Dr. Abigail Silva is a trained epidemiologist with more than two decades of experience in both public health practice and research. She has spent much of her career promoting health equity in all aspects of her work, including teaching. During her career, she has published over 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts, authored six book chapters, and presented her work at national and international conferences. Dr. Silva has also meaningfully served both the research and local communities.
Dr. Silva’s work has been funded by foundations, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the VA’s Health Services Research and Development Service. Her work encompasses three main areas: 1) inequities in care and outcomes; 2) the role of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on health care access, utilization, and outcomes; and 3) the COVID-19 pandemic in communities of color. Her contributions to health equity research include evaluating cancer-related care and outcomes and various causes of mortality. Toward the latter, she recently collaborated on a book titled, Unequal Cities: Structural Racism and the Death Gap in America’s Largest Cities, which highlights the need to focus on city-level data as a means of moving toward racial health equity and outlines a path forward by adopting a broader perspective that includes reducing structural racism and increasing community empowerment to improve public health research and policy.
Dr. Silva is also actively leveraging electronic administrative and medical record data as well as public health surveillance data to determine if the expansion of health insurance under the ACA has improved health care access and reduced racial/ethnic inequities. Her work related to the COVID-19 pandemic includes co-leading efforts by the COVID Equity Response Collaborative at Loyola (CERCL). This interprofessional collaborative of academic, community, public, and institutional partners catalyzed to reduce the harm caused by COVID-19 among at-risk populations by increasing testing and vaccination, supporting contact tracing efforts, and providing social support for those directly impacted by the virus. She received funding from the Walder Foundation as part of the Chicago Coronavirus Assessment Network (CAN) to provide free COVID-19 testing in hard-hit communities in suburban Cook County, biobank nasopharyngeal samples for emerging pathogen surveillance, identify (via questionnaire) possible transmission routes through social network and epidemiologic analyses, and conduct serologic surveillance of immune response through serial antibody testing. Additionally, she is a co-lead of the NIH-funded Chicagoland COVID Collaborative, part of the Community Engagement Alliance, which aims to share scientific expertise and conduct extensive community outreach that will enhance current and future COVID-19 vaccination, prevention, mitigation, and response efforts in Black and Latinx populations.
In addition to her active involvement in several University-affiliated committees, she also serves as a member of the Institutional Review Board for a safety-net hospital, a Commissioner for the Board of Health of a suburban village, and a regular manuscript reviewer for several journals.
Dr. Silva holds a Master of Public Health and a PhD in public health sciences from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health. She also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health services research at the Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare at Hines Jr. VA Hospital where she still holds a partial research appointment. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a senior epidemiologist at the Sinai Urban Health Institute and a lead epidemiologist at the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Jeiran Otmishi brings over 25 years of pharma and biotech experience from both the client and services sides. Jeiran’s background includes leadership of a multibillion-dollar Pfizer franchise, oversight of multiple successful launches, driving worldwide government adoption of a healthcare policy treaty, and P&L ownership of a 120-person integrated healthcare communications Havas agency.
As a co-founder of Rumi Edge consultancy, Jeiran’s current focus is empowering mission driven, commercial excellence. Prior to joining the services side, Jeiran spent 15 years on the client side. Her decade in Pfizer’s marketing organization encompassed experience throughout a variety of brands to include worldwide launches of Revatio, Chantix/Champix, and leadership of Lyrica across its full cross-functional, multi-indication portfolio. Among Jeiran’s most meaningful contributions to the healthcare industry was her involvement in the development and execution of Pfizer’s global tobacco control policy plan through private and public health sector engagement. The staggering results included the commitment by 172 governments around the world to WHO’s healthcare treaty to make the treatment of nicotine dependence available to their populations.
Jeiran graduated with a bachelor’s in Mathematics and a master’s in Medical Sciences in addition to Business Administration. She was born in California and has lived and worked in Iran, the UK, China, and the US. Jeiran has lived in New York City for the past 20 years. She currently resides in Tribeca with her husband, Duke, and AussiePoo, Rumi (named after the Persian poet).
