chamber of Commerce; foreign diplomats; current and past Congressmen and Senators.
The founder and Managing Partner of C3 Summit International, he continues to build a rewarding career spanning three decades, and multiple industries, including many noteworthy achievements. His abilities to lead, strategize, develop business and maintain relationships have all contributed to his success.
In 2011, Mr. Potter founded Copara International which marketed financial research from Value Line to the Arab region. Copara provided technical research versus fundamental data as marketing instruments for quantifying selected public companies for client and institutional trades and investments. He personally negotiated with Value Line the international distribution rights regarding both terms and conditions. In less than 11 months, Mr. Potter established several funds in the Middle East using ValueLine research. One fund was capitalized and managed by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (the 50th strongest bank in the world). He also was successful in marketing a high yield fund for Thomson Reuters with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and The National Investor, a top boutique investment banking house located in Dubai. He was also responsible for engaging with the Abu Dhabi Investment Company (Invest AD) an assignment to incorporate a quantitative ranking system, with a $30 million GCC/MENA fund, managed by Invest AD.
In 2012, Mr. Potter founded C3 Summit LLC. Some of the more notable global dignitaries who have key noted past C3 Summits and received the prestigious C3 Lifetime Achievement Award have included: President Bill Clinton; Dr. Henry Kissinger; His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa; HRH Prince Faisal Bun Bandar Al Saud; Khalad Ahmed Al Habtoor; General Wesley Clark and General David Petraeus.
The mission of C3 Summit, as noted on its website www.c3summit2018.com is to ensure that both US and Arab businesses grow and prosper by providing unique and valuable commerce opportunities. By creating a global forum for both the US and the Arab world to explore private and public sector growth and employment generation, C3 Summit encourages each region to open new opportunities on the commercial front to enhance "knowledge transfer" and the welfare of freer trade. Since its founding, C3 Summit has partnered with XS conferences in Saudi Arabia to develop the highly successful Saudi-American Healthcare Forum, held annually at the Riyadh Ritz Carlton since 2014. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, both of whom were engaged by Mr. Potter, the Saudi-American Healthcare Forum, with the leadership of Mr. Potter, has attracted leading healthcare professionals and institutions including, among others: Johns Hopkins, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Huntsman Cancer Foundation, Cleveland Clinic. Sponsors recruited by Mr.Potter have included, to name a few, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Microsoft, all of whom continue to support the C3 Summits.
Most recently, Mr. Potter, in partnership with XS Conferences &Exhibitions, led a reverse trade mission to the 2018 Jeddah Economic Forum comprised of CEO's from the private and public healthcare and business sectors. And in March of 2019, Mr, Potter conducted the first C3 China-US Healthcare Summit in Beijing, C3 China-US Healthcare Summit, 2019.
Prior to founding Copara and C3 Summit, Mr. Potter was in Private Wealth Management with Morgan Stanley and licensed with a Series 7, Series 66 and Series 3. Morgan Stanley recognized the value of Mr. Potter's experience and relationships and, in 2007, they invited him to join the firm. Until December of 2010, Mr. Potter served as a Senior Partner on their Private Wealth Management team responsible for identifying viable business opportunities among high net worth clients, families, hedge funds and foundations. His introductions had been a cornerstone of the team's success producing more than $250 million of net new assets in 36 months.
In 1992, Mr. Potter founded Kinloch Marketing and occupied the role of CEO until 2007. Kinloch designed and brought to market sales lead generation and management systems for the Insurance, Banking and Energy industries. Kinloch's success was a direct result of Mr. Potter's leadership and a network he established with senior executives of Fortune 1000 companies.
In 1990, his previous achievements were recognized by Flair Communications and he was asked to run their NY office. He merged R.N. Potter Associates with Flair's New York office and built that regional office in to the largest of their five domestic offices, leaving in 1992 to establish Kinloch Marketing. He formed R.N. Potter Associates in 1984, a marketing and sales organization, which he headed until 1989. During that time, Mr. Potter personally initiated, negotiated and developed one of the largest independent contracts for advertising billboards with the Penn Central Corporation.
In 1980, Mr. Potter, together with a partner, started On Line Media, an innovative supermarket ad company. Within three years, they took On Line Media public, raising capital and watching the stock soar. Upon selling his shares of On Line Media in 1984, he formed R.N. Potter Associates. Mr. Potter, a graduate of Syracuse University, has six children and, with his wife, lives in Sag Harbor, NY.
Mr. Charles N. ("Chip") Kahn III is the president and chief executive officer of the Federation of American Hospitals whose member companies own nearly 20 percent of all American hospital beds. Mr. Kahn and the FAH represent their members on health policy issues like health care reform and hospital care quality improvement.
From 1986 to 1993 and from 1995 to 1998, Mr. Kahn served the Health Subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, first as Minority Health Counsel and then as Staff Director. During this time he helped develop legislation such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.[5] From 1993 to 1995 and from 1998 to 2001, Mr. Kahn held positions with the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA), as Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer/President-Designate and President.
Mr. Kahn is currently the co-chair on the strategy-setting Coordinating Committee of the NQF's Measure Applications Partnership, which was established under the Affordable Care Act to advise the federal Department of Health and Human Services on selecting measures for public reporting and performance-based healthcare payment programs.
Additionally, he has served as a member of the Governing Board of the National Quality Forum (NQF), where he helps build consensus on national priorities for healthcare quality reform and the standards for measuring and reporting on quality.
Mr. Kahn also is a founding principal of the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), a private-public partnership that he helped to initiate.The HQA is a national private-public collaboration focused on improving hospital quality and making comparative quality information available to the public through the Hospital Compare website.
Dr. Djaoued Bedjaoui is the Senior Advisor for Health at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, DC. In this capacity, Dr. Bedjaoui's remit includes patient care, strategic collaborations and partnerships, collaboration with Major US facilities and representing the best interests of the UAE patients.
Prior to returning to the UAE Embassy in his current position, Dr. Bedjaoui was Canada Information Officer for MD Anderson Cancer Center (TX, USA) in Toronto, Canada where he oversaw enterprise relationships and patients relations in North America for one of the world's leading facilities in cancer. After graduation from medical school in Oran, Algeria, Dr. Bedjaoui specialized in healthcare administration by earning an MBA from HEC - Hautes Etudes Commercial at The University of Montreal. Before joining the UAE Crown's Prince Court Medical Office in 1999, as a Medical Advisor, Dr. Bedjaoui was a biotech Analyst for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Dr. Bedjaoui has been an early and well-recognized advocate of "health diplomacy” & for the importance of the cross-cultural aspects in managing patients' care.
Dr. Heitham Hassoun is a leading international health expert and the Vice President & Medical Director for International at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. He is also a Professor of Surgery and a multi-faceted clinician and healthcare leader with a wealth of experience in global collaborations and system development. He previously served as Global Medical Director for Johns Hopkins Medicine. Previous to his work at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Hassoun served as medical director for Methodist International in Houston and was an associate professor of cardiovascular surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College In New York. He completed his fellowship training in vascular surgery at Northwestern University in Chicago and earned his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Having grown up as an American expat overseas, Dr. Hassoun is exceptionally passionate about the important role that US Academic Medical Centers play in advancing healthcare across the globe, and he is an advocate for providing access to compassionate, high quality, and evidence-based care for all people regardless of geographic location or socioeconomic background.
Dr. Hassoun maintains a clinical practice in vascular & endovascular surgery. He also continues to educate and research in a variety of topics related to global collaborative healthcare and academic medicine. As medical director of International Health, Hassoun plans to expand Cedars-Sinai's strong international profile in China, Mexico, Latin America and elsewhere, in part by tapping his extensive experience with facilities in the Middle East.
Dr. Daniel Derman, MD has been practicing internal medicine since 1988. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he graduated cum laude, and his medical degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago campus. Dr. Derman completed his internal medicine residency at Northwestern University where he was Chief Resident and a member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the Medical Honor Society.
Dr. Derman was President of Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group, a primary care multi-specialty group of 65 physicians, which he founded in 1993. Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group was acquired by Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he holds the title of Senior Vice President of Innovation. Dr. Derman is board certified in internal medicine. His special interests include preventive medicine and nutrition. He is the Associate Medical Director of Northwestern Medicine Executive Health.
Mr. Murat Seitnepesov is a multifaceted executive grounded in the principle of doing the right things. He is respected for founding Integral Group of Companies across 8 countries, and for steering the organization of Caspian Week Forum. Both endeavors have greatly expanded the exportation of various commodities from the Caspian Region while championing emerging digital technologies and strong global partnerships to improve logistical efficiency and environmental sustainability. An expert on the Greater Caspian Region (GCR), he's a frequent speaker at The World Economic Forum and Horasis conferences.
Since 2017, he has served as Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Caspian Week Forum, a meeting point of visionaries, market leaders, and experts with the focus on GCR as a vital element of the future global society and economy. Caspian Week promotes connectivity between the GCR and the rest of the world by enabling and facilitating trade. Mr. Seitnepesov leads members to introduce innovations, build mutually-beneficial relationships, and leverage new technologies in order to enhance logistics, marketing, and ecological health.
