Speaker Bios (Past & Present)

Ms. Elizabeth Richard is the State Department coordinator for U.S. Assistance to the Near East. She began serving in this position in September 2013. Prior to holding this position, she served as the Deputy Chief of Mission in Sanaa, Yemen from September 2010 until August 2013. She is a career foreign service officer, with 24 years of service. From 2008 - 2010, Ms. Richard was the Border Coordinator in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she maintained oversight of all USG programs along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan to ensure that U.S. efforts were synchronized for maximum effect for USG policies in the region. She also maintained close coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and with ISAF on support for the supply lines into Afghanistan, the IED problem, and other cross-border issues.

Her previous assignments included a year as director of counternarcotics and civilian police training programs in Afghanistan; two years as deputy to the special Ambassador for War Crimes issues, where she worked on Guantanamo bay issues and on US support for international war crimes tribunals; and a year as special assistant to the undersecretary for political affairs, where her responsibilities included non-proliferation and political-military issues. Her other overseas assignments included Rome, Italy, where she worked for one year in the Italian Foreign Ministry and then joined the Embassy as the Balkans officer; and Bangkok, Thailand, where she was special assistant to the ambassador.

Education:

• M.A. in International Law (Amend of Treaties) Cairo University 1996
  -License of Law, Cairo University
• B.A., Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Helwan University1984

• 2013-present - Consul General of Egypt, New York
• 2012-2013 - Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for Inspection
• 2011-2012 - Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for International Legal Affairs
• Chairman of the U.N. Working Group 4 toCountering Piracy off the coast of Somalia
• 2007-2011 - Ambassador of Egypt to Slovenia
• 2005-2007 - Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for Inspection
• 2004-2005 - Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Chief of Inspection, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• 2003-2004 - Counsellor and Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Tokyo
• 2000-2003 - Counsellor, Head of Political Section, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Tokyo
• 1998-2000 - Deputy Director in Charge of International Legal Affairs and InternationalTreaties Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Head of Egyptian Delegation in Avoiding Double Taxation Treaties with G15 Countries (Sri Lanka 2000)
• Member of Egyptian Delegation Montreal Civil Aviation Treaty (Montreal 1999)
• Member of Egyptian Delegation Mobile
• Equipment Legal Framework Treaty (Rome 1999)
• Head of Legal Committee for International Civil Aviation Law (Montreal 1998)
• 1994-1998 - First Secretary, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Jordan
• Member of Egyptian Delegation, Amman
• Economic Summit (MENA) 1996
• 1993-1994 - Member of Egyptian Delegation (Gaza and Jericho Agreement), Peace Process in the Middle East (Taba, Egypt 1994)
• 1992-1993 - Second Secretary, Office of the Assistant Minister for European Affaires
• 1988-1992 - Third Secretary, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Holy See
• 1986-1988 - Attaché, Protocol Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• 1985-1986 - Institute of Diplomatic Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Dr. Samira Asma, DDS, MPH provides leadership for CDC's global NCD strategy, communications, and program development. Previously Dr. Asma served as Chief of the Global Tobacco Control Branch in the Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC.

Under her leadership, CDC established the Global Tobacco Control Branch in 2000 with its flagship initiative - the Global Tobacco Surveillance System spanning 180 countries to systematically track tobacco use and control policies. When the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use was launched in 2007, Dr. Asma played an instrumental role to address data gaps through the development of the Global Adult Tobacco Surveys (GATS), working with partners and countries to make GATS one of the most successful monitoring strategies in the history of global health. Building upon the success of stand-alone tobacco surveys, Dr. Asma built alliances with international organizations to promote integration of globally standardized measures to track MPOWER strategies associated with implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and global NCD tobacco targets. To ensure use of data for policy action, Dr. Asma has promoted rapid development and utilization of online training tools to scale up public health workforce capacity for NCDs through the Field Epidemiology Training Program and health care professional networks. Modeled after the U.S Surgeon General Reports on tobacco control, Dr. Asma also led the development of evidence-based reports in collaboration with the national governments of China, India, and Mexico. In addition, Dr. Asma has generated significant resources to support global tobacco control through strategic public-private partnerships.

A dentist with training in public health, Dr. Asma received her degree in dentistry from Bangalore University, India, and a masters in public health from the University College London, United Kingdom. After working with WHO, Dr. Asma joined CDC in 1997. Dr. Asma has over 100 publications ranging from research, policy and practice on tobacco control, chronic disease prevention and health promotion as well as key position papers, evidence based reports and atlases. Dr. Asma also serves in an advisory role on several global public health policy and program initiatives.

Dr. Asma is a recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Developing Leadership in Substance Abuse fellowship and the Jeffery P. Koplan Award on outstanding and sustained leadership and achievement in global tobacco prevention and control. In 2014, Dr. Asma received the World No Tobacco Day award from the Ministry of Health, Government of Turkey, for exemplary support of tobacco control program in Turkey, and in 2008, she received the gold honorary award for longstanding friendship and support for eastern European countries in building research capacity for public health from the Health Promotion Foundation, Poland.

Mr. Abboud Bejjani is Regional Vice President for AbbVie Biopharmaceutical for the MEAP Region, following the separation of Abbott into two publicly traded companies: Abbott & AbbVie. Mr. Abboud joined Abbott in 1998 as Financial Planning Manager for the Middle East Region.

He began his career in 1992 at Arthur Andersen & Co. In 1998 he joined Abbott's Middle East Regional Office and progressed through positions of increasing responsibility in Finance until becoming Regional Finance Director Middle East & North Africa in 2001. Mr. Bejjani later took the position of Country Manager for the Levant Region before becoming General Manager Gulf & Levant Region in 2005. In 2012 he took over the position of Regional Director Propriety Product Division for the Middle East, Africa & Pakistan Region (MEAP).

Mr. Abboud carries a Master Degree in Finance from St Joseph University and is a member of the international Management Accountants at the New Jersey Board. Throughout his career he worked in several countries such as United States, Canada, Lebanon, Greece, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Dr. John Duke Anthony is the Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, and currently serves on the United States Department of State Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy and its Subcommittee on Sanctions. In 2012, he chaired and was the core lecturer in the Council's 26th Annual 10-Week University Student Summer Internship Program's Academic Seminar on Arabia and the Gulf. For the past 38 years, he has been a consultant and regular lecturer on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf for the Departments of Defense and State. He is former Chair, Near East and North Africa Program, Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State as well as former Chair of the Department's Advanced Arabian Peninsula Studies Seminar. A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1986, Dr. Anthony has been a frequent participant in its study groups on issues relating to the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf regions and the broader Arab and Islamic world. More recently, Dr. Anthony was elected to the Board of Advisors of the Yemen College for Middle Eastern Studies. For the Fall 2012 semester, in addition to fulfilling his duties as Council President and CEO and Adviser to the Department of State, he was appointed Dean's Chair in International Studies and Political Science at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, where he taught the Institute's first-ever course on "Politics of the Arabian Peninsula" to First (Senior) and Second (Junior) classmen.

On June 21, 2000, on the occasion of his first official visit to the United States, H.M King Muhammad VI of Morocco knighted Dr. Anthony, bestowing upon him the Medal of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite, the nation of Morocco's highest award for excellence. In addition to heading the National Council, consulting, lecturing, and serving as an Adjunct Faculty Member of the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Institute for Security Assistance Management (DISAM) since 1974, Dr. Anthony has been an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies since 2006. There, he developed a course for graduate students on "Politics of the Arabian Peninsula," the first such semester-long academic course to be offered at any American university. In 2007, he was Visiting Lecturer at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies. In 2008 he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University in Cairo's HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin ‘Abdalaziz Al-Sa'ud Center for American Studies.

In 1983, Dr. Anthony received DISAM's Distinguished Achievement Award, one of three granted to American Middle East specialists in the Institute's history. In March 1989, the Kappa Alpha Order's National Executive bestowed upon him its Distinguished Public Service Award for Excellence "through a strenuous and useful Life of Service to others." In 1993, he received the U.S. Department of State's Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Award, one of three awarded over a span of 25 years in recognition of his preparation of American diplomatic and defense personnel assigned to the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf states. In 1994, he received the Stevens Award for Outstanding Contributions to American-Arab Understanding. In May 2008, the Rotary Club of the Nation's Capital bestowed upon him its first-ever Local Giants Leadership Award.

Dr. Anthony is the only American to have been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1969-1970). In 1971, he was cosponsored by the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Department of State as the sole American scholar to observe at firsthand the process by which the British ceased administering the defense and foreign relations for nine Arab states lining the coastal regions of eastern Arabia and the Gulf. His long experience in Yemen led to Dr. Anthony being asked to serve as an international observer in all four of Yemen's presidential and parliamentary elections.

Dr. Anthony is the only American to have been invited to each of the Gulf Cooperation Council's Ministerial and Heads of State Summits since the GCC's inception in 1981. (The GCC is comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates). Since 1986 and continuing until the present, Dr. Anthony has accompanied more than 200 Members of Congress, their chiefs of staff, defense and foreign affairs advisers, and legislative and communications directors on fact-finding missions to the Arab world. From 1996 until the present, he has also served as the principal scholar-escort for delegations to various GCC countries, Egypt, and Yemen comprised of 132 officers assigned to the staff of the Commander, U.S. Central Command, including Generals J.H. Binford Peay III, Anthony C. Zinni, Tommy Franks, John P. Abizaid, David Petraeus, James Mattis, and Admiral William Fallon.

Dr. Anthony is the author of three books, the editor of a fourth, and has published more than 175 articles and essays, and five monographs dealing with America's interests and involvement in the Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world. His best-known works are Arab States of the Lower Gulf: People, Politics, Petroleum; The Middle East: Oil, Politics, and Development (editor and co-author) and, together with J. E. Peterson, Historical and Cultural Dictionary of the Sultanate of Oman and the Emirates of Eastern Arabia. Among his more recent publications are The United Arab Emirates: Dynamics of State Formation, Abu Dhabi, UAE: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), 2002; "The Future Significance of the Gulf Cooperation Council," in Global Strategic Developments: A Futuristic Vision, Abu Dhabi, UAE: ECSSR, 2012; "The Intervention in Bahrain through the Lenses of its Supporters" and "Challenges Facing NATO in Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq," all four published by ECSSR in the Summer and Fall of 2011; "War with Iran: Regional Reactions and Requirements," published by Middle East Policy and the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, 2008; "Strategic Dynamics of Iran-GCC Relations," in Jean-François Seznec and Mimi Kirk, eds., Industrialization in the Gulf: A Socioeconomic Revolution, New York: Routledge, 2011; and "Measuring the Iraq War 'Accomplishments' Through the Lens of Its Authors: A Preliminary Assessment": a revised and edited version of an address presented to the Axis for Peace conference held in Brussels by Voltaire Network, 2005, published by the National Council.

In addition to being the founder and chief facilitator and moderator of the Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, now in its 21st year, Dr. Anthony has been a founder, board member, and Secretary of the U.S.-GCC Corporate Cooperation Committee; founding President of the Middle East Educational Trust; co-founder of the Commission on Israeli-Palestinian Peace; founding President of the Society for Gulf Arab Studies; co-founder and board member of the National Commission to Commemorate the 14th Centennial of Islam; and founder and former chairman of the U.S.-Morocco Affairs Council. In 2006 he was elected Vice-President and member of the Board of Directors of the International Foreign Policy Association in Washington, D.C.