Dr. Fola May is an Assistant Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine and an Associate Director of the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity. She received a B.A. in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from Yale University before obtaining a Masters of Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge (UK) where she studied global health and the obesity epidemic. She attended medical school at Harvard University and trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital before completing a fellowship in gastroenterology at UCLA Health and a PhD in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Dr. May’s research focuses on improving healthcare outcomes and addressing health disparities in multiple clinical settings, including UCLA Health, the Veterans Affairs, and Federally Qualified Health Centers. She has designed and executed multiple studies to examine the impact of patient, provider, and system factors on many chronic disease states, including obesity, colorectal cancer, chronic liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma. She utilizes both qualitative and quantitative approaches to design, implement, and evaluate population health strategies to increase access to preventive services and to increase health equity. In the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases at UCLA Health, she is the Director of Quality Improvement in Gastroenterology and Director of the May Health Services Research Laboratory, and she has received funding and recognition from the National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society, American College of Gastroenterology, Tobacco Related Disease Research Program, National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable, and Broad Stem Cell Research Center. Dr. May is also involved in advocacy at the state and national level to develop and encourage policy to improve healthcare delivery and health equity.
Dr. Brad Vale is a founder and general partner of Treo Ventures, a Silicon Valley- and Ireland-based medical device and healthcare IT venture fund. Dr. Vale was a Vice President at Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) starting in 1992 and in 2012 was named Head of JJDC. Dr. Vale’s investments focused mainly on biotech and medical device companies with an emphasis on implantable medical devices. He joined JNJ at Ethicon R&D, moved into the Corporate Science & Technology Office before joining JJDC in 1992, and in 1997 moved to California to establish its Silicon Valley office. He invested in over 30 companies for JJDC, including five that were ultimately acquired by various J&J subsidiaries. Dr. Vale has extensive experience in medical device research and development, including blood-compatible polymers, lasers, microsurgery, novel tissue closure, and hyaluronic acid for adhesion prevention. Dr. Vale has served as a director for many biotech and medtech companies, including Neuropace, CVRx, Nevro, USGI, GI Dynamics, Onehealthbank.com, and Atrionix. Dr. Vale has published in the area of medical device development and laser surgery. He holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Iowa State University and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Washington State University. He completed his BS in Chemistry and Biology at Beloit College in Wisconsin. He currently sits on the boards of Nevro (NYSE: NVRO), Hyalex, Shiratronics, Intuity, Agilvax, and Tramway Ventures.
Dr. Gerard Honig is Director of Research Innovation at the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, a patient advocacy organization and leading funder of research in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). He launched and currently manages a venture philanthropy fund, IBD Ventures, focused on investing in investigational products with potential to address the critical unmet needs of patients with IBD. He also is responsible for advancing biomarkers and precision medicine solutions in the IBD field through internal and external research programs and consortium activities, including serving as co-chair for the Mucosal Healing project team of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium and leading the development of a prognostic test for pediatric Crohn’s in partnership with LifeArc.
Gerard received his PhD in neuroscience at the University of California San Francisco as a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and subsequently trained in immunology and microbiome research. In 2013, Gerard developed and implemented a novel clinical-stage therapeutic modality for the treatment of C. difficile infection; he subsequently launched a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel drug delivery systems for gastrointestinal diseases. Gerard serves on numerous boards and committees, including the board of directors and scientific advisory committee of the Peggy Lillis Foundation; the steering committee for the AGA Fecal Microbiota Transplantation National Registry; the Health Research Alliance Program Committee and the mentorship committee for Entrepreneurship Lab NYC. In his spare time, Gerard enjoys Japanese martial arts, kayaking, and cooking.