In 2008, Mr. Seitnepesov founded the Integral Group of Companies across Switzerland, Great Britain, UAE, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan, as the organization's Managing Director and Chairman of the Board. With over CHF 1.5 billion annual turnover and a network of offices across 8 countries, Integral Group is the Greater Caspian (Black & Caspian Sea) region's leading commodities trading & logistics provider. CCCSA is a member of International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA). In the absence of a separate contract signed by both parties, the FIATA model rules for freight forwarding services shall apply on all provided services. No other terms will apply. Insurance is arranged upon request.
The group encompasses Integral Petroleum SA, an exporter of crude oil and petroleum products from GCR, and Integral Shipping and Trading, a trading and logistics company specializing in non-oil commodities. Integral Petroleum is one of the largest exporters and logistics providers for crude oil and petroleum products from the Caspian Region. The company works with top multinational corporations and regional players, and helps oilfield operators and refined products importers reach the international market. Thanks to strong partnerships with industry heavyweights and powerful resources worldwide. Integral Petroleum boasts uniquely reliable logistics infrastructure, highly innovative strategies, and an environmentally-friendly supply of commodities. Integral Shipping and Trading recently launched Webshop, the world's first B2B shop for regional commodities. Webshop feeds into the Marketplace platform and enables global buyers to find and purchase GCR commodities online. In addition, Integral Shipping and Trading builds startups and leads digital technology initiatives involving artificial intelligence (AI), data management (DM), machine learning (ML), the Internet of things (IoT), and Blockchain.
As an industry-respected thought leader and subject-matter expert (SME) on the Caspian region, hehas delivered many compelling presentations and spoke on panels at The World Economic Forum as well as Horasis conferences. On The World Economic Forum, he engages the foremost political, business, cultural, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. For Horasis, the global visionaries community, Mr. Seitnepesov shares his vision for a sustainable future while championing robust solutions, principled leadership, and global community building.
Always demonstrating purpose-driven leadership, Mr. Seitnepesov serves on the International Board of EurAsia Heart Foundation consisting of global doctors and nurses who work to treat children's cardiovascular diseases in underserved populations. He also leads GSPDX project, which stands for Global System for Preparedness for Disease X. This initiative promotes a new, systemic approach for preparedness for future pandemics focusing on the detection of new dangerous pathogens in the earliest possible stage using modern digital technologies. Prior to founding Integral Group, Mr. Seitnepesov had over 10 years of experience in senior management positions in several trading and logistics companies. He studied Theoretical Physics at Novosibirsk State University, as well as Economics and Management at Turkmen Polytechnic University.
When he is not busy advancing the health of global populations, national economies, and the environment, he can be found spending time with his wife - who strengthens the publicity of critical projects - and their three children.
Ambassador Patrick Nickolas Theros served as the US Ambassador to the State of Qatar from 1995-1998. Prior to his appointment, he served as Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, responsible for the coordination of all U.S. Government counterterrorism activities outside the United States. From 1991-1993, Ambassador Theros served as the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of Central Command (CENTCOM).
Ambassador Theros joined the Foreign Service in 1963, and served in a variety of positions in Washington D.C., Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Nicaragua and Syria, including charge d'affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the US embassies in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
In 1999, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah Al-Thani awarded Ambassador Theros the Qatar Order of Merit for his efforts in service of the US-Qatar bilateral relationship. His commitment to national service also earned him the President's Meritorious Service Award and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service (1992). Ambassador Theros has also earned four Superior Honor Awards, the highest awards for distinguished service given by the Foreign Service.
After his retirement from the Foreign Service Ambassador Theros assumed the office of President of the US-Qatar Business Council in March 2000 until his retirement in 2017. He currently serves as Strategic Advisor to the Gulf International Forum, a new Washington think tank that aspires to bring objective discussion and critical research of the Arab-Persian Gulf region to the United States. He has also represented the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem in the United States since 1999.
Ambassador Theros' personal commitment to community and public service earned him the rank of Knight Commander of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (1999), as well as the Ellis Island Medal of Freedom (2005).
In addition to his duties as President of the US-Qatar Business Council, Ambassador Theros is also active in the following organizations: • The Middle East Policy Council, Board of Directors; • The Council of Foreign Relations, Member; • The Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs, Member; and • The American Academy of Diplomacy, Member
Ambassador Theros was born in 1941 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and attended public schools in Michigan, Ohio and the District of Columbia. He graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1963. He has done advanced studies at the American University in Washington, D.C., the Universidad Centroamericana in Nicaragua, the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Virginia, and the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He is married to Aspasia (nee Pahigiannis) and has three children. He speaks and reads Spanish, Arabic and Greek professionally.
Dr. Clotilde Monguya received the United States President's Volunteer Service Award 2023. This award not only recognises her individual efforts but also the hard work and dedication of an entire team towards promoting social, health, education, gender's empowerment, and Sustainable Development Goals issues in New York with Africa Hope Committee Inc. and throughout the Global world.
Dr. Clotilde Monguya is a firm believer in the power of volunteering and grateful for the opportunity to contribute towards creating a better world through AHC Inc. organization's mission. Her team's commitment to promoting social equity, education, and empowerment has been a driving force behind her collective success in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. Clotilde Monguya has worked alongside some of the most passionate and inspiring individuals who have dedicated their time, energy, and resources towards making a positive impact in global communities such as a liaison consultant to the United Nations, Global Health Strategist consultant, enabler, and board member. Her unwavering commitment to AHC Inc. organisationshas been a source of her inspiration and success.
Receiving this award has reinforced her belief that volunteering is not only a personal calling but also a civic duty. Dr. Monguya's hope is this recognition inspires others to join in their gloal efforts to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable world. She looks forward to continuing her efforts towards achieving a shared vision for making a positive impact in the world.
On June 23, 2017 His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa issued Royal Decree No. 34/2017 appointing Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid bin Abdulla Al ~Khalifa as the ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States of America
EducationHis Excellency graduated from Ibn Khuldoon National School in 1997 and came to the United States for college. He earned a B.S. in management from Bentley College (now Bentley University) in Waltham, Massachusetts in 2001 and an MBA from the same school in 2003. He next attained a certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School focusing on "Innovation in Governance” as part of his executive education program. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the International School of Management based inParis.
Professional Career- Shaikh Abdulla's post-graduate career started at the Royal Court where he worked and oversaw Educational, Medical and Social Affairs.
- He then joined the General Organization for Youth and Sports as the Director of Planning and Follow-up and was later appointed Director of Financial and Human Resources.
- In 2010, he was appointed as Governor of the Southern Governorate of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the largest in size and with the highest potential for development.
- As part of a collaborative effort between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United States of America, Shaikh Abdulla launched a partnership between the Governorate and the American non-profit organization D.A.R.E. to develop and deploy an anti-violence and anti-addiction program delivered by trained community police officers in local elementary and secondary schools. The initiative would later transform into a national program sponsored by the Kingdom's National Anti-DrugCommittee,onwhichShaikhAbdulla serves.
- Shaikh Abdulla played an active role in drafting the National Anti-Drug Strategy in conjunctionwith the regional office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which was launched in 2016.
- Shaikh Abdulla served as a member of the Bahrain Olympic Committee from 2008 and as the Treasurer until 2017.
- When he served as Vice President of the Bahrain Olympic Shooting Federation, Shaikh Abdulla formulated the first women's shooting team, competing in the different disciplines locally and internationally. In 2007, he gained continental support to be elected Vice President of the Asian Shooting Confederation.
- The Bahrain Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Association was another entity that Shaikh Abdulla chaired until his recent appointment. He, once again, gained continental and international support to earn posts as the President of the Asia Bodybuilding Federation and the Vice President of the International Federation for Bodybuilding and Fitness.
In 2016, His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa AlKhalifa granted Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashed AlKhalifa an Honorary Distinction Award recognizing his gubernatorial achievements and contributions.
Stevie AwardIn Oct. 2019 Bahrain Ambassador to the United States, Shaikh Abdullah bin Rashid Al Khalifa, received the 2019 Stevie Award for the personality of the year category, for his role in the founding and development of the of the Maan "Together" program against violence and addiction.
Dr. James D. Thomas, MD, is a cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine with a clinical focus in valvular heart disease and echocardiography and extensive research into applying physical principles and advanced technology in cardiovascular imaging. He now serves as Director for the Center for Heart Valve Disease and Academic Affairs in the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and has a leadership role for the Center for Artificial Intelligence in Cardiovascular Disease while serving as Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Born and raised in Oklahoma City, Dr. Thomas attended Harvard College (graduating summa cum laude in Applied Mathematics) and Harvard Medical School before clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Vermont.
Dr. Thomas has over 650 peer reviewed publications with an h-index of 142. He is past-president of the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and co-chairs a committee to standardize the measurement of myocardial strain by echocardiography. He previously served on the Cardiovascular Board of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) and as co-chairman for the 2007 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Annual Scientific Sessions. Dr. Thomas also serves as lead scientist for ultrasound with NASA, focusing on the effects of space on cardiovascular function. Other research interests include cardiac mechanics, application of new echocardiography technology, artificial intelligence and integration of engineering principles into clinical decision-making.
Since arriving at Northwestern, Dr. Thomas has been instrumental in bringing early device trials to BCVI and providing intraprocedural echo guidance for cath lab interventions. He has also formed a two-year fellowship in advanced cardiovascular imaging and another one offering a master's degree in artificial intelligence in cardiovascular disease in collaboration with engineers and scientists on the Evanston campus.