After completion of his U.S. Army active duty military service, the Commonwealth of Virginia granted Dr. Anthony a four-year State Cadetship Award which allowed him to enroll at Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where he received his Bachelor's Degree in History. At VMI, he was elected president of his class all four years in addition to serving as president of the Corps of Cadets' Government General and Executive Committees during his First Class Year. He later earned a Master of Science Degree in Foreign Service (With Distinction) from the Edmund A. Walsh Graduate School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where, in addition to holding one of three University Scholar Awards, he was inducted into the National Political Science Honor Society. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and Middle East Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., where he held a National Defense in Foreign Language Scholarship for Arabic, was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, and was appointed in 1973 to SAIS' full-time faculty while still a student. For nearly a decade, Dr. Anthony taught courses on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf States at SAIS. He has been a Visiting and Adjunct Professor at the Defense Intelligence College, the Woodrow Wilson School of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia, the Universities of Pennsylvania and Texas, the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, and a regular lecturer at the National War College.

Dr. Anthony passed his proficiency exam in French at the Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1966. He passed his proficiency exam in Arabic at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1969 following study there as well as at Princeton University and the American University in Cairo's Center for Arabic Study Abroad.

Dr. Anthony is married to Cynthia Burns McDonald, Director of the Washington, D.C. Office of the American University in Cairo, and has twin sons.

Dr. Arthur A. Klein is a leader in health care management, was recently appointed as President of the Mount Sinai Health Network, as Executive Vice President of Mount Sinai Hospital and Executive Vice President of the Icahn School of Medicine. In this new role, Dr. Klein oversees the Mount Sinai Medical Center’s growing network of more than one hundred clinical relationships, including eighteen affiliated hospitals, five nursing homes, and twelve physician group practices throughout New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties.

Prior to this recent position, Dr. Klein served as the Regional Executive Director of the Western Region of the North Shore-LIJ Health System; Senior Vice President for Pediatric Services of the North Shore-LIJ Health System; Chief of Staff of the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of NY; and the Philip Lanzkowsky Professor of Pediatrics Hofstra North Shore-LIJ Medical School

Dr. Klein was the Regional Executive Director of the Western Region which included Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan Eye Ear and Throat Institute, Staten Island University Hospital’s North and South Sites, the proposed Center for Comprehensive Care in Lower Manhattan and other potential markets west of the Van Wyck Expressway. Dr. Klein was responsible for administrative oversight of these facilities and coordination of activities in this region to focus on building physician partnerships and looking for new opportunities of growth and investment.

Dr. Klein was responsible for the professional services and strategies of the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center, the largest children's hospital in New York State and for the quality and growth of the Children's Service Line for the North Shore-LIJ Healthcare System.

Dr. Klein has had an extensive career in academic medicine and administration. He held the Philip Lanzkowsky Endowed Professorship of Pediatrics at the Hofstra/North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. He was previously a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and a Professor of Clinical Public Health at the Weill College of Medicine of Cornell University and served for many years as the Executive Vice Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell. He also served for almost 3 years as an Associate Dean at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine of Brown University.

Dr. Tohme has extensive experience in viral hepatitis, in particular hepatitis C virus infection. Previously, she reviewed the evidence for hepatitis C transmission methods to help update prevention recommendations, investigated emerging hepatitis C virus infections among young adults, and assessed hepatitis B and C testing, infection, and access to care among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. She is the lead author of a chapter on Hepatitis C Virus in “Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases“ (Elsevier). Dr. Tohme also provided technical assistance for viral hepatitis prevention, control, and treatment in Egypt and Pakistan. In 2012, she was a member of the joint WHO/CDC team that reviewed the implementation of activities for the prevention, control, and treatment of viral hepatitis in Egypt, and provided recommendations for development of a national plan of action.

Dr. Tohme has widespread experience in global health. She was the technical lead of CDC's global immunization activities in Haiti where she worked on expanding the cold chain to allow the introduction of three lifesaving vaccines, pentavalent, rotavirus, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, and strengthening routine immunization and vaccine preventable disease surveillance. Dr. Tohme received the 2014 CDC's Center for Global Health Honor Award for excellence in program delivery for ‘superb leadership of routine immunization, cold chain, and new vaccine introduction in Haiti'. Dr. Tohme also provided technical assistance to Armenia, Morocco, and Burma for evaluation of new vaccine introductions, preparation of plans for introduction of inactivated polio vaccine and monitoring mass vaccination campaigns. In 2013, she was a member of the CDC team that investigated the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus outbreak in Jordan and received the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases certificate of excellence for ‘improving the understanding of MERS-CoV epidemiology and fostering positive relationships with affected countries'. In 2010, she participated in the CDC's public health response following the Haiti earthquake where she worked on strengthening disease surveillance in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

Dr. Tohme received her medical doctor and public health degrees from the American University of Beirut (AUB). Prior to joining CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer and later as a medical officer, Dr. Tohme was a research associate at the Faculty of Health Sciences, AUB, where she led multiple public health projects including the write-up of a chapter in the book on “Public Health in the Arab World” (Cambridge University Press). Dr. Tohme has published over 50 papers and book chapters and serves as a reviewer for several journals

Dr. Daniel Zoughbie is the CEO, President, and founder of Microclinic International (MCI), an organization that has pioneered a revolutionary social-network model for the prevention and management of major chronic disease epidemics. He also serves as the Principal Investigator for the organization, and in this capacity, directs all research activities.

Under his leadership, MCI has impacted the lives of over 1,000,000 people through the establishment of microclinic networks, community initiatives, social media prevention campaigns, and large-scale training operations. He was appointed a Research Fellow at Harvard, a Visiting Scholar at Stanford, a Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley. He was named a TED Fellow, a PopTech Fellow, a Rainer Arnhold Fellow, a Haas Scholar, and a Strauss Scholar.

Among many honors, he has been awarded the College of Environmental Design Professional Promise Award at UC Berkeley, and a DoSomething Award. Dr. Zoughbie graduated Phi Beta Kappa and with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley. He studied social anthropology at Oxford on a Marshall Scholarship and completed his doctorate in international relations, also at Oxford, as a Weidenfeld Scholar. Presently, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation, which serves 40,000 students.

Dr. Cesar Yaghi Studied and graduated from Université Saint-Joseph, in Beirut, Lebanon. He continued his subspecialty in hepatology and liver transplantation in France and got his training in Beaujon and Paul Brousse Hospitals.

He is working as a gastroenterologist and mainly hepatologist in the Hotel-Dieu de France University Hospital in Beirut, and in the Medical School of Université Saint Joseph. He is currently a member of different Scientific societies, including: Lebanese Society of Gastroenterology; Lebanese Society of Organ Transplantation; Lebanese Society of Medical Oncology; European Association for the Study of the Liver; and the American Association for the study of the Liver.

Dr. Yaghi has a special interest in medical education. He obtained a master in medical education leadership from the University of New England in Maine. He then worked as a medical director for academic affairs and as director of post-graduate medical education in the Université Saint Joseph School of Medicine.

He is the author of more than 50 publications in national and international medical journals. His interest in hepatology has led to establish the Lebanese guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis first in 2007, then, in 2011 and the latest version in 2015

Dr. Abdulrahman M. El-Sayed is a public health physician and epidemiologist. He is incoming Associate Director of the Arnhold Institute and Associate Professor of Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai. Currently, he is Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Columbia University, where he directs the Columbia University Systems Science Program.

He has published over 40 peer-reviewed scientific articles, commentaries and book chapters, and has been a featured speaker at national and international conferences. His scientific research considers intersections between society and health, health disparities, and the uses of simulation modeling in epidemiology. His work has been funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, among others. He is the recipient of numerous research awards, including being named a Policy Innovator by the Carnegie Council.

Dr. El-Sayed is also a translator of health and medical science. His commentary has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, Al-Jazeera, The Hill, Project Syndicate, and Huffington Post, engaging conversations about healthy policy, with a particular focus on disease prevention in light of health trends. He is also a regular commentator on public health and medical issues at Al Jazeera America and NBC 4 New York.

Dr. El-Sayed earned a PhD in Population Health from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and an MD from Columbia University as a Soros Fellow and Medical Scientist Training Program Fellow. He is a 2007 graduate of the University of Michigan with Highest Distinction in Biology and Political Science.

Dr. Walid Abubaker is a public health physician. Based on extensive international and field experience, he has a combination of medical, management and multi-lingual capabilities with unique cultural adaptability skills. He has worked as an international short-term expert and long-term advisor in a variety of technical and leadership capacities ranging from chief of party, international coordinator to technical advisor for WHO, USAID, UNDP, World Bank and other institutional projects. He is considered a leader in strategy, concept development and implementation, with resourceful hands-on competency.

In 1988 Dr. Abubaker earned his Master of Science in Administrative-Preventive Medicine from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine, a unique graduate program which was specifically designed for clinicians with at least 10 years of experience to meet the pressing demand for clinician executives. Prior to that, Dr. Abubaker worked as a primary care physician in rural Tunisia. In 1989, he started his health management career as director of quality assurance and executive director for a managed care organization in the US. In 1990, he developed a special partnership with the former Soviet Union that resulted in opening a number of American private clinics for addiction recovery using medical as well as Alcoholics Anonymous and 12 steps/12 traditions approaches. Dr. Abubaker also led the task of methodology refinement and cultural adaptation to the Russian context which has contributed to the success of this joint venture enterprise. In 1991, Dr. Abubaker moved to the Washington DC area to start his career in international health development until his retirement with the World Health Organization in early 2013. Starting with global health projects in Bethesda, Maryland, Dr. Abubaker served as an international resident advisor in many countries ranging from Europe, Africa, Asia and Middle East.

Dr. Abubaker is known for his effective communication-people skills, persuasive and proactive resource mobilization and fundraising strategy development while demonstrating strong commitment to sustainable impact in the developing world using innovative modalities based on each country condition and its specific health system development context. Currently, Dr. Abubaker is working as an advisor to senior management of the Ministry of Health in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, while maintaining an academic affiliation as an international fellow with the Imperial College London, School of Public Health, Department of Primary and Public Health.

Dr. Abubaker has written manuals, papers and numerous publications in the field of health system performance management; healthcare quality, patient safety and cost-effective utilization improvement; and health workforce development among others. He serves as a member of many technical advisory groups for WHO and other international agencies. He is also a member of prominent American and international professional associations and groups. While Dr. Abubaker is a permanent resident of the State of Virginia, he currently lives between the US and Middle East.

Ms. Nancy A. Aossey is President & CEO of International Medical Corps, an international humanitarian organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through medical relief, health care training, and development programs that build self-reliance.  Aossey joined International Medical Corps as its startup CEO shortly after its founding in 1984, scaling it up from three employees to more than 5,300. She went on to establish the organization as a leader in medical crisis response and recovery and helped launch International Medical Corps' early humanitarian activities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Honduras, Nicaragua, Angola, Somalia, Mozambique, Cambodia, Bosnia, Thailand, Rwanda, and Kosovo.

Under Ms. Aossey's leadership, International Medical Corps has delivered more than $1.8 billion in assistance and training in more than 70 countries. A preeminent first responder, the organization has responded to every major disaster of the last 30 years, including the civil war and famine in Somalia, genocide in Rwanda, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, the conflict in Darfur, the Indian Ocean tsunami, Haiti earthquake, Japan earthquake and tsunami, Philippines typhoon, the Syria crisis, and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Operating in over 30 countries, International Medical Corps provides emergency relief to those hit by disaster, and offers the skills needed to rebuild stronger. The organization trains people – giving communities the tools and knowledge to be their own best First Responders when disaster strikes again.

Recognized as an expert in emergency medical relief and health care training, Ms. Aossey works closely with international agencies including the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Food Program, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, USAID, the U.S. Department of State's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the European Union, the U.K. Department for International Development, the Canadian High Commission, the Swedish International Development Authority, and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ms. Aossey has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and has briefed the White House on humanitarian issues. Her expertise in emergency medical relief, global health and health care system recovery in post-conflict and fragile states is often solicited by the major media. She has appeared on PBS Newshour, Good Morning America, Bloomberg, CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox, and NPR, and in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. An expert on global health and humanitarian issues, she has spoken extensively at international gatherings including the Council on Foreign Relations, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Milken Institute Global Conference, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and the Chautauqua Institution.