Doctor Mark A. Hardy is Auchincloss Professor of Surgery, former Vice Chairman and Residency Program Director of the Department of Surgery, and Director Emeritus and Founder of the Transplantation Centre, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. His professional scientific career has revolved around transplantation and transplantation biology, with a major interest in alteration of donor immunogenicity, antigen presentation, and islet transplantation. He is a former Director of Vascular Surgery and Founder of the Transplantation Program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. In addition to his work in transplantation, in the earlier part of his career he made several contributions to the development of prosthetic vascular grafts and the development and study of biologic function of thymic hormones, both experimentally and clinically. He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of Hallym-Columbia International Surgical Education Fund, which he helped to create to support international exchanges of faculty between underdeveloped and developed countries.
Besides being a very busy general, vascular, and most recently primarily a transplant surgeon, he continues basic research in immunology trying to achieve tolerance to organ allografts in swine. Among his many honours and almost constant support by NIH funding for his studies, Dr. Hardy was President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) in 1994, served three terms as Councillor of the Transplantation Society (TTS), and was an Editor of Transplantation for 15 years until 2015. He has published more than 380 articles and edited Xenotransplantation 25 (First International Xenotransplantation Symposium) and another book on Organ Replacement in Diabetes Mellitus. He is a member of numerous surgical and scientific societies including American Surgical Association, Society of Clinical Surgery and American Association of Immunology. He has received a number of prizes for his work, including the NIH Scholar Award early in his career.
He has been awarded Honorary Doctorates at Hallym University in Korea and at Warsaw University in Poland and was named Distinguished Alumnus of Albert Einstein School of Medicine and of Columbia University Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He has received numerous awards including the ASTS Pioneer Award and Francis Moore Mentorship Award, and The Shustra Prize in Immunobiology from India. He continues to focus on issues in surgical education and international health care, in addition to his research in tolerance induction.
John Ponsoll is the Managing Director at Symbiotix, LLC, the US scientific medical communications flagship agency within Havas Health & You. Since 1999, John has served many roles in agency services, from project management and account services, to business development, innovation, and strategy. He has a proven track record in growing companies, new capabilities, and offerings, and he excels at forging deep relationships with clients and exploring novel technology applications for health-related challenges.
From a scientific medical communications and, specifically, transplant perspective, John has developed a deep knowledge and mastery over his more-than-two-decade career. He has been a key driver for strategy and innovation for clients working in immunosuppression, organ rejection, and efforts to increase awareness of the need for organ donation amongst minority populations. He has participated in more than 20 launches during his career and has had significant experience in hepatology, nephrology, neurology, hematology-oncology, rare diseases, and with complex mechanism of action products in crowded or undifferentiated categories.
Separately, John co-wrote and served as Executive Producer of the award-winning documentary, Honor in the Valley of Tears (2010). His film details the first-person account over 40+ years of A-Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry of the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division—of which his father was a soldier—during their time in Vietnam in 1966-67 and the heroic actions of 1st Sgt. David H. McNerney, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1968. The film won jury prizes at six film festivals, was aired on the Documentary Channel, and was enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum along with Sgt. McNerney’s stamp collection upon his death in 2011.
Dr. Ratner is Professor of Surgery and Director of Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation at Columbia University. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, Dr. Ratner was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and served as the Chief of Solid Organ Transplantation at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
Access to organ transplantation has been Dr. Ratner’s major academic interest. Dr. Ratner has been a leading innovator in transplantation for over two decades. In 1993, he performed the world’s first dual renal transplant. In 1995 (with Dr. Louis Kavoussi) he performed the first laparoscopic donor nephrectomy, and set the stage for its widespread adoption, which resulted in a profound increase in living donor kidney transplantation. Dr. Ratner has made significant contributions in overcoming immunologic incompatibilities that prohibited transplantation. He devised the plasmapheresis/IVIg protocol for alloantibody desensitization in 1998. In 2001, Dr. Ratner orchestrated the second paired-kidney exchange in the U.S. Subsequently, he arranged the first paired kidney exchanges in both Pennsylvania and New York. More recently Dr. Ratner has been a leading proponent of including compatible donor/recipient pairs in kidney exchanges. And, his more contemporary work has looked at the organizational and regulatory barriers to access to care. All of these strategies have increased organ availability and access to transplantation. Additionally, he has made important contributions to improve living donor safety. For his work, Dr. Ratner has received numerous awards and honors. And, he has been invited to speak and operate at various venues around the world.