When not reading echoes, Dr. Thomas enjoys cooking, skiing, scuba diving, and the occasional bungee jump.
General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) (New York) is a Partner at KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in May 2013. He is also a member of the boards of directors of Optiv and OneStream, a Strategic Advisor for Sempra and Advanced Navigation, a personal venture investor, an academic, and the co-author (with British historian Andrew Roberts) of "Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine" (October, 2023). Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career with six consecutive commands as a general officer , five of which were in combat, including command of the Surge in Iraq, command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in Afghanistan. Following retirement from the military and after Senate confirmation by a vote of 94-0, he served as Director of the CIA during a period of significant achievements in the global war on terror, the establishment of important Agency digital initiatives, and substantial investments in the Agency's most important asset, its human capital. General Petraeus graduated with distinction from the U.S. Military Academy and is the only person in Army history to be the top graduate of both the demanding U.S. Army Ranger School and the U.S. Army's year-long Command and General Staff College. He also earned a Ph.D. in international relations and academics from Princeton University. General Petraeus taught both subjects at the U.S. Military Academy in the mid-1980s, he was a Visiting Professor of Public Policy at the Honors College of the City University of New York from 2013 through 2016, and he was for 6 years a Judge Widney Professor at the University of Southern California and a Senior Fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center. He is currently a Visiting Fellow and Lecturer at Yale University's Jackson Institute, Co-Chairman of the Global Advisory Council of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Senior Vice President of the Royal United Services Institute, and a Member of the Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, and the Aspen Strategy Group, as well as a member of the boards of the Atlantic Council, the Institute for the Study of War, and over a dozen veterans service organizations. He is also a LinkedIn Top Voice. Over the past 20 years, General Petraeus was named one of America's 25 Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report, a runner-up for Time magazine's Person of the Year, the Daily Telegraph man of the year, a Time 100 selectee, Princeton University's Madison Medalist, and one of Foreign Policy magazine's top 100 public intellectuals in three different years. General Petraeus has earned numerous honors, awards, and decorations, including four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, two NATO Meritorious Service Medals, the Combat Action Badge, the Ranger Tab, and Master Parachutist and Air Assault Badges. He has also been decorated by 14 foreign countries and he is believed to be the only person who, while in uniform, threw out the first pitch of a World Series game and did the coin toss for a Super Bowl.
Ms. Melike Ayan is the New York Correspondent for Bloomberg Television. She provides in-depth coverage and analysis of major economic and business trends for Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg). An American-based pay television network, focusing on business and capital market programming, it is owned by Bloomberg L.P. and distributed globally. Reaching over 310 million homes worldwide, Bloomberg Television is headquartered in New York City, with European headquarters in London and Asian headquarters in Hong Kong.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
NY Correspondent, BLOOMBERG TURKEY 01/10-present
- Research, edit and create financial and general news on a daily basis out of Bloomberg's NY Headquarters.
- Broadcast the financial news, Wall Street, Stock Market, global economic and political news on live TV in Turkish to the Turkish audience from Bloomberg's NYC Studios.
- Cover the US equity market news at the opening and closing of the Stock Exchange.
- Give live TV hits four times a day during the week in addition to the pre taped and live TV interviews.
- Organize, book, and conduct high profile live and pre taped TV interviews with high profile guests such as Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Dr. Mehmet Oz, James O'Neill, James Odermatt depending on the importance of the day and subject.
- Cover the breaking news by going to the scene, and event area with the cameraman, and create the story.
- Give live hits from the floor of the NYSE and NASDAQ (first Turkish live TV reporter to conduct such a live hit from the actual floor)
- Conduct one to one exclusive interviews with the Finance, Economy and Deputy Ministers of Turkey
- Cover the fall and spring World Bank and the IMF events in DC, both live and pretaped. Conducted live TV interviews with the EU Commissioner Ollie Rehn, Finance Minister of Canada, Emerging Market Head of IMF in DC.
President, HELPING HANDS RELIEF FOUNDATION, 04/08-present
- Established the Foundation with academic scholars and businessmen & women.
- Created marketing tools such as the website, brochures, newsletters, media dissemination.
- Oversee and manage the budget and financial statements
- Supervise the programs locally, and globally
Faculty Teacher, UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX AND SUNY, April 2002-present
- Teaching advanced online Finance courses to undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Phoenix.
- Taught classes of 20-30, by integrating the high-tech online teaching tools and finance courses together. The classes ranged from undergraduate to postgraduate and also medical students getting their MBAs.
Investor Relations Manager, CAPITAL LINK, INC, New York, October 1998-January 2003
- Senior account and marketing executive of an international investor relations firm.
- Responsible for the creation and implementation of IR products and marketing tools.
- Managed client accounts; organized conferences; created websites, databases for the clients.
- Editor of the company's magazine and oversaw the creation of the company website.
- Trained, oversaw and managed a staff of 20 in NYC and Athens.
ARTHUR ANDERSEN & CO, Istanbul, Turkey
- Prepared year-end and interim audit reports, consolidation reports.
- Reported and translated financial statements in the banking, manufacturing, leasing, and factoring industries overseas.
- Supervised a team of audit associates during consolidation of financial statements prepared in accordance with IAS, inflationary currency accounting (IAS 29), and US GAAP applications.
- Coordinated assignments regarding risk and control environment assessments, which led to the development and implementation of tailored audit strategies for clients.
EDUCATION
Rutgers University, School of Business, NJ
- MBA (Major GPA: 4.0) Cumulative GPA: 3.92
- Beta Gamma Sigma - Business Honor Society
Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey
- BA in Business Administration and Economics
Thomas J. Fuchs, Dr.sc., is a scientist in the groundbreaking field of Computational Pathology, focused on the use of artificial intelligence to analyze images of tissue samples to identify disease, recommend treatment and predict outcome. In October 2020, he has been appointed Co-Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health at Mount Sinai, Dean of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human Health, and Professor of Computational Pathology and Computer Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In this role, he will lead the next generation of scientists and clinicians to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop novel diagnostics and treatments for acute and chronic disease.
Dr. Fuchs's work includes developing novel methods for analysis of digital microscopy slides to better understand genetic mutations and their influence on changes in tissues. He has been recognized for developing large-scale systems for mapping the pathology, origins, and progress of cancer. This breakthrough was achieved by building a high-performance compute cluster to train deep neural networks at petabyte scale.
Before joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Fuchs was Director of the Warren Alpert Center for Digital and Computational Pathology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Graduate School for Medical Sciences. At MSK he led a laboratory focused on computational pathology and medical machine learning. Dr. Fuchs co-founded Paige.AI in 2017 and led its initial growth to the leading AI company in pathology. He is a former research technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and visiting scientist at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Fuchs holds a Doctor of Sciences from ETH Zurich in Machine Learning and a MS in Technical Mathematics from Graz Technical University in Austria.
Ms Forsythe is an author and a military combat photographer. She served five tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq where she was exposed to great risk to life and limb but found that she thrived in dangerous situations and living on the edge. She was being pushed to face fears of death and serious injury on a daily basis but it gave her a renewed sense of reward, gratitude and appreciation for all the goodness in life. While those situations are in the rear-view mirror for her now, she cherished the experiences of danger and uncertainty because it continues to make her a better leader, friend and American citizen. Taking risks is an opportunity to grow, learn and sacrifice. When there's no risk, there's no reward.
"Risking is always better than regretting" is a quote that Ms. Forsythe feels has always fueled her passion for global travel, pushing her creative limits and challenging the status quo. Ms Forsythe feels "when we reflect on crossroads in our lives, sometimes people regret about the things they would have, should have or could have done to achieve a different outcome. I've always tried to make decisions based on the fear of regretting to take risks with my career and relationships."
Ms. Lindsay Denny is a global health and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practitioner, currently serving as an environmental health consultant for UNICEF-HQ, where she leads the portfolio on Climate Resilient, Environmentally Sustainable Healthcare Facilities. She also runs the WASH in Healthcare Facilities Community of Practice through Emory University's Center for Global Safe WASH and is the Health Associate for IRC WASH and was the Health Advisor for Global Water 2020.
Ms. Denny has worked at the nexus of WASH and health from a variety of vantage points, including research, advocacy, education, and implementation. Formerly based in the Philippines and Cambodia, she has provided support to countries across the world to improve WASH conditions in their healthcare facilities. Ms.Denny graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in Physiology & Neuroscience. She also completed her Master of Public Health at Boston University, with a focus on International Health and Infectious and Non-Communicable Diseases.
Rev. Timothy J. Mercaldo has been an ordained Christian/Evangelical minister for 35 years, primarily in the Greater New York area.
He is the founder and executive director of WorshipPlus.Org, a 501c3 designed to "inspire transformation through the power of the arts” in houses of worship and their local communities.
He has led music in the evangelical church world, performed in and produced holiday productions, and outreach concerts since the early 1980's. As a recording artist and instrumentalist (piano and cello) he has performed at various institutions and secular events within the community, nationally and internationally.
He founded Gateway Community Outreach, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) to inspire and impact the Greater New York area through arts, sports and educational programs and events.
As an executive consultant with ImpactStewardship.com, he brings the experience of 7 stewardship "new construction” programs through his 33 years on staff at one local church in Staten Island NY. As a result Tim is well aware of the resources and platforms for raising needed funds in the private religious sector.
