Jason DaSilva is a director, producer, writer and disability rights activist best known for the Emmy Award winning documentary, When I Walk, the first film in a documentary trilogy. The documentary follows his diagnosis of primary progressive multiple sclerosis for seven years as he progresses from cane, to walker, to wheelchair. Following the success of When I Walk, Jason released the second film in the trilogy, When We Walk. When We Walk follows his life as he deals with his MS and fights to stay close with his son. The film is based on his New York Times Op-Ed article, Mapping the Disability Trap. In 2019, the film premiered at the Hot Docs Film Festival, won best documentary at the Center for Asian American Media’s CAAMFest, and had its New York debut at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. The final film, When They Walk, is currently in production. Jason DaSilva is also the President and Founder of AXS Lab, a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving a voice to people with disabilities through film, media and technology. As the President of AXS Lab, Jason is the key creative and strategic voice of the organization, providing insight to necessities in disability activism and facilitating AXS Lab’s work with the United Nations and partner organizations around the world. AXS Map, a crowd sourced Google map based platform which rates the accessibility of businesses, is the primary technology branch of AXS Lab, the largest online database in North America for accessibility. In 2015, Jason had the opportunity to share his AXS Map on a disability panel at the White House. AXS Map serves as an active tool for change alongside his films. AXS Lab contributed to the United Nation’s Flagship Report on Disability and Development which was published in 2018. In 2014, Jason won three awards: the American Association of Persons with Disabilities (AAPD) Paul G. Hearn Leadership Award, the New Mobility Magazine: Person of the Year Award, and the Christopher Award for Excellence in Film. In 2019 he was awarded the Top 40 Trailblazers Award from the Community Resource Exchange, an award for leaders who are driving meaningful change in their communities and the larger world, and the Made in New York recognition at the Gotham Awards.
A simple insight led to the creation of ThermApparel. As grad students in Industrial Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Brad and co-founder Kurtis met with the local National MS Society chapter. While heat sensitivity was a known problem with MS, current cooling vests were not being widely adopted. To Brad and Kurtis, this was a challenge to which they could apply their design talents. It quickly became apparent that cooling products on the market did not meet the needs of people living with MS – concealability, lightweight, and comfort.
Mr. Gilbert is a mission-driven Growth Serial Entrepreneur with an “up through the ranks” experience in the healthcare industry focused on the achievement of systematically improved outcomes and reduced costs across the healthcare continuum. He is involved in initiatives related to the Disruption and Positive Impact of Digital Therapeutics, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning in Improved Healthcare Delivery. He is also viewed as a thought leader in the areas of Accountable Care Solutions, Value Based Care and Collaborative Care and is a sought after speaker at industry conferences. He possesses a clear understanding of the current healthcare landscape, and has conceived and implemented strategies that resulted in new markets, new clients and increased revenue. Mr. Gilbert benefits from having a well-developed network of long-standing relationships at the executive level, with access and credibility to be viewed as their trusted advisor. Mr. Gilbert is currently the Chief Executive Officer at BeCareLink.
Wim Van Hecke, PhD, is the founder and CEO of icometrix (Chicago, USA; Leuven, Belgium). Wim is an academic engineer by training with two Master degrees in applied biomedical engineering and neuroimaging, and a PhD in diffusion MRI analysis. He is author or co-author of over 150 scientific publications, the editor of a clinical neuroimaging handbook, has won numerous scientific awards and is frequently invited to present his work at courses, conferences and hospitals around the world.
Wim is the founder of icometrix, a leader in software AI solutions to obtain clinically meaningful data from brain MRI and CT scans. The goal of icometrix is to transform the care of patients with neurological disorders through imaging AI and a more objective diagnosis and monitoring.
Shawna Persaud has 15 years of pre-clinical research experience and has published in the fields of stem and cancer cell biology. As clinical and product manager at Abilitech Medical, she leads all clinical and marketing initiatives, including the development of the Abilitech Assist 75 patient post-market outcomes study with the University of Minnesota and Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare. Shawna has consulted with several biotech and medical device startups in the twin cities area including a 3D printed exoskeletal nonprofit, Magic Arms. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Minnesota.