Ms. Aossey serves on the Board of the Pacific Council on International Policy, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center,  Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah's Jordan River Foundation/USA, and the Advisory Board of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy. Elected by her peers for three consecutive years, Aossey served as Chair of the Board of InterAction, the United States' largest coalition of more than 180 private and voluntary organizations working in international development, refugee assistance, and disaster relief. She continues to serve on the board today. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Young Presidents' Organization/World Presidents' Organization, and the Chief Executives Organization.

Ms. Aossey has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates, including: the UCSF medal; the Young Presidents' Organization's Global Humanitarian Award, as well as its Legacy Award; the Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs; and the Los Angeles Business Journal's Leadership Excellence Award, as well as its Non-Profit CEO of the Year/Women Making a Difference Award. She also accepted the UC Berkeley Public Health Organizational Hero Award.

A resident of Santa Monica, Ms. Aossey was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and holds a BA, an MBA, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Northern Iowa.

Professor Ghassan Abou-Alfa joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2001. He has specialized in treating patients who have primary liver cancer. Professor Abou-Alfa is the Chair of the National Cancer Institute Hepatobiliary Task Force. His work focus on investigating and testing novel targeted therapies in clinical studies and advocates for greater awareness of the disease's global impact. He majored in biology at the American University in Beirut (AUB) and earned his medical degree there as well. In 1992, he joined the Yale School of Medicine for postdoctoral training.

Professor Abou-Alfa completed his fellowship and joined the Yale faculty in 2000. At Memorial Sloan-Kettering he started focusing on primary liver cancer — cancer originating in the liver. Liver cancer affects a diverse population from many cultures and economic backgrounds and is truly a global disease. It is one of the top five cancers worldwide, and mainly affects people in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, where hepatitis B, a major risk factor, is endemic. The disease has its impact on Egypt and parts of the Gulf as well. While it is not common in the United States, its incidence is increasing due to the silent epidemic of hepatitis C virus witnessed in the last few decades, the rise in the number of people with morbid obesity and diabetes, and the persistence of alcoholic cirrhosis — all risk factors.

Professor Abou-Alfa has taken on an advocacy role because research funding has lagged despite the worldwide impact of this disease. Liver cancer does not have a public-figure spokesperson raising awareness, and there is not much knowledge about it among patients and the public. One step he took to address this was co-authoring, with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center hepatobiliary surgeon Ronald DeMatteo, a book in lay language called 100 Questions and Answers About Liver Cancer, now in its third edition. Dr Abou-Alfa also co-authored a similar book in Arabic with Dr Ashraf Omar from University of Cairo, that is awaiting to be published.

Professor Abou-Alfa is a major contributor to the field's research. His research focus is on incorporating small biological molecules into standard cancer therapies. In recent years, his group at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center led the initial efforts evaluating sorafenib (Nexavar®) in primary liver cancer. Sorefenib was ultimately approved by the FDA for that indication in 2007. In a trial also led by his group at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, they are now investigating whether combining sorafenib with the standard chemotherapy drug doxorubicin produces an improved outcome. As an institution, they are proud to be the leaders of this first national effort of a large clinical trial in primary liver cancer, which is supported by the National Cancer Institute. Professor Abou-Alfa continues to lead several international efforts and is involved in conducting clinical trials with colleagues around the world, especially in Southeast Asia, which helps to understand the challenges of managing a disease with varying risk factors, in different regions of the world.

Professor Abou-Alfa has also spearheaded many projects in the Arab World since 2006 under the auspices of the Elmer and Mamdouha El-Sayed Bobst International Center, now headed by former Chair of Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Department of Surgery Sir Murray Brennan. Under the direction of Professor Abou-Alfa, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has established a strong relationship with American University of Beirut, with an ongoing faculty exchange and a monthly video-link conferencing with the AUB physicians, with several of its proceedings are already published in peer–reviewed journals. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center faculty teaches about the state of the art of cancer care in the US and the AUB faculty teaches about the risk factors and treatment practices in their country. This joint collaboration, one of the most sustained between an US institution and one in the Middle East, has led to the development of the first joint tissue bank with a shared database in the region. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and AUB have also joined efforts on a first in its class training course for oncologists in the Arab World, that is offered on competitive basis and has already featured in Beirut, Doha, and is anticipate to take place in Kuwait City in October 2015. The joint program also offers supported fellowship opportunities for excelling medical graduates.

Dr. Scott McNabb worked for 13 years at the Oklahoma State Health Department, prior to joining the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) and serving the 2-year EIS residency in New Orleans, LA. Since 1993, most of his professional efforts have focused on supporting those in underdeveloped, underserved global settings. Before retirement from the CDC in 2010, he served as Associate Director for Science; Public Health Informatics and Technology Program Office; Office for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services.

From 2006 – 2008, Dr. McNabb directed the Division of Integrated Surveillance Systems and Services, National Center for Public Health Informatics, CDC. He is Research Professor and Director of the King Abdullah Fellowship Program at Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health. Teaching two classes, GH 504 Effective Oral Presentations for Public Health Professionals and GH 592 Successful Scientific Writing for Public Health Professionals, he also teaches in short-course format, including in the University of Michigan Graduate Summer Session. Having mentored 29 students through their M.P.H. or Ph.D., plus 14 fellows through the CDC Public Health Prevention Specialists program, he is jointly appointed in the Hubert Department of Global Health and Department of Epidemiology. He holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Promoted to Distinguished Consultant in 2005 and nominated for the 2005 CDC Charles C. Shepard Award, Dr. McNabb completed the 2004 Senior Executive Services (SES) candidate development program and is certified by the Office of Personnel Management. Dr. McNabb serves on the Editorial Board, Epidemiology and Global Health and in private practice as a Senior Consultant and Managing Partner, Public Health Practice, LLC and Senior Consultant, Global Strategies, LLC

Mr. Steven Thompson has over 30 years experience in various positions within academic healthcare. As the Chief Business Development officer at Brigham and Women's Health Care (BWHC), Mr. Thompson is responsible for BWHC's regional, national and international external clinical business relationships.

He has extensive experience in global healthcare and global healthcare business development. Additionally, he has worked extensively in academic medicine and academic health centers. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine International as well as the Senior Vice President of Johns Hopkins Medicine to oversee its international activities. Mr. Thompson was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine International. This organization was established as the arm of Johns Hopkins Medicine providing a focus and leadership at the institutional level for all international activities. It is the mission of this organization to establish international programs and businesses that are consistent with, and support, the Johns Hopkins mission of excellence in clinical care, research and teaching.

Mr. Thompson has a particular interest in identifying innovative ways for academic health systems to collaborate with a wide range of partners to work towards the common objective of improving health and healthcare delivery locally, regionally and around the world. He has written and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics related to academic health system leadership, the globalization of healthcare including health system design and healthcare workforce development.

Mr. Thompson has served on the boards of several healthcare organizations including an Advisory Board of the US Department of Commerce. He obtained his bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Minnesota. He also earned a Master's degree in Business Administration from Loyola University in Maryland.

Dr. Lawrence Friedman, MD, is Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs; in this role he is responsible for the management oversight of ambulatory quality, safety and primary care (QSPC), managed care, occupational medicine and telemedicine; he also serves as the CEO of International Clinical Programs. Dr. Friedman is a critical member of the leadership team and plays an integral role in the growth of the Health System as it expands its footprint regionally, nationally and internationally. He is working on strategies to develop the primary and specialty care clinical workforces, as well as supporting the clinical integration between Health System and community practices.

Since he began with the Health System in 1994, Dr. Friedman founded the UC San Diego Telemedicine Learning Center and Telemedicine Clinical programs which provide specialty consultation globally. He also co-chaired the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) Ambulatory Care Steering Committee; served as a member of the Pay for Performance Implementation Advisory Task Force at the National Quality Forum; and is currently a member of the Agency for Health Care Research Study Section on Health Care Technology and Decision Science. Before assuming full-time administrative responsibilities at UC San Diego Health System, Dr. Friedman was the division chief for General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Prior to UC San Diego Health System, he was the acting division chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Deaconess Hospital in Boston and an assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Friedman completed his residency and internship training at the Deaconess Hospital in Boston, followed by a general medicine fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He earned his medical degree at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Dr. Friedman has authored more than fifty publications including original research, book chapters and review articles, and is currently a reviewer for several peer-reviewed medical journals.

Ms. Renee-Marie Stephano, Esquire, is the President and Co-Founder of the Medical Tourism Association and Editor-in-Chief of Medical Tourism Magazine and the Health and Wellness Destination Guide Series of books. Ms. Stephano has authored several books from Developing International Patient centers, Best Practices in Facilitation, to Medical Tourism for Insurers and Employers, and the most recent, Engaging Wellness. As an attorney, Ms. Stephano specializes in working with governments and hospitals to develop sustainable medical tourism/international patient programs and strategies.

She has worked with governments and hospitals all over the globe in developing healthcare clusters, international patient departments on long term international patient strategic plans. Ms. Stephano works with Ministers of Health, Tourism & Economic Development in developing public private partnerships to support medical tourism and at the same time to provide a benefit and return to the local community. She organizes one of the only Ministerial Summits that brings together Ministers of Health, Tourism and Economic Development every year.

She has helped assess the feasibility and opportunities of international programs for both U.S. and International Hospitals, Cities and Countries with international expansion, clinical development and affiliations and partnerships. She also consults governments in the development of sustainable Medical Tourism Zones & Free Healthcare Zones.

Ms. Stephano has co-authored the books: ”Medical Tourism: An International Healthcare Guide for Insurers, Employers and Governments” and “Employers and Governments and Engaging Wellness ~ Corporate Wellness Programs that Work.” She is a keynote speaker at international conferences and has spoken at hundreds of events and has been featured and mentioned in hundreds of media publications around the world.

Ms. Stephano serves on the Board of Directors for the International Healthcare Research Center, a 501c3, nonprofit medical tourism research center, the Corporate Health & Wellness Association, and two Washington D.C. based lobbying groups focused on lobbying the U.S. Congress for the benefits of Medicare reimbursement overseas and the support of U.S. Hospitals in their overseas initiatives. Ms. Stephano donates her time as president of the Medical Tourism Association® and Editor-in-Chief of the Medical Tourism Magazine.

Dr. Salmaan Keshavjee MD, PhD, ScM, completed his medical training (MD) at Stanford University in 2001, after which he completed a clinician-scientist residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Since then his clinical research has focused on drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment. He has worked extensively with the Boston-based non-profit Partners In Health (PIH) on the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis. Over the last 14 years, he has conducted clinical and implementation research in Russia (2000-present). He was also the Deputy-Director for the PIH Lesotho Initiative (2006-2008), launching one of the first community-based treatment programs for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis/HIV co-infection in sub-Saharan Africa. His research has resulted in a number of manuscripts of global clinical and policy significance.

Dr. Keshavjee has been very involved in global policy discussions around the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis. In 2005, he became a member of the World Health Organization/Stop TB Partnership’s Green Light Committee for MDR-TB Treatment. From 2007 to 2010, he was the committee’s chair. He has spent considerable time working on alternate mechanisms for drug procurement, technical assistance delivery, and program implementation. In addition to acting as a consultant to a number of projects globally, Dr. Keshavjee was the co-author of an Institute of Medicine white paper on overcoming barriers to expanding treatment for MDR-TB. Dr. Keshavjee is leading an initiative at Harvard Medical School on how to achieve zero deaths from tuberculosis.