It is from these bases that he seeks to encourage the best of biblical and business practices of stewardship in resourcing vibrant ministries focused on fostering human flourishing in the worldview.
Education:
Moody Bible Institute
BA - Theology/Greek
Liberty University
MA studies - Philosophy & Apologetics
Trevecca University
MA Program - Worship Studies and Leadership Organization
Dr. Abdalelah S. Saaty is Dean of the newly established College of Business (COB) at King Abdulaziz University (North Jeddah Campus). The creation of COB was approved by the Custodian of the two holy mosques. Dr. Saaty is proud to be a part of the founding team of this college. The College of Business (COB) at King Abdulaziz University (North Jeddah Campus) provides world-class education in business programs while simultaneously providing a forum for innovation.
Dr. Saaty was born in Jeddah. He received his B.A. from KAU; a Master's Degree from University of Southern California, USA; and, his Ph.D. from University of Alabama, USA. He has Held high positions in KSA's Ministry of Health and is a member of Health National Committee formed by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz.
Dr. Saaty has authored several books and he is a contributor to several newspapers in the Kingdom. He has also presented papers in many Conferences in Saudi Arabia and abroad. Both the King and Crown Prince, in addition to both Ministers and senior officials have recognized and thanked him personally with letters of appreciation.
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, a 30-year diplomat, was the longest serving U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta. Through a series of senior positions that included advising the Commander of U.S. cyber forces on our foreign policy priorities, expanding our counterterrorism partners and programs as Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism, and coordinating the largest evacuation of American citizens from a war zone since WW ll, her professional life has played out almost daily in international media.
She began her formal work in teaching and leadership development as Chairwoman for Middle East Area Studies at the prestigious Foreign Service Institute where U.S. diplomats are trained. Earlier in her career, she served in Baghdad, Jakarta and Cairo before taking on the position of Special Assistant for the Middle East and Africa to the Secretary of State. Her Middle East assignments included election monitoring in the Gaza Strip and an extraordinary assignment where she actively supported gender equality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the first woman to lead a diplomatic mission there. In addition to the State Department, she has held senior positions at the Defense Department and at the National Security Council of the White House. Prior to that, she was a fellow on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for the then Ranking Member, Senator Joseph Biden. Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley is the recipient of the Maltese Order of Merit, Foreign Policy for America's Community Leadership Award, Department of State Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards, including "For acts of courage during an attack on the U.S. Consulate General, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 6, 2004 by al-Qa'ida terrorists."
Over the years, Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley has been a keynote speaker on foreign policy issues for a variety of organizations including IESAbroad, The Cleveland City Club, TrueBlue Inclusion; Harvard University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, University of Denver, The University of Malta and Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center. She has been a panelist and moderator at some of the most respected international think tanks including The German Marshall Fund, The Brookings Institution, CSIS, The World Affairs Council and The Council on Foreign Relations on issues that range from U.S. Middle East Policy, how diversity and inclusion improves U.S. foreign policy making, cyber security challenges and counterterrorism. Most recently, the Department of State's inaugural Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, she is the incoming President of the Middle East Policy Council and a strong proponent of excellence through diversity across organizations. She strives to strengthen merit-based decision making by eliminating barriers to the full participation of women and minorities.
Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley, a Cleveland native, has degrees from The George Washington University and The Johns Hopkins University and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy. She has been an active Board member and Advisor for several organizations committed to excellence in educating and leadership development including the Middle East Policy Council, The Forum on Education Abroad, College Now of Greater Cleveland, Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security (WCAPS), and the International Career Advancement Association. Ms. Abercrombie-Winstanley is a co-Founder of The Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LC-WINS) and has written for the Foreign Service Journal and The New York Times. She is also the co-author of two papers published in The New York Review of Science Fiction.
Career Summary
- Public Service: Served in three Presidential Administrations, in three government agencies: the U.S.Commerce Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and the U.S. Department of Education
- Private Practice: International trade consulting (23 years) * Corporate law and litigation (eight years) * Adjunct Law Professor, Georgetown Law (eight years); Executive Coaching (January 2022)
- Board of Directors: Amideast - multinational not-for-profit organization ▪J Street * D.C. Vote
- Member: Cosmos Club
- Selected: One of the "Top 100 Board Candidates with Global Skills.” by the Financial Times in a worldwide search
- Published: Blogs for the Huffington Post; articles for The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, Vogue magazine, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Chicago Tribune, UPI, Washington Times
- Commentator: CNN, BBC, and numerous international television programs
- Education: Bachelor of Science, University of Michigan; J.D. Georgetown University Law Center
- Appointed: U.S. Department of State International Economic Policy Committee (ACIEP), advisory board on international trade and business
Resume
After a career in the practice of law and senior positions in the U.S. Government, Judith Barnett began The Barnett Group, L.L.C. in 2003 to provide international trade and government affairs consulting services for global companies and governments, specializing in the Middle East. Ms. Barnett provides strategic advice and implementation for Fortune 100 American companies interested in opening global markets, ending their barriers to trade, and expanding marketing opportunities. Ms. Barnett has recently begun a practice in Executive Coaching, using her past experience to coach women and men in implementing positive career transitions.
Before consulting, Ms. Barnett served as a senior trade official in the Clinton Administration, practiced as a corporate lawyer and litigator, an adjunct law professor for eight years at Georgetown Law Center, a public affairs specialist and speechwriter in the Carter Administration (U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission), and a writer. In addition to her consulting practice, Ms. Barnett was appointed to the State Department's Advisory Committee for International Economic Policy and the Boards of Amideast and JStreet.
Ms. Barnett began her current trade practice after serving in the Clinton Administration (1993 to 1998). Her first position in the Administration was in the U.S. Department of Commerce as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade Development (TD), International Trade Administration (ITA). In ITA/ TD, Ms. Barnett worked with the Assistant Secretary to manage an Office of 400 persons and a budget of $ 49 million. During her tenure at Trade Development, she oversaw the only US government agency that represents industry sectors, managed 22 private sector advisory committees, created and developed the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission, and assisted the Assistant Secretary in establishing the Advocacy Center (still exists to assist companies win large contracts, globally).
Ms. Barnett then served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for the Middle East and Africa, at Commerce. As the DAS, she was responsible for activities and programs in 68 countries, including bilateral and multilateral trade matters, creating and implementing regional projects and programs, and advocating for the selection of US companies. She was the senior Commerce official working with the State Department responsible for trade/ commercial activities associated with the Middle East Peace Process.
Previous to the Clinton Administration, Ms. Barnett practiced law (1986-1993), focusing on various aspects of corporate law and litigation. During that time, Ms. Barnett served for eight years as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Before entering the law profession, Ms. Barnett served in the Carter and Reagan Administrations in public affairs and speechwriting at the Federal Trade Commission and the US Department of Education. She has written articles for her blog on The Huffington Post, for The Daily Beast, and Al Jazeera, and previously for the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Times, and Vogue magazine. Ms. Barnett has been a media commentator on CNN, BBC, and numerous international television programs. She has served as a political fundraiser for numerous Presidential and Congressional campaigns. Ms. Barnett lives in Washington and has one daughter, a son-in-law, and two adorable granddaughters.
Dr. Maliha Hashmi serves as a Board Member of the prestigious Advisory Board for Arab Health: the largest multi-disciplinary congress in the MENA Region. Dr. Maliha Hashmi is also a Board Member of the Halal Certification Authority part of the Saudi Food Drug Authority. She is also an Advisory Board Member of social impact investing in the Kingdom. Dr. Hashmi also serves as a Leading Expert & Council Member for the Prestigious Global Future Council on Health & Healthcare at the World Economic Forum.
Furthermore, Dr. Maliha Hashmi serves as a Leading Expert & Council Member for the Global Future Council on Longevity at the World Economic Forum. Dr. Hashmi is a also a Leading Expert and Council Member for the Emerging Technologies Councils in the MENA Region which is part of the Big Innovation Center, an award winning global innovation technology think tank. Dr. Maliha Hashmi, is also an esteemed delegate of the V20, where V20 is a global platform of value experts and practitioners that has come together on the sidelines of the G20 presidency to actively engage with the process of the Group of Twenty (G20). She is also a regular contributor for Forbes. Dr. Maliha Hashmi has held Senior Executive roles in various sectors and globally renowned organizations and is a well-known name in the region for health & wellbeing. Dr. Maliha Hashmi received her Doctorate and Master's Degrees from Harvard and MIT. Dr. Maliha Hashmi is listed as one of the top 20 women in the Nation in the United States of America for her achievements making it into the Who's Who in America List.
Dr. Maliha Hashmi is winner of the prestigious Forbes Health Leadership Award of 2022 and part of the World Leaders Award recipients. She is also one of the Top Seven Most Talented Female Health Leaders of the MENA region. She is well-known as one of the dedicated and esteemed leaders in the region who has committed herself to bringing positive change, wellness and growth to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Maliha Hashmi served as the Executive Director and Co-Head of the Health, Wellbeing and Biotech Sector at NEOM, where she also served as the Executive Director for all Strategic Partnerships. Dr. Maliha Hashmi also served as the Deputy Chair of the NEOM Covid-19 Leadership Taskforce. She also has Senior Executive Advisory roles in various KSA entities where she advises on healthcare and education.