Amy Li is Founder of Dance4Healing, an award winning behavior health social venture inspired by her stage IV cancer journey. Dance4Healing is an AI-powered live video platform empowering anyone access to creative arts therapy, and building healthy habits in a fun, and supportive way. It has won over 15 awards such as Stanford Medicine X Healthcare Design Award, Stanford Health++ Hackathon Intel Nervana AI Cluster Grand Prize, top 5 finalist for Pfizer’s global mBC Challenge, 2nd prize for Partners Connected Health Fit Mind Challenge sponsored by AARP. Amy also founded Stage IV {Wicked Wisdom} Network: a global network of leaders who champion for Technology for Social Good, Healthcare Innovation, Integrative Medicine, and Patient Advocacy. Our mission is 1 million lives saved from cancer and other life difficulties through inspiring stories, public education, and technology innovation. Amy is a UX, design and branding expert for global brands such as Yahoo, AT&T, VW and Sony. Her first iPhone App Have2P was independently reviewed and featured as “App of the Week” at New York Times, leading to a major media storm in over 50 publications, such as NBC, Yahoo! News, Gizmodo, Popsugar, praised as third on the list of “11 Coolest App ever.” This resulted in millions of downloads within 4 weeks, and a successful cross-sale of a whole suite of AT&T R&D apps. Amy graduated from Singularity University, which is known for empowering future leaders to use technology to positively impact the world. She is a board member of Humanity+, an international non-profit advocate using technology to expand human capacities.
Kinza is a researcher, interaction designer and strategist based in New York. While working on projects centering user experience and digital products, it is the “how” and “why” of the problems that drive her creative thought process. She starts at the purpose of every interaction she is exploring which inspires her to keep finding challenges that people face in their day-to-day lives, in hopes of solving them through critical thinking, user research and human-centered design.
David has more than ten years of experience in artificial intelligence, medical devices, robotics engineering, and HealthTech. David studied a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in health management at Harvard University. He is passionate about empowering people with physical challenges to live independently and making a significant social impact. David has invented and developed many medical devices, such as adjustable dental instruments, wheelchairs that convert into a walker, a medical drone for emergencies, and a medical app tracking health for people with chronic diseases. He also built an autonomous personal transporter for wheelchair users that can convert any manual wheelchair into an electric wheelchair. He has been featured in many global events and organizations such as Fast Company, Harvard innovation, Microsoft, Amazon, TechCrunch, Wired, McKinsey, Verizon, and Novartis.
David’s aunt passed away from MS, and his friend and mentor continue to struggle with the challenges of MS today. David seeks to help people like him and all others who live with similar conditions to maximize their independence. David is passionate about empowering people with neurological challenges and their caregivers.
Dr. Zachary Helft co-founded C. Light and brings over 10 years of neuroscience and regulatory experience to the team. He worked in the Technical Process Support team at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to develop and transfer a GMP biologics manufacturing process to an international site. He was also part of regulatory interactions to manage quality systems documentation. Dr. Helft helped to launch Regeneron’s first large-scale biologic to the market, Eylea. He is the author of multiple research articles and two successful grant applications. Dr. Helft brings his GMP and regulatory background from his time at Regeneron and mixes it with his scientific background in neuroscience. He was educated at Colgate University (B.S. in Cellular Neuroscience) and UC Berkeley (Ph.D. in Vision Science).
For five years, Kate Milliken has been immersed in the personal stories of people living with chronic illness as the founder of MyCounterpane, an online platform that allows patients and caregivers to lay out their personal moments and connect to others who get it. The venture began when Kate was diagnosed with MS in 2006. Kate saw a need for moment-based authentic content of what it was like to actually live with an illness, where every entry was tagged with an emotion to make it immediately helpful and easily searchable for people in need of finding others to relate to. MyCounterpane aimed to demonstrate insights and prove outcomes in the emotional realm of health, healing people through the story of them in the process. Kate will continue this work with Moodify, a 2.0 version of MyCounterpane.
Pre-MS, Kate founded Milligrace Productions, a video production company specializing in mini documentaries for private, corporate and non-profit clients. She has worked in television for more than 15 years, off camera as a producer for the View and VH-1 and as a correspondent in alternative sports (such as snowboarding, mountain biking and monster trucks) where she worked for Fox Sports NET, TNT, TNN the Outdoor Life Network and Oxygen.
Kate lives in Bronxville, New York with her husband and two young children, an 8-year-old son who works to throw 3-pointers on a basketball court like Steph Curry and a 6-year-old daughter who wages a daily battle against the hairbrush.