In addition to his research and policy work, Dr. Keshavjee is also an active member of the teaching faculty at Harvard. When on service as an attending physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Keshavjee teaches residents, interns, and medical students. He also co-teaches (along with Drs. Paul Farmer, Arthur Kleinman, and Anne Becker) a general education course for undergraduates at Harvard College, and is a guest lecturer on tuberculosis and health systems for a number of courses at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. David C. Henderson is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an Associate Psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He also serves as Director of The Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry at MGH, Director of the MGH Schizophrenia, Weigh Reduction and Glucose Metabolism Research Program, Associate Director of the MGH Schizophrenia Program and Medical Director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.

Dr. Henderson's main research interests are psychopharmacological and antipsychotic agents in the treatment of schizophrenia, impacts of antipsychotic agents on metabolic anomalies and glucose metabolism, and ethnic and cultural impacts on psychiatry. Dr. Henderson also studies the effects of trauma in areas of mass violence and develops programs to assist vulnerable populations. He recently provided technical assistance to develop the National Mental Health Policy for the Republic of Liberia in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. He has worked internationally for the past 15 years in countries including Bosnia, Cambodia, East Timor, Haiti, Liberia, New Orleans, New York City, Peru, Rwanda and Uganda.

Dr. Henderson has published numerous journal articles in the Archives of General Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, British Journal of Psychiatry and Biological Psychiatry. He is editor of the International Journal of Culture and Mental Health. He has lectured extensively throughout the United States and internationally on schizophrenia, treatment-resistant schizophrenia, metabolic disorders and schizophrenia, psychopharmacology, ethnopsychopharmacology, trauma, and cultural psychiatry. He received the Carter Fuller Award from the American Psychiatric Association; this award is given each year in memory of the first black psychiatrist in the United States. It honors an African-American citizen "who has pioneered in an area that has significantly benefited the quality of life for black people."

Dr. Henderson received his medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School; completed his residency at MGH and trained as Chief Resident and Research Fellow of the Freedom Trail Clinic at the Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center in Boston.

Dr. John Herman is Associate Chief of the Department of Psychiatry and Trustees Chair for Medical Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Herman serves as Medical Director of Partners HealthCare's Employee Assistance Program, serving 80,000 employees and their family members.

He is past Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, which oversees the Commonwealth's 38,000 licensed physicians and the Safety and Quality programs of the Commonwealth's 200 hospitals.

After residency at MGH, in 1984, Dr. Herman joined the staff of the MGH Psychopharmacology and Addiction clinics. A lifelong medical educator, within the department he directed the Department's national and international postgraduate education program and for a decade ran the MGH-McLean adult Psychiatry Residency Training program. He continues to supervise Harvard medical students, residents and fellows. He is past President of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training

Dr. Herman has lectured across the United States and internationally. His growing interest is in the reengineering of healthcare services generally and, specifically, to address the enormous gap between the local and global need for mental health care and available clinical resources. He focuses his teaching efforts on helping primary care clinicians develop straightforward approaches to patients suffering psychiatric problems. He is co-editor (with Ted Stern, MD) of the popular MGH Guide to Primary Care Psychiatry (McGraw Hill, 1998, 2003) and Psychiatry Update & Board Preparation (MGH Psychiatry Academy Publishing, 2012).

Dr. Herman grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Medical School. He served a medical internship at Brown University Medical School and a residency in Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Ms. Dala Alhomaizi and Ms. Alaa Alhomaizi are twin sisters from Kuwait who are currently pursuing a Masters of Education in Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

They both graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northeastern University in Boston with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. At Northeastern University, they were part of the Honors Program, the Psi Chi Honor Society, on the Dean's List, and have received the prestigious Northeastern University International Scholars Award and Scholarship. They have also each received multiple accolades for their academic performance and their volunteerism including the Compass Award, the Faculty Scholar Award, and the Sears B. Condit Award.

The sisters have extensive experience in the field of global mental health. They have worked as research assistants at the Chester M. Pierce, MD Division of Global Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital where they worked on global research, policy, and development projects that span the spectrum of adult and child mental health related areas for two years. Currently, they are part of Professor Helena Verdeli's Global Mental Health Lab at Teachers college where they work on research projects focused on the Middle East including one with Syrian Refugees.

Together, they are the founders of the Standing for Psychological Education and Awareness (SPEAK) campaign, the first and only campaign of its kind in Kuwait. Their work with SPEAK has been covered in many national and international media outlets including TEDx Teachers College. In 2012, on World Mental Health Day (October 10), the SPEAK campaign collaborated with the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Kuwait Mental Health Center (the only Mental Health hospital in Kuwait) to create a 2-day conference for training primary care physicians, physicians, and mental health professionals. Each night, two public symposiums for the community followed the professional lectures.

Both plan to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Dalal will be starting her Ph.D in Fall 2015; her interests are global mental health, psychotherapy research, help-seeking behavior, and mood disorders. Alaa plans to pursue a Ph.D in Fall 2016, her interests are maternal, child, and adolescent mental health, prevention science, and global mental health.

Dr. Helen Verdeli is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she has been teaching graduate psychology students on research and practice of empirically based treatments, specifically IPT and CBT with adolescents and adults. She is also an adjunct Assistant Professor at the New York State Psychiatric Institute where she has been teaching psychotherapy to psychiatric residents, postdoctoral fellows and psychology interns.

Dr. Verdeli's research focuses on treatment and prevention of mood disorders through psychotherapy, and involves two areas. One is on use of Interpersonal Psychotherapy as a preventive intervention for symptomatic adolescents of Bipolar parents. For this work, she has received a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, a Sol Goldman Trust award and recently an NIMH Research's Career Development K23 Award. Dr. Verdeli's other area of research involves adapting and testing in randomized controlled trials psychotherapy for depressed people in developing countries. She collaborated with academic and humanitarian groups in the US and abroad and had a major role in the cultural modification of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for use in resource-poor communities: depressed adults in South Uganda, depressed adolescents in refugee camps in North Uganda (many of whom were children soldiers) and distressed patients in primary care in Goa, India.

Dr. Verdeli is a member of the Mental Health Advisory Committee for the Millennium Villages Project of the Earth Institute at Columbia University (directed by Jeffrey Sachs), a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Scientific Advisory Board of DBSA.

Dr. Faroque Ahmad Khan M.B., M.A.C.P. is a physician, philanthropist, and inter-faith cultural founder. He is a first generation American Muslim leader, originally from Kashmir. Frequently covered by American national media as a spokesperson for Muslims and for his interfaith work in particular, his most recent honor is by the Long Island Press who elected Dr. Khan as one of 2013's 50 Most Influential People of Long Island. Dr. Khan has been profiled by the New York Times, covered in New York Magazine, among other publications. A frequent speaker internationally, he has also published over 150 medical articles, published three books (Mechanical Ventilation, International Medical Graduates, and Story of a Mosque in America). The White House has invited Dr. Khan as an American Muslim Leader guest to discuss issues of importance for American Muslims.

Dr. Khan's career began as a physician. A graduate of Kashmir Medical College, he emigrated to the United States and specialized in Internal Medicine and pulmonary diseases. He retired as the Chairman of Medicine at Nassau University Medical Center in New York, one of the largest county hospital systems in the United States. Responsible for training over three hundred fifty internists and pulmonologists, his teaching career has now taken a turn to advising medical institutions internationally, such as the King Fahad Medical City (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), on the establishment of research centers and academic programs. The State University of New York, Stonybrook, has appointed Dr. Khan Professor of Medicine, receiving several teaching awards.

Dr. Khan is the first Muslim awarded Mastership in American College of Physicians (ACP), a unique distinction bestowed on less than one percent of all physicians. As an ACP Regent, Dr. Khan brought the ACP to Saudi Arabia, championing the establishment of the Saudi Chapter. He has also extended his leadership influence as past President of the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) and member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Islamic Medical Associations (FIMA), to bring IMANA and FIMA research, teaching, and physician training and development to the Saudi medical community.

Dr. Khan's philanthropic work began as a founder of the Islamic Center of Long Island (ICLI), one of the largest Muslim communities in America, and the first grass-roots inter-faith alliance between the monotheistic faiths sponsored by Muslims. He has served as ICLI's President, Board Member, and most recently as the Director of its expansion and inter-faith cultural dialogue. Dr. Khan was also a member of the Islamic Society of North America's Majlis-Shura, advising on interfaith dialogue at the national leadership level. He is a founding member and former president of Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation, a non-for-profit building medical facilities in India.

In September 2013 Long Island Press recognized Dr. Khan as one of the 50 most influential individuals of Long Island. Long Island Council of Churches selected Dr. Khan as the recipient of its 2014 Community Service Award which was presented to Dr. Khan on Oct 2nd 2014.

Dr. Hanna 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, 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.

Mr. Khush Choksy is vice president for Turkey, Middle East, and North Africa Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he leads the activities of the department in developing and implementing policies and programs to promote U.S. trade and investment with markets in the region. Choksy manages a team of program and policy experts focused on working closely with Chamber member companies and business and government leaders to advance and broaden commercial relationships between the United States and the region. In addition, he serves as executive director of the U.S.-Egypt Business Council and the U.S.-Bahrain Business Council. He is actively involved in the Chamber’s efforts to lead a Middle East Commercial Dialogue to foster intra-regional trade and investment.

Before joining the Chamber, Choksy was a director at Chemonics International where he led teams in developing economic ties between the United States and the Middle East. He lived and worked in Jordan for seven years, establishing relations with private- and public-sector leaders at a critical time in the U.S.-Middle East relationship on behalf of several USAID programs. He also worked in India, overseeing U.S. government and World Bank-funded projects that helped liberalize the capital markets and financial sectors.

His thought leadership includes presentations at international forums on business reform and U.S. trade and financial sector investment in emerging markets.

Choksy received his M.B.A. in strategic management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his B.A. magna cum laude from Hamilton College. He lives with his wife and daughter in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Mr. Steve Lutes is Director of Middle East and North Africa Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He is specifically responsible for managing the U.S.-Iraq Business Initiative and serves as its director. In this capacity, Mr. Lutes is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs that promote U.S. business opportunities and investment in Iraq. He works closely with Chamber member companies and business and government leaders to advance and broaden commercial relationships between the United States and Iraq.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Lutes was the director of the Chamber's Corporate Leadership Advisory Council. He was responsible for overseeing the council which serves as a platform for midmarket business executives to share input on a range of policy issues and shape the Chamber's probusiness agenda. Mr. Lutes also successfully led the Government Withholding Relief Coalition to repeal the onerous 3% withholding tax.

Mr. Lutes came to the Chamber from the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) where he was a senior legislative affairs specialist in the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. He focused on educating members of Congress on the benefits of trade and foreign direct investment and on advancing the Administration's trade agenda on Capitol Hill, including securing passage of the United StatesDominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

Mr. Lutes also served as the congressional liaison to the President's Export Council and the Manufacturing Council for the Department. Previously, Mr. Lutes worked for the Republican Party in Columbus, Ohio, where he worked in conjunction with the Bush-Cheney reelection effort in Ohio through 2004, successfully directing political and grassroots strategy in central Ohio and helping turnout the largest county vote for former President George W. Bush in Ohio.

Earlier in his career, he worked on Capitol Hill for both Representative Ed Pease (R-IN) and Representative Brian Kerns (R-IN). He held a variety of positions, including press secretary, legislative director, and chief of staff. Mr. Lutes earned his bachelor's degree in marketing from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. He is currently pursuing a Masters in Public and International Affairs from Virginia Tech.

Ms. Randa El-Sayed Haffar is an Executive Director of the Elmer and Mamdouha Bobst Foundation since 2008. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of The American University of Beirut since 2011.

Ms. El-Sayed Haffar is a Managing Director and a senior private banker at The Citi Private Bank serving The Gulf Private Banking clients, especially Kuwait. She has been the recipient of the prestigious Chairman Council award every year since becoming a banker at Citi and is a member of its Hall of Fame circle. She previously worked for the Private Bank of Chase Manhattan Bank, Coutts Bank, and the Bank of New York.