Dr. Maliha Hashmi serves as a Board Member of the prestigious Advisory Board for Arab Health: the largest multi-disciplinary congress in the MENA Region. Dr. Maliha Hashmi is also a Board Member of the Halal Certification Authority part of the Saudi Food Drug Authority. She is also an Advisory Board Member of social impact investing in the Kingdom. Dr. Hashmi also serves as a Leading Expert & Council Member for the Prestigious Global Future Council on Health & Healthcare at the World Economic Forum.
Furthermore, Dr. Maliha Hashmi serves as a Leading Expert & Council Member for the Global Future Council on Longevity at the World Economic Forum. Dr. Hashmi is a also a Leading Expert and Council Member for the Emerging Technologies Councils in the MENA Region which is part of the Big Innovation Center, an award winning global innovation technology think tank. Dr. Maliha Hashmi, is also an esteemed delegate of the V20, where V20 is a global platform of value experts and practitioners that has come together on the sidelines of the G20 presidency to actively engage with the process of the Group of Twenty (G20). She is also a regular contributor for Forbes. Dr. Maliha Hashmi has held Senior Executive roles in various sectors and globally renowned organizations and is a well-known name in the region for health & wellbeing. Dr. Maliha Hashmi received her Doctorate and Master's Degrees from Harvard and MIT. Dr. Maliha Hashmi is listed as one of the top 20 women in the Nation in the United States of America for her achievements making it into the Who's Who in America List.
Mr. Paul Doherty is Chairman and CEO of TDG (the digit group www.thedigitgroupinc.com), a globally renowned and award-winning architect who is one of the world's most sought after thought leaders, strategists and integrators of process, technology, and business. As seen on The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, acknowledged by CNBC as one of America's Business Titans and reported by Forbes as Changing the World”, Mr. Doherty is a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council and a Fellow of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
His current work is as Chairman of TDG Global Ventures, a Smart City real estate development company that provides financing, design-build and innovative technology solutions around the world. Concurrently, he is also the co-founder and producer of the critically acclaimed AEC Hackathon (www.aechackathon.com) that launched at Facebook Headquarters. His past successful ventures include Revit Technologies (Sold to Autodesk 2002), Buzzsaw (Autodesk 2001) and TRIRIGA (IBM 2011). His 2 latest books are being published this year, “Smart Cities: Reimagining the Urban Experience” published by Quality Press in May 2023 and “Unlocking the Metaverse: A Strategic Guide for the Future of the Built Environment”, published by John Wiley & Sons in September 2023.
Mr. Robert ("Bob") Castro, a successful entrepreneur, executive, & Boardroom Advisor, has balanced a 30+ year career between corporate, entrepreneurship, and public service, including 15 years in government and a lifetime in family-owned businesses. Most recently, a Senior Advisor at USAID and the Secretary of State's Office of Global Partnerships, Mr. Castro spent the prior decade in the private sector focused on new market development and corporate engagement in Diplomacy, Development & Defense, while living in the GCC Region, Egypt, Mexico, Europe/EU, and Washington, DC.
Mr. Castro held a series of appointed roles in the Presidential Transition, supporting confirmation of cabinet members while contributing to new policy initiatives and communication plans for Emergency Preparedness, Innovation, Private Sector Engagement, and Indo-Pacific Strategy, including impact investing and creation of the Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Previously, as Chief of Staff (rank of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary) for Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), Mr. Castro oversaw a $1.5 B annual budget, $5.7 B in construction and $14.0 B in assets. He served 10 years on Capitol Hill as professional staff for members of Appropriations, Ways & Means, Transportation & Infrastructure, Science, and Small Business committees and the Office of Technology Assessment.
He was managing VP of a prominent public opinion research firm and Director of Global Security Policy at Lockheed Martin/PAE. He advised executive leadership of the Corporate Council on Africa, US-ASEAN Business Council, and American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America and the MENA region. Widely published and quoted in national press, Bob has appeared on CNN, NPR,C-SPAN, Univision, and Al Jazeera. He produced live content for C3 US-Arab Summits, Rotary International, and a number of global conferences.
Atlanta native and graduate of Georgetown University, Mr. Castro co-chaired the 100th anniversary alumni committee for Villa le Balze in Italy. In 2013, he received DACOR's Tragen Award for founding "PROPS: Professional Partners & Spouses of the Foreign Service." In 2016, he won AAFSW's Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad.
Current Advisory Boards:
- The World Innovation Network
- The Ayadee Foundation & Fellows
- The Nourish Movement
Current Advisory Start-ups:
- Agromovil (Colombia, Tanzania, Ghana & USA)
- Karma Verde Fresh (Mexico & USA)
- Various cohorts of Barclays/Unreasonable Impact
Dr. Caroline Chung became MD Anderson's first-ever chief data officer in October 2021. Her charge? To shape MD Anderson's data strategy and lead its implementation from an operational and cultural perspective.
Dr. Chung joined MD Anderson in 2016 from Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada, to spearhead the safe and novel uses of MRI to further advance personalized treatment in Radiation Oncology. Under her leadership, the effort has grown into a strategic initiative around Advanced Imaging and her passion for maximizing the use of high-quality imaging data to improve patient outcomes brought her to co-chair the Tumor Measurement Initiative, MD Anderson's platform to support standardized, automated, quantitative imaging-based tumor measurement. Most recently, Chung has led the effort to establish an institutional Data Governance and Provenance Office to ensure strong stewardship of our data while maximizing the effective use and accelerating discoveries from our data to serve our mission of ending cancer.
Dr. Chung's clinical practice includes the treatment of primary and secondary CNS neoplasms. Her primary research interests have focused on personalized image-guided approaches for the management of brain tumors and metastases. Specifically, this includes the investigation of novel combinations of systemic therapy and radiosurgery for brain metastases and the evaluation of imaging biomarkers of both response and toxicity following treatment. With a translational approach, her preclinical work has included the investigation of conformal radiation in combination with targeted anti-angiogenic therapy in a murine intracranial brain tumor model with serial multiparametric MRI and biofluid measures to discover promising biomarkers of response to guide personalized treatment of brain tumors.
The findings from this preclinical work has led to several ongoing clinical trials evaluating serial MRI biomarkers in patients treated with radiosurgery as well as a Phase I dose-escalation trial of anti-angiogenic agent (Sunitinib) in concurrently with radiosurgery. In terms of image-guided therapy, Dr. Chung has also lead the early clinical evaluation of a novel image-guided Gamma Knife radiosurgery unit that incorporates cone-beam CT and infrared intrafraction motion-monitoring. In addition to tumor directed therapy, Dr. Chung is investigating imaging measures and potential treatments of radiation injury in the brain through her translational research and as the principal investigator of a multi-centre Phase II randomized clinical trial of bevacizumab + steroids vs. placebo + steroids through the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology collaborative group.
Ms. Karen Avakian, throughout her career, starting with the family business, Avakian Brothers, Inc., with offices in Teheran, Brussels and New York, has been involved in international trade and subsequently technology development. She now advises on projects from inception to completion, including structuring, finance, and contract negotiations, with an emphasis on international marketing. contracts and logistics.
In the 1980's, closely following the US rapprochement with China, Ms. Avakian joined World Trading and Shipping, Ltd., handling negotiations between Chinese companies and government entities and European and American companies, including Morgan Stanley, to establish joint ventures.
In the 1990's Ms. Avakian founded Vapor Tech International, B.V., in Amsterdam, and Vapor Tech Belgium, S.A., it's operating company, to pioneer a patented, environmentally friendly system for cleaning heavy fuel tanks, both ship and shore. Among its clients were Electrabel (the national electric company for Belgium) and Amoco.
Ms. Avakian's background and experience in China led her in the 2000's to manufacture equipment for Water Safe Solutions, Inc, her own company, in Hangzhou. Water Safe's modular multistage units can be customized for mobile emergency use anywhere surface water available. Permanent systems can be installed in hospitals, schools or small villages in underdeveloped countries. With the increasing occurrence of natural and manmade disasters, and increased awareness of these issues, commercial and governmental markets are open for this innovative solution.
Protostar Materials Corporation is a major client. They design and build nanoreactors that produce superior specialized materials, currently for the US and Australia. They are about to launch an advanced Tacker Reactor. Protostar's products have applications for commercial, military and medical markets.
Most pertinent to this C-3 Conference, Ms. Avakian has been involved in the international exchange of medical research since the 1980's, first through the Italian American Foundation for Cancer Research, now the American-Italian Cancer Foundation. Their work, initiated by Dr. Umberto Veronese of Milan, promotes cooperation among researchers in the same field who have previously been siloed. Currently they offer Post-doc Fellowships in the US to Italian citizens pursuing basic or translation cancer research, as well as clinical research.
Dr. Sara Brittany "SB" Somerset, Ph.D., Polymath, started the first cannabis news desk at the United Nations over a decade ago. She is currently an award-winning United Nations-based Cannabis Correspondent™ and senior global drug policy analyst. Her coverage has a penchant for drug policy reform, social justice issues and equality.
As a foreign correspondent, Dr. Brittany accompanied the UN Security Council on a handful of missions, including to the AMISOM base in Somalia, and covered the unregulated cannabis trade during the Blood Diamond Wars in Sierra Leone. Her work appears in numerous business and top-tier media outlets worldwide. She currently sits on the Board of the Newswomen's Club of New York.