Dr. Ratner has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, and has been a federally funded investigator. His publications have been cited over 15,000 times. He served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the LiveOnNY (formerly the New York Organ Donor Network), and has served on numerous national committees including the Board of the United Network for Organ Sharing. He recently completed a term as the President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, and previously served as that Society’s Treasurer. He has also served on the UNOS Board of Directors.
Dr. Ratner originally hails from Brooklyn, NY. He received his undergraduate education at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He received his M.D. from Hahnemann University. His general surgery training was obtained at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. He completed a Fellowship in Transplantation Surgery and Immunology at Washington University. In 2011 Dr. Ratner completed a Master of Public Health with a focus on health care policy, administration and management.
Alex Tulchinsk, UNOS Chief Technology Officer since 2014, reports to the CEO and is a member of the UNOS executive team. He leads transformation of the technology platforms that match donated organs with patients nationwide, advance clinical decision-making through improved information gathering, and analytics on organ donors, transplant candidates and recipients. Mr. Tulchinsky champions efforts to consumerize transplant tools and services, dramatically reduce data burden as well as advance secure sharing of clinical information. He focuses on partnering with technology companies to develop new innovative solutions for the benefit of the transplant community.
Mr. Tulchinsky has over 25 years of technology and executive leadership experience with industry-leading organizations in healthcare, telecommunications, financial services, as well as internet and information services. Before joining UNOS he was Senior Vice President of Infrastructure and Operations at Neustar, Inc., an information services and analytics provider based in Sterling, Va. His prior experience includes leadership roles at AOL, MCI Telecommunications, SunRocket, Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation, Citibank and other financial services companies.
Mr. Tulchinsky is a member of the Board of Directors of the Richmond Technology Council and an Advisory Board Member of the Virginia Commonwealth University Information Systems Department. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer and information sciences from Temple University.
Kate Cronin is the global CEO of Ogilvy Health and is responsible for helping our clients brands thrive and grow in a dynamic healthcare economy across all the health and wellness continuum.
Kate is a widely respected industry leader who sees the unique opportunity to use creativity and global reach to grow and transform not only brands, but entire businesses in the health sector and beyond. She has a track record of bringing the best of Ogilvy to the table to drive value for her clients through tailor-made teams that have spanned advertising, brand strategy, PR, technology, and consulting. Kate has led integrated work for a diverse range of clients including most of our largest, long-term health clients including Pfizer, BMS and Boehringer Ingelheim and most recently Merck. Kate works with our health and wellness clients to solve for unmet consumer, patient and customer needs in the marketplace ‘from bench to bedside’. She is working with our clients on patient connectivity and helping them reimagine patient and HCP experiences from areas like telehealth and telemedicine to improving access to care. She is passionate about helping clients grow their reputation and highlight their role in building a healthier society through the lens of their actions and their purpose.
The science of marketing and reaching consumers with messages that resonate with them is her passion. Before starting her career in communications, Kate conducted research in the field of neurobiology at Cornell University Medical College. She presented her research at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting and has coauthored several research articles focused on learning and memory and published in peer-review publications, including the Journal of Comparative Neurology, the Journal of Neuroscience and Neuroscience Abstracts.
An advocate of diversity and inclusion, Kate is the co-founder of Ogilvy’s Women’s Leadership Professional Network and has contributed to numerous WPP women leadership initiatives. Kate was named a health influencer by PRWeek and Medical Marketing & Media (MM&M) and was recently inducted to the 2020 MM&M Hall of Femme. Her client work has led to numerous industry awards, including Effies, MM&M, PR Sabres and PRWeek Silver Anvils.
Kate earned her Bachelor of Arts degree (major in Biology) from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.