Ms. El-Sayed Haffar holds a Master's degree from New York University and a Bachelor's degree from American University of Beirut. She lives with her husband and daughter in New York.

Dr. Samar Alsaggaf has served as academic lecturer and physician with a specialization in anatomy, embryology, histology, and a particular expertise in the development of the nervous system. Moreover, Dr. Alsaggaf is a recipient of a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Saint Joseph University and has been voted as one of the most influential leaders. She is also a recipient of the International Dental Education Award from New York University. During the course of her tenure, Dr. Alsaggaf has been named, “The Mother of Saudi Students,” by Saudi students in the United States. She is also a recipient of many awards from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States. In her current position at SACM, she was voted as best director of the year in 2011 and 2012.

Ms. Nahlah Al-Jubeir is responsible for assisting Saudi students in broadening their skill sets and deepening their professional experience by connecting them with potential job and internship opportunities. As Director for the Center for Career Development. Ms. Al-Jubeir seeks to build partnerships with organizations that can provide Saudi students with the opportunity to transform classroom learning into practical experience.

Prior to her current position, Ms. Al-Jubeir worked at the Saudi Health Mission as Deputy Director, Administrative and Financial Affairs; Director of Special Accounts; and, Director of Public Relations.

Ms. Al-Jubeir is a graduate of Georgetown University with a Master's Degree in economics and a Bachelor of Arts in German and economics. She is also a graduate of the American University with a Master's Degree in TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages); and, she holds a diploma in accounting. She is also a Senior International Affairs Fellow at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

Dr. Randall Burt is also director of the Familial Colon Cancer Clinic and co-director of the Family Cancer Assessment Clinic at Huntsman Cancer Institute. He is a member of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program. In addition, he is a professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He holds the D. Keith Barnes, MD, and Ida May "Dotty" Barnes, RN, Presidential Endowed Chair in Medicine. Dr. Burt is a gastroenterologist with primary interest in familial risk and inherited syndromes of colorectal cancer. He and members of his group have demonstrated that inheritance is a critical determinant in colon cancer, possibly playing a role in up to a third of all cases. In 1987, a group led by Ray White, PhD and Dr. Burt, discovered the chromosomal location of the gene for a dangerous inherited colon cancer syndrome called familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Soon after, the sequence of the gene and mutations responsible for the syndrome were identified by this group. It soom became apparent that this gene was an early mutation in the large majority of colon cancers and premalignant adenomatous polyps. An important outcome of this research is that genetic testing soon became available to identify persons with the inherited syndrome.

Dr. Burt looks for new gene mutations that cause predisposition to common colon cancers, by utelizing the Utah Population Data Base, a data base that combines the Utah Cancer Registry (a SEER registry) and the Utah genealogies. Large families (up to 20,000 persons) are available in this resource for gene discovery. As part of a large, randomized, controlled study, he researched the impact of diet on the occurrence of colon cancer, and now directs a chemoprevention study involving subjects with familial adenomatous polyposis. Dr. Burt also conducts research in each of the inherited colon cancer syndromes, including familial adenomatous polyposis, Lynch syndrome (hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer), Peutz-Jegher disease, familial juvenile polyposis syndrome, Cowden syndrome, serrated polyposis syndrome (hyperplastic polyposis syndrome) and others. These studies involve clarifying the phenotype and the molecular-genetic aspects of these diseases.

Clinical care for persons with these syndromes, including genetic testing and endoscopy, is a major part of Dr. Burt's academic practice. The determination of famial risk including appropriate risk stratification and screening, is also a part of both research and clinical care. Extensive use of the Utah Population Data Base is used in these investigations to precisely determine colon cancer risk in families without one of the known interited syndromes.

Dr. Burt received his medical degree from the University of Utah in 1974. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Washington University and Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1979.

Dr. William A. Bauman is board certified in Internal Medicine and in Endocrinology & Metabolism, a staff physician at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, NY and Professor of Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.

Dr. Bauman has studied the medical consequences of spinal cord injury since 1989. In 2001, the Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research & Development National Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury was established by under the direction of Dr. Bauman. He has published over 250 original scientific publications. Dr. Bauman has been a member of the Board of Directors of the American Paraplegia Society and the American Spinal Injury Association.

In 2005, he received the highest service from the Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation Research & Development Service, the Paul B. Magnuson Award, in appreciation for his vision and leadership in characterizing, preventing, and treating the medical consequences of spinal cord injury. Dr. Bauman and Dr. Ann Spungen, Associate Director of the National Center of Excellence, were the recipients or the 2014 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Award in Science and the Environment. The varied and numerous contributions of Dr. Bauman have been recognized on the national and international level.

Pierre Asselin has a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering and has been performing clinical investigation on persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) since 2004. As an engineer, he has been involved with implementing different interventions that utilize technologies to assess changes in bone mineral density and soft tissue body composition, as well as endocrine, autonomic and venous function in persons with SCI. Mr. Asselin has experience with the development of technologies that permit the more accurate measurement of changes in body composition in persons with SCI after experimental intervention.

Since 2006, Mr. Asselin has been working with Drs. Bauman and Spungen at the National Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury, which is located at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY. He has been is the lead biomedical engineer for several clinical research projects that are striving to improve the health and mobility of individuals with SCI. Currently, his role in the Center of Excellence is the coordination and management of research-related activities that involve the exoskeletal-assisted walking program. Mr. Asselin is considered to be one of the leading experts for training people with SCI learn how to walk in these devices. His groundbreaking work with exoskeletons has set the standards for all other exoskeletal-assisted walking programs in the United States.

Dr. Ann M. Spungen is trained as an applied physiologist and statistician. She is the Associate Director of the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development National Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury, which is located at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, NY. In addition to her role with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Spungen has an academic appointment as an Associate Professor of Medicine and Rehabilitation Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.

Dr. Spungen has been working with Dr. William Bauman, Director of the National Center of Excellence, for the past 25 years on studies that focus on innovative strategies to reduce the secondary consequences of spinal cord injury. In those with paralysis, she has studied pulmonary function abnormalities, body composition changes, metabolic and endocrine disorders, osteoporosis, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and the predisposition to cardiovascular disease. Dr. Spungen is an authority on powered exoskeletal-assisted walking, and she is currently working with several investigators across the country to study the effects of exoskeletal-assisted walking on mobility and health benefits for persons with spinal cord injury.

Always in high demand on the lecture circuit for her experience and knowledge on the adverse health consequences of spinal cord injury, Dr. Spungen has meaningfully advanced our understanding of the benefits to health provided by permitting persons with spinal cord injury to stand and walk with a powered exoskeleton. In recognition of her many and significant accomplishments, Dr. Spungen received the 2014 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Award in Science and the Environment, sharing the award with Dr. Bauman.

Mr. Robert Woo is the first person globally to train extensively on two different exoskeleton bionic devices that have been available in the USA since 2011. He is an advocate for the use of exoskeleton bionics in both research and clinical rehabilitation for people with SCI and mobility impairments. Mr. Woo is a key contributor who spearheaded the creation of the Bionics Program at Mount Sinai Hospital, NYC. His participation in joint initiatives with Mt. Sinai and the James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY allows him to befriend many veterans and he is a staunch supporter for the availability of the best equipment and treatment for them. Apart from his extensive volunteer involvements in the SCI community, he serves as an Honorary Member in a number of SCI Advisory Committees in New York.

Mr. Woo is acknowledged with gratitude by both ReWalk and Ekso Bionics to have provided his design suggestions on improvements of the exoskeleton bionics based on his extensive design and construction experiences as an architect, as well as his own user experiences on each of the exoskeleton devices.

Mr. Woo previously managed the design and construction of the Goldman Sachs World Headquarters in lower Manhattan until his tragic accident occurred in December 2007, which left him with paraplegia. Prior to his accident, he managed many other high profile projects capturing several design awards for the interior design of the Toronto Pearson International Airport; construction and design awards for the WTC and WFC rebuilding/restoration in NYC, the tallest tower in Hong Kong, International Finance Center 2 and the Towers at Canary Wharf, London. A strong attachment to New York City formed from his dedicated involvement in the 9/11 clean up and rebuilding of World Financial Center and World Trade Center.

Mr. Woo worked, studied and lived abroad in cities including Asia, Europe and North America giving him a unique international perspective and experience.

Mr. Larry Jasinski has served as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the ReWalk board since February 2012. From 2005 until 2012, Mr. Jasinski served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Soteira, Inc., a company engaged in development and commercialization of products used to treat individuals with vertebral compression fractures, which was acquired by Globus Medical in 2012. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Jasinski was President and Chief Executive Officer of Cortek, Inc., a company that developed next-generation treatments for degenerative disc disease, which was acquired by Alphatec in 2005. From 1985 until 2001, Mr. Jasinski served in multiple sales, research and development, and general management roles at Boston Scientific Corporation. Mr. Jasinski holds a B.Sc. in marketing from Providence College and an MBA from the University of Bridgeport.

ReWalk Robotics Ltd. (RWLK) (formerly Argo Medical Technologies Ltd.) develops, manufactures and markets wearable robotic exoskeletons for individuals with spinal cord injury. ReWalk’s mission is to fundamentally change the health and life experiences of individuals with spinal cord injury. Founded in 2001, ReWalk has headquarters in the US, Israel and Germany.

Mr. Stephen Powell is the Chief Executive Officer, President, and founder of Synensis, a veteran-owned small business headquartered in Peachtree City, Georgia, USA. He is a recognized safety and quality leader having been involved in human factors education and teamwork training in the U.S. Navy, the commercial airline industry, and the healthcare industry for over 25 years. His most recent experience includes: patient safety and patient-centered care training, curriculum development, root cause analysis, research, and team-based simulations. He regularly provides assessments, training, consulting, and coaching services to senior leaders and clinical teams in civilian, government, and military healthcare organizations worldwide.

Mr. Powell has authored numerous articles on human factors, team performance, the patient experience, and patient safety culture. His latest book entitled The Patient Survival Handbook: Avoid Being the Next Victim of Medical Error is a call to action for deeper patient engagement and activation for patient safety and quality improvement.

He is currently a Doctoral candidate in Health Administration at Central Michigan University. He earned a Masters in Human Factors from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Mr. Powell is a graduate of the Naval Postgraduate safety school, and earned his undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mr. Powell is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychologists, the Clinical Human Factor Group, and the American College of Healthcare Executives. He also serves as a Board member for the North Carolina Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety. Additionally, as a commercial pilot, he has logged over 15,000 hours of flight time in the B777, 767, 757 and MD88 aircraft.

Ms. Deneen Richmond, MHA, RN, brings more than 25 years of experience in healthcare quality improvement, management, policy, operations, regulatory issues and clinical care in a variety of settings. Currently, Ms. Richmond is Vice President, Performance Improvement & Outcomes for Inova, a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Northern Virginia that serves more than two million people each year. Ms. Richmond is Inova’s system leader for quality and performance improvement, accreditation, patient safety, and infection prevention and control.

Ms. Richmond previously served as the Vice President, Quality and Care Management, at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland; Executive Director for the Delmarva Foundation of the District of Columbia & Senior Vice President for Delmarva Foundation’s Interventions Team, where she oversaw Delmarva’s quality improvement and patient safety related work; and Assistant Vice President, Policy at the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), where she was responsible for all policy issues related to NCQA’s accreditation programs and HEDIS performance measurement set. Ms. Richmond serves on a number of national advisory councils, including Premier, Inc. and the American Hospital Association/HRET Symposium for Leaders in Healthcare Quality. She previously served as the board chair for the American Hospice Foundation. In addition, Ms. Richmond is an executive preceptor for the Georgetown University Healthcare Administration graduate program.

Ms. Richmond earned her Masters in Heath Services Administration from the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of the District of Columbia. Ms. Richmond was a recipient of the 2004 Modern Healthcare & Witt/Kieffer Up and Comers Award and the 2014 Distinguished Woman Healthcare Leadership Award from the Washington Metropolitan chapter of the National Association of Health Services Executives.

Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding's work focuses on the intersection of epidemiology, nutrition, health econometrics, global health and randomized interventions, virality of social networks on health behaviors, and social media technology. He has published in leading journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, and Health Policy. His 90+ publications have received over 8600 external citations (H-Index 37). He is Principal Investigator of several randomized trials of social network interventions against obesity and diabetes in the U.S. and abroad. Altogether, his competitively awarded projects have been financed with over $10 million in funding.

A Google Tech Talk keynote speaker, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, he has also served as: consultant for the World Health Organization, adviser to the European Commission (EC), moderator and committee chair of the EC summit Diabesity, judge for the annual VH1 Do Something Awards, interviewer for the Soros Fellowship, and member of the Global Burden of Disease Project and US Disease Burden Collaboration.

A cancer prevention advocate and childhood tumor survivor, he founded the 6 million member online Campaign for Cancer Prevention, with Causes, and featured in Newsweek. In total online reach, he directed several health and disease prevention advocacy platforms, with 17 million members, and led the first ever direct-to-science online crowdfunding initiative, raising over $500,000 for cancer research on Causes on Facebook, and featured in the New York Times.

In 2006, Dr. Feigl-Ding was noted for his role as a whistleblower and leading a key two-year-long investigation into the controversial drug safety and risk data of Vioxx®, Celebrex®, and Bextra® that drew FDA and national attention. Highlighted and express-published in JAMA, as chief corresponding author, he was recognized in the New York Times. Also recognized for his data innovations at a Google Tech Talk, he led a 'Moneyball' study of Major League Baseball players across 130-years and 500,000 MLB player-years of data, which highlighted the mortality risks of obesity and body size in athletes, especially in high body mass home-run hitters.

Dr. Feigl-Ding is also the inventor of several scientific innovations in epidemiology and nutrition: the Lipophilic Index and Lipophilic Load for fatty acids, the spaghetti meta-regression plot, the social network propagation intraclass ratio, the Evidenced Formal Coverage Index for universal healthcare coverage prediction, and isotemporal substitution risk models for time displacement causation.

He was awarded the 2014 Global Health Project of the Year by the Consortium of Universities for Global Health; awarded the 2012 Outstanding Young Leader Award from the Boston Chamber of Commerce; awarded the 2015 American Heart Association Scott Grundy Excellence Award; and, named among Craig Newmark's "16 People and Organizations Changing the World in 2012". Dr. Feigl-Ding's work was cited by the directors of CDC and CMMS in the framework of the "Million Hearts" initiative, and his research recognized twice as ‘Best of the American Heart Association.' He has been featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Newsweek, The New York Times, and profiled in several books including: CauseWired (2008), Zilch (2010), Shift & Reset (2011), and Thinfluence (2014). He was awarded the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship in 2008.

Dr. Feigl-Ding attended The Johns Hopkins University, graduating with Honors in Public Health and Phi Beta Kappa (junior year election) at age 21. He then completed his dual doctorate in epidemiology and doctorate in nutrition at age 23 from Harvard University. He also completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health. Teaching at Harvard for over a decade, he has taught more than a dozen graduate and undergraduate courses, for which he received the Derek Bok Distinction in Teaching Award from Harvard College.

Dr. Mohammed Alzaabi is currently a consultant in the Zayed Military Hospital with a focus on transplant hepatology and gastroenterology. He received his medical school training at the United Arab Emirates University, followed by his residency in internal medicine at Case Western University, with fellowships at Queen's University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He is on the Advisory Board for Bristol Myere's Squibb, a member of the National Committee for Organ Procurement and Transplantation and Chair of Implementation of New Regulations for Health Care Workers Pre-employment Medical Examination in HAAD and DHA.

Dr. Moutaz Derbala graduated from and trained as a hepatologist at Kasr Al-Aini hospital, Cairo University. He also received his MSc and PhD MD from Medical School, Cairo University. He is a professor in Hepatology at the Theodor Bilharzia Research Institute, Egypt and Sr. Consultant Hepatology, and Head of Liver Transplant Committee at Hamad Medical Corporation. In addition to his clinical role in the department, he was allocated to an academic appointment as an A. Prof. at the Weill Cornell Medical Collage, Qatar Br.

Dr. Derbala is a member of the Corporate Committee of Organ Transplantation, Quality Improvement Committee of the Medical Department and a member of the steering committee of the national project for HCV control and Cure in Qatar. He has many international publications in the field of HCV, funded by the Qatar foundation, Qatar University and pharmaceutical company. In addition, he is also a national peer reviewer and member of several editorial boards of local and national journals in the field of Hepatology.

Mr. Edwin McCarthy, MS, MPA, has dedicated his career to developing international collaborations in healthcare by addressing business, financial, geographic, and crosscultural challenges. From 1989 to 1996, Mr. McCarthy was a Senior Consultant with Arthur D. Little Inc. (ADL). During that time he established the healthcare consulting practice for ADL in Saudi Arabia. In 1996, he founded Shannon Consulting in Massachusetts to provide strategy, planning and market development services for leading healthcare companies.

In 1999, Mr. McCarthy joined Partners HealthCare System to manage international business development, focusing on new patient acquisition and creating opportunities for Partners’ faculty to engage in educational and clinical development projects in foreign locations. As Partners’ international profile has expanded, Mr. McCarthy has led or contributed to numerous relationships with foreign governments, medical providers and multinational companies.

Notable projects include upgrade of the UAE military healthcare system; decentralization initiatives in the public hospital system of Qatar; a virtual multidisciplinary clinic to plan and oversee treatment plans for cancer patients in Greece; and a partnership with Pfizer Inc. to provide clinical observational experiences in Boston for oncologists and cardiologists in Turkey and the Middle East. Mr. McCarthy is currently focused on the development of new approaches to help countries develop successful strategies as health travel destinations, and to use health travel investments and service improvements for the benefit of local patients.

Ms. Jamila Headley is the Managing Director of the Health Global Access Project (or Health GAP). A global advocacy organization, it is dedicated to eliminating the barriers to global access to affordable life-sustaining medicines for people living with HIV/AIDS. Prior to joining the Health GAP team, she served as a Program Officer with the Open Society Foundations’ Public Health Program, where she steered the development of new grant-making focused on strengthening civil society engagement in the development, implementation, and monitoring of national and donor governments’ health budgets.

Ms. Headley has a diverse set of knowledge and experience including in global health advocacy, research, budget monitoring and policy analysis. She has conducted research on the politics of priority-setting in the health sector; the development of the HIV response in the Caribbean; the impact of trade agreements on health policy and access to medicines; and, the role of North-South civil society partnerships in influencing large global health donors. Ms Headley has a PhD in Public Health and a Masters in Global Health from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Dr. Rabi Hanna, MD, is the director of the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. He is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric hematology-oncology. He earned his medical degree from Aleppo University Faculty of Medicine in Aleppo, Syria. His post-graduate training in USA includes a pediatric residency at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and a pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington.

Dr. Hanna's specialty interests include treatment of children with leukemia / Lymphoma and solid tumors that require Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation to consolidate the treatment for their malignant disease. He is also very interested in treatment of inherited non-malignant disorders like primary immunodeficiency like SCID or other inherited metabolic diseases which Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation could offer the potential to restore normal hematological and immunologic function. He is especially interested in identifying successful conditioning treatments with less side effects especially for non-malignant diseases like hematological diseases (sickle cell disease, thalassemia major, severe aplastic anemia, Fanconi anemia, etc) or primary immune deficiency disorders, such as Severe Combined Immune deficiency, Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, and IPEX.

Dr. Hanna's clinical research is aimed at identifying genetic factors that affect outcomes post bone marrow transplantation from unrelated donor. He is also exploring the role of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells in auto-immune disorders and degenerative disorders.

Dr. Paula A. Johnson is an internationally recognized cardiologist who brings a broad range of experience as a physician, researcher, and expert in public health and health policy to bear in the effort to transform the health of women.

Dr. Johnson founded the internationally recognized Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology. Her vision for achieving sustainable improvement in women’s health is reflected in the Connors Center’s unique interdisciplinary approach, which encompasses discovering how disease is expressed differently in women and men, integrating leading-edge research about women’s health into the delivery of care, influencing health policy, addressing the health of women globally, and training the next generation of leaders in the field of women’s health. Her most recent research focuses on the impact of U.S. healthcare reform on women and studying leadership and developing training to advance the health of women globally.

Dr. Johnson is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), of the National Academies of Science. She is also featured as a national leader in medicine by the National Library of Medicine and is the recipient of many awards recognizing her contributions in women’s and minority health and public health. Dr. Johnson’s 2013 TED talk, “His and Her Healthcare,” has had almost 1 million viewers and has helped to raise awareness of the importance of sex differences to understanding women’s health. Dr. Johnson serves as commissioner and Chair of the Board of the Boston Public Health Commission, one of the nation’s leading departments of public health. She currently serves on several national and international boards and committees.

Dr. Johnson attended Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, received her MD and MPH degrees from Harvard, and trained in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at BWH. A native of Brooklyn, New York, she lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with her husband and two children.

Dr. Deborah Nadzam, PhD, RN, BB, FAAN has more than 30 years of experience in health care as a practitioner, educator, administrator, and researcher. She currently serves as the project director for the CMS Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Network, awarded to JCR in 2011. In this role, she provides strategic oversight for the CMS contract.

Dr. Nadzam joined JCR in 2006, as the Consultant Practice Leader for Patient Safety. In this role she provided guidance for development and delivery of JCR/JCI services and products focused on patient safety. Before joining JCR, Dr. Nadzam served as executive director of The Quality Institute of the Cleveland Clinic health system. In this role she coordinated quality measurement and improvement activities for the 10-hospital health system in northeast Ohio, including standardized collection and reporting of clinical measures and patient experience in multiple settings. In addition, Dr. Nadzam led the launch of a systemwide patient safety committee and program based on seven strategies associated with preventing harm to the patient. During her tenure at Cleveland Clinic, the accredited network won two Codman awards for demonstrating improvement in heart failure care (2001) and stroke care (2003).

Dr. Nadzam has been active in National Quality Forum (NQF) activities, serving as vice chair of the research and quality council for NQF’s first four years, a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Improving the Consensus Development Process and of the Steering Committee for additional hospital measures. She currently serves as a member of NQF’s Steering Committee for Hospital Acquired Conditions and Serious Reportable Events (2009-2010). Dr. Nadzam has been a member of the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention since its inception in 1995, and had served as Council chairperson twice.

Dr. Nadzam has held staff nurse positions and served as a mental health consultant and clinical nurse specialist. Faculty positions include those at Kent State University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Illinois and Ursuline College. She has held multiple positions associated with quality measurement and improvement, ranging from the nursing unit, division, and hospital and health system levels, to a position of national scope at The Joint Commission, where she was vice president for performance measurement and participated in the development and launch of the ORYX initiative. Dr. Nadzam has also had extensive experience related to health care informatics and implementation of performance measurement systems at the institutional level, as well as at the national level.

Dr. Nadzam has a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Michigan, and a master’s of science in nursing and PhD from Case Western Reserve University, with a minor concentration in applied statistics. She also has a black belt in Six Sigma methodology and has experience with the use of Lean tools. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

Brigadier General Lee E. Payne is the Commander, Air Force Medical Operations Agency (AFMOA). He oversees execution of Air Force Surgeon General Policies supporting Air Force expeditionary capabilities, healthcare operations and national security strategies. General Payne is responsible for leading consultative support of over 44,000 personnel, 75 Military Treatment Facilities with a $5.9B budget. General Payne ensures a cost-effective, modern and prevention-based healthcare continuum for 2.6 million beneficiaries worldwide.