Additionally, Dr. Brittany has served as Chief Communications Officer for a handful of publicly traded, and privately-held companies. She also serves in an advisory capacity in the emerging cannabis and psychedelic biotech sectors.
Mr. Randall Funke is the CTO for Holo Sail Technologies. Mr. Funke is a multitalented and experienced Software Engineer who has over 20 years' experience working as a Full Stack developer, Data Scientist, and data security specialist with companies like Bloomberg, IBM, General Dynamics, Pennwell Media, Outside Television and many others. His expertise lies in creating secure enterprise level communication and media systems, as well as creating intelligence dashboards from large data sets and data points. As a security developer, he has a deep level of knowledge and experience in cryptography, crown jewel data security, and compliance. Mr. Funke also is a talented guitarist, recording artist and music producer. Randall's outside-the-box approach to development and systems architecture complement the existing and emerging technologies he is fluent in and brings a fresh eye to any project he is involved with.
Dr. Michael D. Chuong, MD is an internationally recognized expert in radiation therapy for gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, Michael Chuong, M.D., is vice chair and medical director of radiation oncology and leads the GI radiation service at Baptist Health.
Dr. Chuong earned his medical degree from the University of South Florida College of Medicine and completed his residency training in radiation oncology at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, where he served as the chief resident.
He also serves as the vice chair of education and clinical research and is a professor of radiation oncology at the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.
Dr. Chuong frequently speaks to global audiences about his clinical expertise and research, especially related to proton therapy and MRI-guided radiation therapy. Dr. Chuong has co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts in prestigious journals such as JAMA Oncology and the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, for which he is an associate editor of the GI section.
He is a principal investigator for multiple national and international clinical trials that are exploring advanced radiation therapy strategies and unique combinations of radiation therapy with novel therapeutic agents for GI cancers.
An active leader in the medical community, Dr. Chuong is the Protocol Monitoring and Review committee chair at Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute, Disease Site chair of the Proton Collaborative Group and the Particle Therapy Co-operative Group Gastrointestinal subcommittee co-chair.
He is also an committed member of the NRG Oncology Non-Colorectal GI subcommittee, NRG Oncology Pancreas working group, NRG Oncology International Liaison committee and RTOG Foundation Communications committee.
Dr. David A. Goukassian is a graduate of Yerevan Medical University. After practicing Medicine and Dermatology for five years he was accepted to a post-graduate program and completed his Ph.D. at Central Advanced Training Institute for Physicians, in Moscow, in 1992. Between 1992 - 1994 he was the Executive Medical Director of International project on development of “Elasticity Imaging for Early Diagnosis of Breast and Prostate Cancers” at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Goukassian arrived to United States in 1994 where he continued leading the R&D division of this project for another 2 years. In 1995 he decided to further his career in biomedical research and accepted NIH-funded post-doctoral fellowship in the fields of Aging, Genetics and Biochemistry. In 2001 he accepted a second post-doctoral fellowship in the field of Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology at the Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM). Between 1999 - 2004 he was promoted to Assistant, then Associate Professor of Dermatology and Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. In 2004 he also joined the faculty of Cardiovascular Research Division at TUSM as Associate Professor of Medicine. He was appointed as the Director of Cardiovascular Research Center at Genesys Research Institute, at Steward St Elizabeth's Medical Center in 2012-2015, where he was leading several major projects in the fields of Cardiovascular Space Radiobiology, Cancer Therapeutics, Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology. In late 2018 he joined Cardiovascular Research Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai as Tenured Professor of Medicine/Cardiology.
His most recent research focus is on using integrated physiological approaches along with genomic and epigenetic methodologies to understand molecular mechanisms of space and terrestrial radiation-induced long-term cancer and cardiovascular disease risks, development of mouse models for evaluation of ionizing radiation-induced Excess Relative Risks (ERR), development of predictive biomarkers for estimation of ERR, development of countermeasures for NASA's future long-duration space missions to Moon, near Earth asteroids and Mars. These studies have significant implications for NASA's efforts to develop cancer and heart disease risk estimates for astronauts, as well as for prevention of radiation-induced secondary cancer and cardiovascular diseases in cancer patients receiving conventional and particle radiotherapy. Over the years his research publications had been highlighted by local, national, and international outlets and media including Nature Publishing Group, Lancet Oncology, The Scientist Journal, BCC World News, Reuters, ABC, NBC, BBC, US News and World Report, Forbes, and many others.
Dr. Goukassian has a wide range of intramural and extramural activities that include reviewer for numerous scientific journals in cardiovascular and cancer fields, past and present member of national and international grant review committees, member of various institutional committees on faculty affairs, MD/PhD admissions, appointment and promotions, research excellence recognition and more. He had been a primary mentor for numerous undergraduate, graduate, and post graduate students, including post-doctoral clinical and research fellows, medical resident and visiting scientists from abroad.
Dr. Goukassian is the Founder and First Co-President of Armenian Scientific Diaspora Association (ASDA) with its mission to unify the efforts of Armenian Scientific Diaspora so that she could help Armenia as a whole in a coordinated way with research expertise, teaching, training and scientific conferences, encourage scientific collaborations and networking between Armenian diaspora scientists around the globe with scientists in Armenia and serve as a bridge between Armenia and the international
Mr. Robert ("Bob") Potter is a graduate of Syracuse University's School of Visual and Performing Arts. His career includes senior creative and marketing executive roles at Scholastic Magazines; Time Warner; and National Geographic Television. Additionally, he headed marketing and communications for Mystic Seaport Museum.
He was also a corporate development officer at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and advised the international art therapy program for Save The Children. He currently is a senior docent at the Yale Center For British Art.
Dr. Stephen Klasko is a transformative leader and advocate for a revolution in our systems of health care and higher education. He has been a university president, a dean, a CEO, and an obstetrician, and now pursues his vision for the creative reconstruction of American healthcare by bridging traditional academic centers with entrepreneurs and innovators.
His passion is using technology to eliminate health disparities and offer everyone the promise of health assurance. Dr. Klasko is also a lifelong DJ who believes that the message in the music can give us the courage to tackle a broken, fragmented, unfriendly, expensive, and inequitable healthcare system.
He currently serves as an executive in residence at General Catalyst, North American ambassador for Sheba Medical Center in Israel, and as CMO of Abundant Partners. He serves on the board of directors at Teleflex. In 2022, President Biden appointed him to the National Board of Education Sciences.
His 2023 book is titled Feeling Alright: How the Message in the Music can Save Healthcare published by ACHE.
As president of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health from 2013-2021, he led one of the nation's fastest growing academic health institutions based on his vision of re-imagining health care and higher education.
Under his leadership, Jefferson expanded from three hospitals to 18 and from a health sciences university to a professional university with multiple campuses. Its revenue grew from $1.8 to $9 billion. His 2017 merger of Thomas Jefferson University with Philadelphia University created a pre-eminent national doctoral university that includes top-20 programs in fashion and design and occupational therapy, the first design-thinking curriculum in a medical school, and the nation's leading research on the role of empathy in health care.
His track record of success has earned him Modern Healthcare's #2 in 2018's “100 Most Influential Individuals”; as #21 in Fast Company's “100 Most Creative People in Business 2018”; “Philadelphia Entrepreneur of the Year 2018”; Ernst & Young's “Greater Philadelphia Entrepreneur of the Year 2018”; and Becker's Hospital Review's “100 Great Leaders in Healthcare.”
Dr. Klasko is an internationally recognized advocate for transformation in health care and higher education. He is the author of 2020's UnHealthcare: A Manifesto for Health Assurance, with Silicon Valley investor Hemant Taneja. In 2019, he spoke about the future of hospitals at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and in 2020, was named a Distinguished Fellow of the World Economic Forum and co-chair of its Board of Stewards for the Forum's platform on the digital economy. He is co-author of the 2020 book, Patient No Longer with Ryan Donahue; Bless This Mess: A Picture Story of Healthcare in America (2018) – an account of how the USA was elected to the Intergalactic Council of Cool Health Systems by 2035; WE Can Fix Healthcare in America (2016); and The Phantom Stethoscope (1999).
He is married to Colleen Wyse, a fashion leader and founder of The Philadelphia Trunk Show, and has three children: Lynne, David and Jill.
Dr. Shawna Novak is a physician and global health practitioner with over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of health system strengthening, social justice, and health diplomacy. She is passionate about global collaboration and committed to health equity. As a clinician and Executive Director of The Canada International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO), Dr. Novak has focused on improving access to healthcare, addressing health equity, and fostering person-to-person peacebuilding initiatives. Her expertise extends to epidemic prevention and control, developed during the Ebola outbreaks as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, when she served as a clinical public health advisor with the Global Health Unit of the Canadian Red Cross and as a researcher with the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NLPI) at Harvard School of Public Health.
She earned her MMSc in Global Health Delivery from the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and currently holds positions as Associate Faculty with Ariadne Labs at Harvard School of Public Health and as a Global Health and Social Medicine Fellow at Harvard Medical School. Her work has been recognized and supported by organizations such as Ashoka Changemakers, United Way, the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT), and Global Affairs Canada. She is also a recipient of the YMCA Women of Distinction Award, recognizing her contributions to social justice in healthcare.
