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Susan Sawyer
MBBS MD FRACP
Susan Sawyer holds the inaugural Chair of Adolescent Health at the University of Melbourne. She is the Director of the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Australia’s leading academic centre of excellence in adolescent health. A paediatrician by training, Professor Sawyer has helped establish the field of Adolescent Health and Medicine in Australia. Her clinical and research interests have largely focused on models of ‘adolescent friendly’ health care for young people. She is the current chairwoman of WHO’s Technical Steering Committee on Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health. She is Vice-President of the International Association of Adolescent Health.
Vikram Patel is a Professor of International Mental Health and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Clinical Science at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK). He is the Joint Director of the School’s Centre for Global Mental Health (www.centreforglobalmentalhealth.org) and Honorary Director of the Public Health Foundation of India’s Centre for Mental Health. He is a co-founder of Sangath, a community based NGO in India (www.sangath.com). With Sangath, he has led a series of studies on the epidemiology and prevention of mental health problems and health compromising behaviours in adolescents, in particular in school contexts in India. He is a Fellow of the UK’s Academy of Medical Sciences and serves on the WHO’s Expert Advisory Group for Mental Health and the Technical Steering Committee for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health, and on the Mental Health Policy Group of the Government of India.
MA, MSc, BMBCh (Oxford Univ, UK), PhD (London Univ, UK)
David Ross is a Professor of Epidemiology and International Public Health in the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). He is the leader of the Health of Adolescents and Young People Theme within the LSHTM’s MARCH (Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive and Child Health) Centre, and is a member of the Technical Steering Committee of WHO’s Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Department. His main current research and teaching relate to low and middle-income countries (LMICs), and the prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, adolescent health, and intervention study methods. With colleagues in WHO, he coordinates a two-week course on adolescent health in LMICs in LSHTM each June.
Bachelor of Social Work (Honors), PQHRM (Sri Lanka), PGD in Diplomacy and Global Affairs (Sri Lanka) / Y PEER Focal Point in Charge and Coordinator – Y PEER Sri Lanka
Mr. Wickremarathne is a youth social worker and has a very strong experience in Human Rights, Education, Sexual and Reproductive Health including HIV and AIDS. He is a member of the United Nations Youth Advisory Panel in Sri Lanka and the national representative to the South Asian Regional Youth Network of IPPF South Asia. He has developed a specialty in peer education while serving as a Asia Pacific regional master trainer for Y PEER International. He has been commended for his excellent skills as a High Level Panel Speaker who has a thorough experience in grass-root level initiatives. He has a proven track record in initiating advocacy efforts for marginalized young communities, specially young women and girls. Currently he is following a Post Graduate Diploma in Diplomacy.
Ali Mokdad, PhD, is Director of Middle Eastern Initiatives and Professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. In this role, he is building IHME’s presence in the region through new research projects, dissemination and uptake of IHME’s methods and results, and consultation with regional leaders in population health. He also leads the survey and surveillance activities at IHME with his expertise in survey methodology, health surveys, surveillance, chronic diseases and emergency and response.
Prior to joining IHME, Dr. Mokdad worked at the CDC, starting his career there in 1990. He served in numerous positions with the International Health Program; the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity; the National Immunization Program; and the National Center for Chronic Diseases Prevention and Promotion, where he was Chief of the Behavioral Surveillance Branch.
Judith Diers Ph.D. serves as the chief of adolescent development and participation at the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF).
Trained across the disciplines of demography, public policy and ethics, Dr. Diers leads UNICEF in identifying and supporting programmes and policies that realize the rights of adolescents as defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She has served as a member of the Institutional Review Board of the Population Council and is committed to developing ethical standards in research and programmes that appropriately balance the rights to protection and participation of adolescents. She has authored numerous academic articles and functions as a reviewer for several leading journals on adolescent development.
Wendy Baldwin has a doctorate in social demography. Among her accomplishments during her 30 year career at the NIH was the development of the research program in adolescent sex and childbearing in the US. She also led the Poverty, Gender, and Youth program at the Population Council and was president of the Population Reference Bureau. She has served on many National Research Council committees and led the development of youth data sets, policies for data sharing and published in the field. She is committed to making research evidence accessible to broad audiences. She is currently semi-retired.