General Payne was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He received his commission from the Reserve Officer Training Corps graduating with high distinction from the University of Kentucky in 1979. He earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt Medical School in 1983 on a Health Profession Scholarship. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado and a year of Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. General Payne is a chief physician, Chief Flight Surgeon, and is board certified in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. In addition, he has recently completed his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

General Payne is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American College of Healthcare Executives, and the American College of Physicians and is a Certified Physician Executive. He is a member of the American Colleges of Physician Executives. He has served as faculty in two military academic Emergency Medicine residency training programs, as the Assistant Chief of Professional Services at the Air Force’s largest medical center, as a Major Command staff officer, and has commanded at the squadron level, three times as a Medical Group Commander including a Medical Center Command and served twice as a MAJCOM Surgeon.

EDUCATION

• 1979 Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology, University of Kentucky at Lexington (with high distinction)
• 1983 Doctor of Medicine Degree, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
• 1984 Internal Medicine Internship, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO
• 1986 Internal Medicine Residency, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO
• 1987 Hematology/Oncology Fellowship, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Ctr, New York, NY
• 1996 Aerospace Medicine Primary Course (Honor Graduate)
• 1997 Air Command & Staff College
• 1998 Air War College (Outstanding Graduate)
• 2012 Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA), University of Massachusetts Amherst Isenberg School of Management

Dr. Koeble MD, MSc, CPE, FACOG, completed her medical education at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, School of Medicine and her OB/GYN Residency at David Grant US Air Force Medical Center. She received a Master of Science in Preventive Medicine and Administrative Medicine from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. Dr. Koeble served in the US Air Force and was stationed at bases in Washington DC, California and Alaska. Prior to retirement from the Air Force she was the director of the OB/GYN clinic at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, AK. After retirement Dr. Koeble joined the staff at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska, and served as the medical director for the primary care services. She currently practices Obstetrics part time with WakeMed Faculty Physicians at WakeMed Raleigh.

Dr. Koeble joined NCHA in 2005 as the Executive Director of the newly established North Carolina Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety. Under her leadership Dr. Koeble has established the NC Quality Center as a quality and patient safety resource for NC healthcare organizations and a national model for Patient Safety Centers. Recently as the project director for the North Carolina Virginia Hospital Engagement Network (NoCVA), Dr. Koeble lead collaborative and educational learning programs as part of the national initiative, Partnership for Patients. Working with 110 hospitals, NoCVA contributed to an estimated 4,760 avoided incidents of harm within its member hospitals and 5,354 fewer hospital readmissions. Its efforts resulted in estimated savings to the healthcare system of $90,465,400.

In 2011 Dr. Koeble received the T. Regional Memorial Harris Award, which is given
to a North Carolina physician by the state’s Quality Improvement Organization, Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence, for outstanding achievements in the areas
of health care quality and service to the medical community.

Professor Fuad Hassan obtained his bachelor, medical sciences in 1981 from Kuwait University, Faculty of Medicine. He obtained the American Board of Internal Medicine from University of Miami, School of Medicine in 1984; and, in 1992, he completed the American Board of Gastroenterology from University of Texas.

Professor Hassan has held many administrative positions; his last was the Dean of Faculty of Medicine at Kuwait University. Proffessor Hassan has more than 60 publications published in reputable journals.

Dr. Hesham Hamoda is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Boston Children’s Hospital. He also serves as a Vice President of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) and as a Vice President of the Harvard Arab Alumni Association. He consults to the World Health Organization (WHO) where he has developed a school mental health program for the Arab World. He is passionate about using technology in mental health education and videos, which he has produced in Arabic and have garnered 200,000+ views.

Dr. Hamoda completed his Psychiatry training at the Harvard South Shore Program followed by a Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital/ Harvard Medical School. He also holds a master-degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology in both General Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and is also board certified in Public Health.

His accomplishments have been recognized through awards from Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and several national and international organizations including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; the American Psychiatric Association; the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry; and, the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions.

Dr. Cheriyan, MD, FRCP (Lon), FRCPI, MBA is the CEO and Chief Medical Officer of the American Mission Hospital (AMH) 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.

Dr. Andrea Feigl is an advisory board and founding member of the Young Professional’s Chronic Diseases Network, and a Global Burden of Disease expert. Dr. Feigl holds a doctorate from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Department of Global Health and Population. As the President of the Harvard Club of Austria, she is well versed in working with high-ranking political representatives. Dr. Feigl has won over a dozen international awards and scholarships to pursue her studies. A native of Austria, she was offered a Fulbright scholarship for her doctoral studies, and completed her MPH (Summa Cum Laude) and BA (First Class Honors) on a full scholarship at Simon Fraser University in Canada. She is a graduate of the Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway, an international school representing over 80 nationalities. She is fluent in English, German, and has advanced skills in French and Spanish.

Dr. Feigl's work and research focuses on chronic disease and universal healthcare implementation in developing countries. She brings experience in chronic disease risk factor management at both the national and community level in Jordan, South Africa, and Chile. Her publications include a 175-country comprehensive longitudinal analysis of the political, social, and economic determinants of universal healthcare (Health Policy), an impact evaluation of national anti-smoking initiatives in Chile (Bulletin of the WHO; in press), and a review on global health funding for chronic disease (The Lancet). Her dissertation included a trial on harnessing social networks to prevent and manage the diabetes and obesity epidemic in Amman, Jordan; the project was awarded the 2014 Global Health Project of the Year Award from the Consortium for Universities for Global Health.

She has wide-ranging experience working on flagship international health projects for multinational organizations (WB, WHO, and PAHO), national health agencies (Canadian IHR), NGOs (Center for Global Development), and universities (Harvard, Oxford). She has authored several high level reports, including Development Aid Flows for Chronic Diseases for the Center for Global Development, a background paper on the political economy of universal healthcare for WHO, and a leading World Economic Forum/Harvard report on the global economic burden of chronic diseases, featured at the UN High Level Summit on NCDs in 2011.

Dr. Richard E. Kouri works closely with the Center for Innovation Management Studies and the Executive Programs at the College of Management at North Carolina State University to provide a unique education, outreach and research platform for students, other business schools, and companies working in the life sciences. This platform is used to link formally the management of innovation to commercial endpoints that are critical to the biosciences industry. Previously, Dr. Kouri was the Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and has held academic positions at the University of Connecticut, Yale University and the University of Maryland. Dr. Kouri has co-founded eleven start-up companies all in the biotechnology space; with three going on to their IPO and three being acquired.

Dr. Kouri has helped raise over $221M in private capital for these companies and has written and has been awarded over $24M in research funds including $4.5M in Small Business Innovation Research grants. The value of the six companies that have had exits to date totaled $775M.

Dr. Kouri received the BS degree (Microbiology) from Ohio State University, MS and Ph.D. degrees (Radiation Biology) from the University of Tennessee and was a fellow at Hoffman-LaRoche Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Kouri is an author of 109 publications, 62 abstracts, 6 patents and 4 books.

Dr. Diab M. Almhana is the director of telepsychology and telesociology at American Remote Health. He is a board certified psychiatrist practicing family psychiatry in the suburb of Cleveland for the last 15 years. He runs Quest therapeutics of Avon Lake, a clinical trials center, and had served as a primary investigator for more than 25 trials in various indication in psychiatry.

Dr. Almhana graduated medical school from the University of Damascus - Faculty of Medicine, Damascus, Syria in 1994. He finished his training at University Hospitals of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University in 2001. He specializes in general psychiatry and has an extensive experience in child and adolescent psychiatry.

Ms. Rebecca Milner, Vice President of Institutional Advancement for International Medical Corps, has more than 23 years of communication, fundraising and marketing experience mobilizing attention and driving revenue growth for organizations focused on international development and humanitarian crises. Ms. Milner overseas communications, marketing, partnership and fundraising initiatives that advance International Medical Corps' mission to saves lives and relieve suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. International Medical Corps, with its staff of nearly 7,800 and annual budget of $300 million, provides emergency humanitarian assistance and training that builds self-reliance to some 13 million people in 30 countries each year.

Under Ms. Milner's leadership, International Medical Corps' institutional advancement department raises approximately $30 million in cash and in-kind support annually. She also oversees International Medical Corps' media and public relations and works with International Medical Corps' board and advisory board to raise awareness of its lifesaving work. She speaks frequently on humanitarian, global health and women's health issues, and her expertise is often solicited by and featured in the major media, including CNN, NPR, and USA Today. During her career, Ms. Milner has served in a variety of communications and fundraising roles, working for organizations focusing on economic development and human rights for women, development and freedom of the press and education.

Dr. Sameera M. Al Tuwaijri is a board certified OB/GYN with over 10 years of experience in clinical practice before she embarked on studying Public Health. She has a master's degree in public health from Harvard University, a Ph.D. in health policy and a post-doctoral fellowship from Johns Hopkins.

For over a decade now, she has been working on reproductive health and women empowerment. Prior to joining the WB in 2010, she was the regional adviser, RH policy for UNFPA, Arab States, the director of the ILO's program on Public Health and Safety. She just returned from an external service assignment where she served as the first regional director, Arab States, UN Women.

Dr. Szabolcs Dorotovics, MD, MBA, is a seasoned healthcare leader who brought numerous healthcare projects to operational and financial success in multiple countries. Dr. Dorotovics has over twenty years of experience in strategic positioning, business development and enterprise management in the global healthcare delivery arena. He gained experience in emergency medicine as a practicing physician and subsequently has held key business development and management positions at Johnson & Johnson Hungary, at FirstMedCenters in Budapest, at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, United States and at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York.

Dr. Dorotovics has obtained a thorough understanding of multiple healthcare systems and built a large personal relationship network with healthcare executives, corporate leaders and top government officials in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

For the 14 years he had been Managing Director at Johns Hopkins Medicine International, L.L.C. the organization that was established as a part of Johns Hopkins Medicine to provide a focus for all international activities. It had been his role to evaluate and develop educational, research, and clinical care linkages with foreign institutions and to oversee multiple institutional affiliations and management contracts. Dr. Dorotovics joined Mount Sinai in 2014 to lead the institution’s international program development efforts.

Dr. Brian J. Nickerson, PhD, has 22 years of multi-faceted experience in academic institutions, including 14 years in senior management positions ranging from Director, Department Chair, Academic Dean, to Vice President. Dr. Nickerson has launched over 20 successful programs or institutes in his career, many of which were "first-of-its kind." He currently serves as an Administrative Director and senior faculty at the prestigious Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where he leads a new Master’s degree in Health Care Delivery Leadership, as well as other related academic program development, digital learning, and global academic partnerships.

Professor Nickerson has been teaching undergraduate and graduate students since 1993 and has produced a large body of visible action research appearing in domestic and international publications and forming the basis for changes in public policy, including healthcare issues. Moreover, he has been a frequent guest commentator on critical policy and political questions for several media outlets including The New York Times, National Public Radio, ABC News, and CBS News, as well as others.

Professor Nickerson has earned his Ph.D. from the Rockefeller College of the State University of New York at Albany, a Juris Doctor and an MPA from Pace University, and his BA from Iona College.

Dr. Diane Reidy-Lagunes is an Assistant Attending in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She received her undergraduate degree at Cornell University and her medical degree at the State University of New York at Downstate. She performed her medicine residency training at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City where she also served as medical chief resident.

Following residency, Dr. Reidy completed her medical oncology fellowship at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she also served as chief fellow. Her clinical focus is treating patients with gastrointestinal cancers. Her research initiatives include developing methods to integrate molecular-based therapies into the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors, as well as understanding the evolution of NETs and identifying resistance mechanisms. She is a recipient of the ASCO Young Investigator Award and the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society Young Investigator Award.

Lastly, Dr. Reidy serves as a member of the National Cancer Institute Taskforce and is an Executive Member of the North American NET Society. She is also a Co-Director of the MSKCC Hematology/Oncology Fellowship program and has won numerous teaching awards at Mount Sinai and MSKCC.