Dr. Novak is a frequent lecturer on topics including health in conflict settings, health system strengthening, and health diplomacy in low- and middle-income countries. She serves on the board of the Women for Dignity and Development Foundation and the Save a Child's Heart Canada Medical Advisory Committee and consults to the WHO on the Migrant and Refugee Health Technical Committee.
Galed Hakim, M.D., is assistant vice president of international healthcare partnerships and insurance development for Baptist Health International. His role encompasses nurturing existing international partnerships with health insurance companies, hospital systems and physicians; identifying and developing new international strategic alliances; participating in international conferences; interacting with insurance company medical directors; and managing the International insurance department contracts.
Dr. Hakim has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, serving as director for organizations such as United Healthcare and Tenet Healthcare. Previously he was a missionary doctor in the Dominican Republic, where he completed his medical education. After his return to the U.S., he completed his MBA and finished his doctorate degree in health sciences at Nova Southeastern University, with an emphasis in global health.
Dr. Hakim has developed key strategies to reduce readmissions and maximize the quality of care of patients during hospitalization, and post-discharge. As a keynote speaker at conferences, he has addressed quality concerns related to readmissions, hospital utilization as well as global disease prevention and wellness topics.
Dr. Hakim is Co-Chair of the patient safety and quality committee for the American Association of Interdisciplinary Doctors of Health Science and faculty at Florida International University Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, where he teaches Hospital Quality Management, Risk Prevention and Health care Leadership. Dr. Hakim has co-authored several articles on quality and safety in hospitals.
Dr. Aftab Ahmed is Vice President & Chief Science Officer of PURELIFE Health Sciences Group, a scientific medical research organization that is doing extensive research on autism, diabetes, obesity & infectious diseases.
Dr. Aftab Ahmed has more than thirty years of experience in administration, business, teaching, research & training in the health & science field. He has completed many international research projects in collaboration with the National Institute of Health, Uniformed Services of Health Sciences, US AID, Harvard International Development, Medstar Research Institute, Obetech, Obesity Research Center & Tissue Technologies. He has worked with the International Referral Epidemic Center “Infectious Diseases.” Additionally, Dr. Ahmed has participated in many clinical trial studies on waterborne diseases, i.e. typhoid fever & diarrhea.
His primary interests are metabolic syndrome, infectious diseases & biochemistry/biotechnology. He has written “Complications of Obesity” published in the Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition and “The Serum Proteins in Health and Disease” published in “Protein Structure Function Relationship.” Dr. Ahmed has more than 100 publications & scientific presentations.
Dr. Ronald M. Razmi is the Managing Director of Zoi Capital, a venture capital firm focused exclusively on AI in Healthcare. He is the author of the upcoming book "AI Doctor: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare". Dr. Razmi began his career as a cardiologist and built the software system, cardiovascularmri.com, to serve as a platform for education and training of cardiologists in using MRI in managing their patients. He is a co-author of the textbook “Handbook of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging.”
As a McKinsey consultant, Dr. Razmi worked with the world's top life sciences companies in strategy, M&A, and product development. In 2011, he founded Acupera, a population health management software company that used AI to industrialize key aspects of care delivery and patient management. Dr. Razmi completed his medical training at the Mayo Clinic. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management
Mona is the founder, executive director, and chairman of the board at Music Beats Cancer. She launched Music Beats Cancer to address the "Valley of Death", the growing gap in funding that constrains the translation of cancer research discoveries into clinical applications.
As cancer affects millions of Americans each year, national efforts to cure this disease have largely focused on cancer research rather than cancer product development. Mona believes that the key to bridging the Valley of Death is to:
- Raise public awareness about the Valley of Death and its impact on our progress on the war against cancer;
- Create a funding platform that empowers the public to directly and transparently support the development of cancer-fighting solutions.
Prior to Music Beats Cancer, Mona founded Foligo Therapeutics, Inc. in 2005 to develop and commercialize a DNA-based therapeutic compound as a potential treatment for ovarian cancer. While Foligo was able to initially attract funding from various state-run venture programs and business plan competitions, the company ultimately succumbed to the Valley of Death.
In 2010, Foligo closed its laboratory and research facilities due to a funding drought. While there is no guarantee that Foligo's targeted therapies for ovarian cancer would have worked, there was enough evidence and promise in early proof-of-principle studies to continue the work.
Mona realized that breaking this funding bottleneck was a more critical priority than Foligo and rededicated herself to Music Beats Cancer and its mission.
Mona holds a doctorate in biochemistry from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University. She trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute. Mona was granted the SPORE Fellowship Award for Breast Cancer Research at the Lombardi Cancer Center of Georgetown University. She subsequently specialized in intellectual property and technology transfer while at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.
Mike Blue has joined HistoSonics, Inc. as President, CEO and Board member to lead the advancement of HistoSonics' innovative tissue-destruction technology in liver cancer and other solid tumor applications. HistoSonics' technology, Robotically Assisted Sonic Therapy (RAST) TM, offers a non-invasive, non-thermal approach to solid tumor treatment and is based on the science of histotripsy, using pulsed sound energy for the precise destruction of targeted tissues. Christine Gibbons, HistoSonics co-founder and interim CEO, will continue to serve as Chief Operating Officer.
"Mike is going to take HistoSonics to the next level," Ms. Gibbons said. "His experience in driving growth and value in the medical device sector, his passion for oncology patient care, and his extraordinary vision make him an excellent fit for HistoSonics. He is the right person to lead us to the next stage of growth and development."
Mr. Blue brings with him deep commercial experience, having served in various leadership positions within the medical device sector, almost exclusively in interventional oncology. He built teams and drove revenue growth at two successful venture-backed companies, NeuWave Medical and superDimension. At NeuWave Medical, Mr. Blue led product sales of its market-leading microwave technology to a growth rate of over 200 percent in the year leading to its acquisition by J&J-Ethicon. At superDimension, Mr. Blue developed and executed the U.S. sales strategy for its Navigation System, a disruptive technology used to diagnose patients with early stage lung cancer, driving significant revenue growth and positioning the company for its acquisition by Covidien.
"We know Mike well via our prior investment in NeuWave Medical. His deep medical device experience focused in oncology allows him to recognize how game-changing the HistoSonics technology is, and makes him a perfect fit to articulate and execute the vision of the Company," said Jim Adox, HistoSonics Board Chairman and Managing Director at Venture Investors.
With the global cancer burden continuing to surge, and the cost of cancer expected to increase from $290 billion in 2012 to $458 billion by 2030, there is a continuing demand for new and better therapeutic options.
"I am extremely excited to be joining a company with such an amazing opportunity in front of us," Mr. Blue said. "RAST has the potential to become an entirely new platform in cancer care, addressing many of the shortcomings of the current options of surgery, ablation and radiation. It is non-invasive, so requires no incisions or needles, incredibly precise, and has the potential to offer a safe, fast and economical alternative with reduced patient pain and recovery time -- everything you would hope for in an ideal therapy."
Mr. Blue is the second recent addition to the team since Dr. Fred Lee, noted radiologist and tumor ablation expert, joined last summer as board member and Senior Medical Advisor. Dr. Lee noted at the time, "Robotically Assisted Sonic Therapy is where things are heading, and I'm really excited to be a part of it."
On the heels of Mr. Blue joining the Company, HistoSonics completed the first closing of a Series B financing of $8.3 million, which included the conversion of previous debt and interest. The round was led by Venture Investors, LLC and had full participation from all existing investors including Hatteras Venture Partners, Fletcher Spaght Ventures, Early Stage Partners, TGap Ventures, UM-MINTS, and Grand Angels. Joining as a new investor in this round was Wolverine Venture Fund. Funds will be used to support clinical studies and further development of a clinical system for the liver cancer application of RAST. The Company expects a second Series B closing of up to $5 million sometime in the second quarter of 2017.
Dr. Geschwind has published almost 300 scientific manuscripts (Google Scholar H-Index 75), wrote the first textbook dedicated to Interventional Oncology, co-edited the textbook of reference in Interventional Radiology, namely, Abram's Angiography, and was the lead or co-investigator on more than 50 clinical trials testing innovative treatments for patients with liver cancer. Dr. Geschwind is recognized internationally as an expert and key opinion leader in liver cancer.
Dr. Geschwind has received numerous national and international awards throughout his career including among others, the Annual Memorial Award from the Association of University Radiologists, the Alexander Margulis Award for Excellence in Research, the Society of Interventional Radiology Gary Becker Young Investigator Award, the American Society of Clinical Oncology Merit Award, the American Roentgen Ray Society Fellowship Award, the Boston University School of Medicine and the University of California San Francisco Department of Radiology Alumni Award, the Ernest Ring Academic Development Program from the Society of Interventional Radiology and the Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen Honorary Award from the European Society of Radiology. In 2012, he was inducted into the Academy of Radiology Research from the Radiology Society of North America, the highest recognition for radiologists.
Dr. Geschwind was visiting professor and has given numerous lectures and keynote speeches including named lectures at various prestigious institutions such as (among others) the NIH, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, MD Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Michigan, Georgetown University, Brown University, Yonsei University, Seoul National University, Malaysia Cancer Center, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Geschwind has also been recognized as a Top Doctor by US News and World Report.
He is currently the Director of Oncology at USA veins clinic where he is responsible for the development of specialized centers dedicated to the care of cancer patients using minimally invasive image –guided procedures, known as interventional oncology procedures. He has devoted the last decade of his career to the development of Interventional Oncology both as a professor at Johns Hopkins University and at Yale School of Medicine during his tenure as Chairman of the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging.
Dr. Geschwind is considered a pioneer and father of the field of Interventional Oncology, now considered the fourth pillar of oncology (along with medical, surgical and radiation), and founded the World Conference on Interventional Oncology in 2005, which is now the official meeting of the newly formed Society of Interventional Oncology, for which he served as its first President. These outpatient Interventional Oncology Centers will contribute to improving the lives of thousands of cancer patients and provide such patients access to cutting edge Interventional Oncology procedures, provided in an outpatient setting, thereby decreasing costs dramatically.
Dr. Geschwind is recognized internationally as an expert and key opinion leader in liver cancer. He was the lead or co-investigator on more than 50 clinical trials testing innovative treatments for patients with liver cancer funded by pharmaceutical companies, foundations and/or the NIH. Some of these trials were care changing. He also received multiple patents for research on a new promising drug that targets a specific pathway in cancer cells, which allowed him to create a company based on this discovery.
Mr. Dilip Chauhan comes to the Mayor's Office for International Affairs from the Brooklyn President's office, where he served as the Executive Director of Southeast & Asian Affairs. As Executive Director, Mr. Chauhan worked towards empowering the South and Asian Community in Brooklyn. He did this by increasing awareness for available resources provided by the government. Under his leadership, he helped create a stronger relationship within this community and the Borough President's Office.
Previously, he was appointed as Deputy Controller of the Minority Affairs office in Nassau County, New York. He was the first South Asian to hold this office. While there, he worked on setting guidelines, and was able to empower the Community for proper participation of MWBE businesses. Mr. Chauhan contributed to this effort by arranging different boot camps for small businesses, which created community awareness and participation campaigns, and built lasting strategic partnerships with various community organizations.
Mr. Chauhan is also the Founding President of the New York South Asian American Chamber of Commerce. He was instrumental in building the organization and raising the representation of the South Asian community, estimated to be about seven million across USA, at a high-end business forum. The South Asian-eastern community makes up the fastest-growing ethnic group that is actively responsible in all walks of life and contributes significantly to our economy.
Mr. Chauhan has built unmatched goodwill amongst top public officials across New York for his "Gateway to South Asian American Community of New York” presentation. As a result, November 12, 2016 was declared as “Dilip Chauhan Day” in the 6th US Congressional District of New York in honor of his work.
Mr. Chauhan is highly respected in the diplomatic corridors of South Asian countries. He also served as a Board member of Services Now for Adult Persons, Inc (SNAP) New York. Mr. Chauhan is a unique combination of a successful entrepreneur and a decorated public official with a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering.
Mr. Kunio is the Founder of Ho-Me-I-Ku (Praise and Raise) education. He has spread the education method to more than a million people of 500 companies and educational institutions in 20 countries including the US, China, India, Singapore, etc. He has proven that the praise based education leads to efficiency and productivity.
Author of 30 books, 3 times TEDx speaker with most viewed TEDx talk in 2022. He is an educator featured in various Japanese TV stations, and Forbes business council. His motto is "Where there is a will, there is a way."
Mr. Art Agolli is the founder and CEO of Equity Health Services, a healthcare diagnostic and solution provider company. Equity Health played an important role during the Covid pandemic in Canada and internationally. Mr. Agolli is also the Founder and Chairman of Dsrupt.ca, an investment and disruptive technology company. He is a successful serial entrepreneur and has been a champion of innovation, disruptive technologies and improvement of Canadian healthcare. He is an important advocator for a more efficient, equitable and innovative healthcare in Canada.
Prior, Mr. Agolli co-founded Bankers Petroleum, a multi-billion dollar publicly traded energy company. He also worked as an executive with Koch Industries Inc, the largest privately held company in North America.
Mr. Agolli started his career at the World Bank in Washington DC. He received a Master`s Degree in Management from Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA and also holds a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Business from the same university. Mr. Agolli is quite active in the community supporting various philanthropic causes.
General David H. Petraeus, US Army (Ret.)
Partner,
KKR;
Chairman,
KKR Global Institute,
USA
Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa,
MD, MBA
C3 Summit Co-Chair,
Attending Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center;
Professor at Weill Cornell College at Cornell University;
Trustee of American University of Beirut;
International Affairs Steering Committee,
American Society of Clinical Oncology,
USA
Dr. Maan Fares, MD
Chairman,
Global Patient Services,
The Cleveland Clinic;
C3 Board Advisor,
USA
Ambassador
Dr. Deborah L. Birx
White House,
Coronavirus Task Force (retired),
2020-2021;
C3 Board Advisor,
USA
Mr. Dilip Chauhan
Deputy Commissioner,
Trade, Investment & Innovation,
NYC Mayor's Office for International Affairs,
USA
Dr. Mark A. Davis,
M.D., M.S.
Chief Operating Officer,
Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute,
USA
Dr. Michael Chuong, M.D.
Medical Director of Radiation Oncology,
Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute,
USA
Dr. Abdalelah S. Saaty
Dean,
College of Business,
King Abdulaziz University,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley
President,
Middle East Policy Council,
USA
Mr. Phillip Mervis
Chairman & CEO,
BioSAFE Engineering,
USA
Ms. Melike Ayan
Global Business & Financial Reporter,
Bloomberg Television,
US, UK, Hong Kong
Mr. John Payne
Chairman & CEO,
PURELIFE Health Sciences Group, LLC,
USA
Ms. Lindsay Denny
Environmental Health Consultant,
UNICEF-HQ,
USA
Dr. Jeff Geschwind
Director of Oncology,
USA Vein Clinics,
USA
Dr. Caroline Chung,
MD, MSc., FRCPC, CIP
Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology;
Chief Data Officer,
MD Anderson,
USA
Dr. Maliha Hashmi
Prominent Health Leader,
One of Top Seven Female Health Leaders,
MENA Region,
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia
Dr. David A. Goukassian, MD, PhD
Professor (Tenured) Medicine, Cardiology,
Cardiovascular Research Institute,
Icahn School of Medicine,
Mount Sinai Hospital,
USA
Dr. Clotilde Monguya
MD Obstetrics; Gynaecology MPH,
Global Health Emerging Markets Consultant,
African Scientific Institute Fellow,
USA
Mr. Mick Merritt
Chief Operating Officer,
Penn Signature Services,
Penn Medicine,
USA
Dr. Gabi Hanna, MD
CEO, Co-Founder,
Lamassu Pharma, LLC;
Executive Director,
Duke Preclinical Translational Research Center;
Associate Director,
Duke Cancer Institute, Surgical Facility;
VP American Remote Health,
USA
Ms. Judith Barnett, Esq.
President,
The Barnet Group,
USA
Mr. John Walker
CEO/Chairman,
Holo Sail Technologies,
USA
Mr. Murat Seitnepesov
President,
Greater Caspian Association,
Frequent Speaker at World Economic Forum,
Switzerland
Mr. Randall Funke
Chief Technology Officer,
Holo Sail Technologies,
USA
Ms. Amy Forsythe
Author and Military Veteran,
USA
Dr. Thomas J. Fuchs
Dean for Artificial Intelligence and Human Health,
Co-Director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health,
Professor of Pathology, Molecular and Cell Based Medicine,
Icahn School of Medicine,
Mount Sinai,
USA
Dr. James D. Thomas
MD, FACC, FASE, FESC,
Cardiology, Imaging & Valvular Heart Disease,
Northwestern Medical,
USA
Dr. Galed Hakim, M.D., MBA, DHSc
Assistant Vice President of
International Healthcare Partnerships and
Insurance Development,
Baptist Health International,
USA
Dr. Shawna Novak,
MD, MA, MMSc-GHD
Executive Director,
The Canada International Scientific Exchange Program
(CISEPO),
Canada
Mr. Paul Doherty
AIA, IFMA Fellow, DFC Senior Fellow,
Chairman & CEO,
The Digit Group,
USA
Mr. Robert J. Castro
Founder,
Bob Castro Strategies;
Advisory Board,
The World Innovation Network,
"The Nourish Movement",
USA
Dr. Sara Brittany Somerset
UN & Cannabis Correspondent,
United Nations Headquarters,
USA
Mr. Kunio Hara
Founder,
Ho-Me-I-Ku Education,
(Praise* Raise),
Japan
Ms. Karen Avakian
Global Consultant,
USA
Rev. Timothy J. Mercaldo
Founder & Executive Director,
WorshipPlus.Org,
USA
Dr. Aftab Ahmed
Vice President
&
Chief Science Officer,
PureLife Health Sciences Group,
USA
Dr. Ronald M. Razmi
Managing Director,
Zoi Capital,
USA
Dr. Mona S. Jhaveri, Ph.D.
Founder & Executive Director,
Musc Beats Cancer,
USA
Mr. Mike Blue
President & CEO,
HistoSonics, Inc.,
USA
Mr. Art Agolli
Founder & CEO,
Equity Health Services,
Canada
Mr. Robert ("Bob") Potter
C3 Advisory Board,
USA