Dr. Omar el Farouk Boukhris is an accomplished Research Manager with a history of setting up research foundation grant programs locally and internationally. He joined the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) in 2007 where he has been instrumental in developing grant management policies. Dr. Boukhris currently holds the position of Director at QNRF, where his responsibilities include the management of over a billion USD worth of research projects and is a member of the Steering Committee of the International School on Research Impact Assessment. Dr. Boukhris sits in different committees and contributes at different levels to strategic planning and policy-making, the last of which was his contribution in setting up the Qatar National Research Strategy. Dr. Boukhris and QNRF were pioneers in building a large network of international research collaborators (over 500 institutions from over 70 countries).

Dr. Boukhris, holds BSc, Masters and two PhD degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering, the latest being dedicated to climate change impact assessment. Throughout his work experience, Dr. Boukhris held several research positions in North American and European renowned institutions, including the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne and Zurich and the European Commission.

Dr. Michael Morgan is an Egyptian Coptic Christian doctor, born and raised in Egypt, and now based in New York. He is the founder and host of "American Pulse TV" a weekly program that airs on Saturday nights on Egypt's Al Kahera Wal Nas Network ("Cairo and Irs People"). This is one of the most popular TV channels in Egypt with a viewership of 40 million. It is also carried on satellite here and all over the Mideast. The mission of American Pulse is to provide a window for Egyptians to see Americans' views on current issues and hot topics as well as educate our viewers on the good works being done internationally. The format is interviews and field reports. Guests speakers have included a number of intenational figures such as Amb. Frank Wisner, Amb. Daniel Kurtzer, international economists Dr. Nabil Zaki, Mahmoud Abdallah and state politicians.

Dr. Morgan founded St. Mark's World, which is considered one of the most successful and largest healthcare staffing firms in New York State. He graduated from New York University on a doctoral program in 2005.

Dr. Fadi Bitar is the Associate Dean for External Medical Affairs, the Director of the Children's Heart Center, and the Co-Director of the Congenital Heart Disease Genetics Research Program at the American University of Beirut. He is a Professor of Pediatrics, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. Dr. Bitar is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and the Sub- Board of Pediatric Cardiology.

Dr. Bitar is also the Co-Founder of the "Brave Heart Fund", a charitable fundraising initiative established to provide financial and humanitarian assistance to needy families suffering from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). The Brave Heart Fund helped to provide care for more than 2700 children with CHD, since its inception in 2003.

Dr. Bitar earns worldwide recognition as one of the leading Pediatric Cardiologists in Lebanon, the region and beyond, and has major contributions which include the successful establishment of new clinical programs resulting in improvements towards the care of thousands of children with CHD. Dr. Bitar introduced new modalities and techniques for medical and catheter treatment of heart disease, including procedures that were first of their kind in the world. Dr. Bitar is the recipient of several awards , including the Humanitarian Recognition Award for "Service Above Self" presented by "Rotary International Clubs and Gift of life project" in USA and he is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

Dr. Bitar pioneered innovative research in the field of Pediatric Cardiology. His basic research interests include genetics of CHD and mechanisms of myocardial growth in the chronically hypoxic heart. Dr. Bitar reported worldwide discoveries of novel genes responsible for CHD. He also developed an animal model of chronic hypoxemia, mimicking cyanotic congenital heart disease. Dr. Bitar established the Children's Cardiac Registry Center in Lebanon and developed the first Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Program in Lebanon. He organized and chaired several international meetings including among others, the "International PedCard Beirut 2012" and the "First Middle East Symposium in Pediatric Cardiology-Surgery".

Dr. Bitar, in his capacity as Associate Dean for External Medical Affairs, had spearheaded and coordinated numerous agreements between AUBMC/FM and national, regional and international medical schools/organizations/universities in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Kuwait, Bahrain, Europe and the United States.

Dr. Bitar has published more than 150 articles, book chapters and abstracts. He organized, moderated, chaired, and was an invited speaker to more than 120 national and international conferences. He is a member of the Editorial Board and a reviewer for numerous international medical Journals. Dr. Bitar supervised and co-advised more than 50 master theses, postdoctoral fellows and research physicians. He has been the recipient of more than 30 national and international research grants, including the Dubai-Harvard Foundation Research Grant.

Dr. Anas Khan, MBBS, SBEM, ABHS-EM, MHA, PMP is a Saudi Emergency Medicine Physician. He is currently a Harvard Humanitarian Initiative affiliated Disaster Medicine Fellow, where he is focusing on Healthcare systems preparedness and utilizing Tele-medicine applications in disasters. He went to King Saud University where he got his Bachelor from College of Medicine (MBBS, 2006) & his Master of Health Administration (MHA, 2012) from College of Business. Also, he is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He underwent residency training in National Guards Hospital in Riyadh, and became Saudi & Arab Boards Certified (2012).

He became the Adult Emergency Medicine Section Head at Prince Sultan Medical City in Riyadh. Then, he went back to KSU Medical City as a Consultant (Attending) and Clinical Assistant Professor. Dr. Khan became an active member in many administrative & clinical committees. He has been a Lecturer in different courses at the College of Medicine, EMS College and MPH Program. He worked in diverse capacities at many other major hospitals, the National Emergency Medicine Departments Support Program, the National Insurance Company, and the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (National EMS System).

Mr. Nasser Hassan is a seasoned professional with over 30 years of experience in product development within the life sciences industry. He is a highly innovative individual, with a proven career record in strategic and operational consulting within product development, and enterprise corporate business re-design initiatives. He has a proven ability to lead, problem solve and create practical and cost effective strategies, for international and national organizations.

He has transitioned organizations at an enterprise level (all functional business units) in developing processes and systems that have reduced the time it takes to create and submit products to markets. Mr. Nasser is currently a COO at the Foundation for Commercialization Innovation, in addition to President of Regsource Consulting, a product development company, in which he has taken a number of roles as acting VP within R&D, for a number of life sciences organizations. Mr. Nasser's previously positions include Global Head of Operations, Merck KGaA; Senior Director of Operations at AstraZeneca; in addition to senior positions in Gilead and GSK.

Dr. Pranav Shetty is currently International Medical Corps' Global Emergency Health Coordinator. As the initial health technical lead for International Medical Corps' major emergency response operations worldwide, he is often one of the first to deploy to the affected area in the aftermath of a disaster or crisis.

In April 2015, following the first devastating earthquake to hit Nepal, Dr. Shetty was deployed to oversee the implementation of mobile medical units reaching the hardest hit areas near the epicenter. In addition, he manages teams of first responders working in areas including Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Mental Health, Nutrition and Protection to set up long-term programs to support vulnerable communities. In August 2014, Dr. Shetty was deployed by International Medical Corps to Liberia to establish and oversee two Ebola treatment units, which have now discharged over 80 survivors of the deadly illness. In addition, Dr. Shetty managed teams of rapid responders that deploy to Ebola hot spots in Liberia and a training center for local and international health care workers who are now working on the frontlines of the Ebola response effort across the region.

Prior to his work in Nepal and Liberia, Dr. Shetty managed programs assisting affected Syrian populations, and he helped establish health care programs to support displaced populations in Iraq in 2014. Dr. Shetty was deployed to the Philippines in 2013 to treat patients and manage International Medical Corps' programs in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, and he was also deployed to Misurata, Libya in 2011, where he trained emergency medics and treated patients in a field hospital just a few miles from the front lines of the conflict.

Dr. Shetty received his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, completed his residency in emergency medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and completed a fellowship in Global Health and International Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland. He received his Masters of Public Health from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh. He has worked at International Medical Corps since 2011. Dr. Shetty and his wife Nora reside in Arlington, Virginia.

Mr. Frank Clary's professional background includes work in corporate social responsibility, logistics services, commercial and residential construction, business management and military operations. Mr. Clary manages Agility's global Corporate Social Responsibility program and he sometimes takes on large scale commercial logistics projects.

He is the current chair of the Logistics Emergency Team (LET,) a multi-lateral, public-private partnership between three leading global logistics companies (Agility, Maersk & UPS) and the UN Global Logistics Cluster. He is also a member of the International Air Cargo Association's environment & infrastructure sub-committee. He has a Master of Arts in Arabic Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas. He has lived in Europe and the Middle East for thirteen of the last 24 years.

Dr. Bzdak has been an employee of Johnson & Johnson since 1990. He is currently the Executive Director of Corporate Contributions at Johnson & Johnson. In this capacity, he Michael manages the Corporation’s strengthening the health care workforce strategy as well as leading efforts around program evaluation. He also manages a volunteer support program as well as philanthropic support of K-12 education, including a signature school-to-career program.

He serves on the New Jersey’s Governor’s Advisory Council on Volunteerism and Community Service and on the advisory board of Columbia University’s The One Million Community Health Workers (1mCHW) Campaign. Additionally, he has served on the Council on Foundations Corporate Committee; the New Jersey AIDS Partnership Advisory Committee; the board of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, as well as the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, where he completed a term as chairman of the board of directors.

Dr. Bzdak, with three other Rutgers faculty members, designed a new course on community engagement for undergraduate students which was supported by an Academic Excellence Fund grant.

He received a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MA and Ph.D.from Rutgers University. He is a visiting part-time lecturer in the in the School of Communications and Information Studies at Rutgers University and an adjunct faculty member at New York University.

Ms. Paige Peterson, working extensively with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, focuses primarily on cancer research and patient needs: a cause close to her heart. Born in Marin County, California, Ms. Peterson is a renowned American painter and bestselling author and illustrator.

Mr. Bill Keppler serves C3 International as a Senior Associate, promoting trade and commerce between the United States, Arab, and Middle East countries. He represents C3 with senior government officials and business leaders, both U.S. and international, as well as helps in conceiving, developing, planning, organizing, and coordinating Summit programming, outreach and participant recruitment initiatives.

Previously, Mr. Keppler was a career Foreign Service officer where he served in many diverse positions -- both in the United States and overseas -- encompassing international trade, policy planning, press and public diplomacy, legislative affairs, protocol, executive management and administration, and, arms control. His overseas postings include Thailand, Brazil, Switzerland, Armenia, and the Philippines, as well as temporary tours of duty in more than 40 countries on six continents, including the Middle East. He had the privilege of providing direct support to three U.S. Presidents, and served on the staff of six Secretaries of State. In 2002, he was elected and served two terms as the Chairman of the Secretary's Open Forum, promoting informed foreign policy deliberation, decision-making, and implementation. As Chairman, he served directly under the Secretary of State.

Subsequent to his diplomatic career, Mr. Keppler has served as the International Affairs Director at the World Affairs Council-Washington, DC; Director of Government Relations and Global Events at the International Road Federation; and as the President of his own consulting firm, International Solutions, Inc. His Capitol Hill experience includes service on both Senate and House Committees, and on a senior Senator's staff.

Mr. Keppler earned a Master of Business Administration degree in Government-Business Relations from George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Villanova University.

Mr. Ransel N. Potter has been a guest speaker at financial events in the Middle East and the United States. His contacts throughout the Middle East and the United States are with the top global financial institutions; high net worth families; and, government representatives, including several Sovereign Wealth Funds. He is currently licensed with a Series 7, Series 66 and Series 3.

The founder and Managing Director of COPARA, 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.

Mr. Potter founded C3 Summit LLC in 2010. The mission of C3 Summit 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/public sector growth and employment generation, C3 Summit hopes to encourage each region to open new opportunities to enhance the welfare of freer trade and the exchange of knowledge transfer and best practices in both commerce and healthcare.

Prior to founding C3 Summit, Mr. Potter has been marketing financial instruments in the Middle East under the umbrella of Copara. 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. One funded 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. The other, 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.

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 his 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 East Hampton, NY.