Prof. Amitabh Mattoo is the inaugural Director of the Australia-India Institute and Prof. of International Relations at the University of Melbourne. He is concurrently Prof. of Disarmament Studies at the JNU New Delhi. He is also the President of the Indian Association of International Studies. Between November 2002 and December 2008, he was the youngest Vice-Chancellor the University of Jammu. He was a member of the National Knowledge Commission, the National Security Advisory Board and the Task Force constituted by PM on Global Strategic Developments. He was honoured by the award of Padma Shree in 2008.
PhD, MSFS, International Center for Research on Women
Dr. Suzanne Petroni is the Senior Director for Gender, Population and Development at the International Center for Research on Women. She has more than two decades of experience in the governmental, philanthropic and non-governmental sectors, designing and overseeing policies and programs related to adolescent health and development, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender and population dynamics. Through her research, advocacy and grantmaking, she has supported and promoted youth leadership and engagement in program and policy development. She has served on numerous global advisory groups on youth and has coordinated the efforts of diverse donors around adolescent sexual and reproductive health and development.
Since 2003, Dr. Carmen Barosso has served as the Regional Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region. Through its 41 Member Associations in the Americas and the Caribbean, IPPF/WHR provides nearly 33 million services annually. As the director of one of the most dynamic regions of IPPF, Dr. Barosso has been a leader in innovation both in advocacy and services, especially for young women, and has been a strong proponent of building the leadership skills of IPPF’s youth volunteers. Dr. Barosso is a member of the Independent Expert Review Group of the Global Strategy on Women and Children’s Health, appointed by the UN Secretary General, and was recently named one of the 21 women leaders of the 21st Century by Women’s eNews.
George Patton is Professorial Fellow in Adolescent Health Research at the University of Melbourne. He is also a Senior Principal Research Fellow with the Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council. He has a research background in epidemiology and a clinical background in psychiatry. His research covers both clinical and community settings. The studies have included long-term and inter-generational cohorts, large scale surveys and interventions studies. He played a leading role around two series on adolescent health for the Lancet. These presented some of the first and most comprehensive global overviews of health and development in young people. He has had advisory roles with the UN, World Health Organization, the World Bank and UNICEF.
Professor Chris Bonell MA MSc (Epidemiol) MSc (Sociol) PhD institute of Education, University of London
Prior to taking up a chair at the Institute of Education Chris Bonell was Professor of Sociology and Social Intervention at the University of Oxford. He is also an honorary professor of public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His area of expertise is in young people’s health and social development and intervention to promote this, and in particular school based intervention and process evaluation. Chris sits on the National Institute of Health Research Public Health Programme Board and is a trustee of the Association of Young People’s Health.
B.Sc. Sociology. Freelance project development and youth advocate
Ms. Taiwo has 6years of progressive experience as an International Youth Advocate for Education as a Vaccine’ (EVA) Youth Advocates Group. She is experienced in working with the Federal Government in policy-making processes and Nonprofits in designing, planning, and implementation of youth development programs. Ms. Taiwo has also been involved in leading advocacy campaigns through lobbying policy makers, blogging, social media activities, facilitating campus events, and developing video documentaries as advocacy tools. As part of her advocacy efforts, she has lobbied on Capitol Hill, U.S., speaking on matters relating to U.S. Foreign Policy and contributed to the UN Post 2015 Development Agenda on various levels. She has led several sessions at international conferences addressing young people and policy-makers on prioritizing youth as key agents of sustainable change. She was honored by EVA as most outstanding volunteer in 2010.
Professor Adesegun Fatusi MBChB MPH FWACP is the Chair of Nigeria’s National Adolescent Health and Development Working Group and the Provost, College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria (OAU). He is a Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, and previously served as Director of OAU’s Institute of Public Health and National Reproductive Health Adviser with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s programme in Nigeria. He has been at the forefront of Adolescent Health policy development, programme design and research at national level in Nigeria for almost two decades. His major areas of focus include sexual and reproductive health of young people, and adolescent-focused health service delivery.
PhD, MPH Rima Afifi is a professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Community Health and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Her research focus is around youth wellbeing/mental health and protective factors. Her research is participatory, community-based and engages multiple disciplines. Her location in Beirut and in the Arab region has infused her research and practice with critical reflections on the impact of global forces, and conflict as well as the power of youth agency and voice. She has consulted with a variety of UN agencies around issues of youth wellbeing, particularly in the Arab region.
MD, MPH John Santelli, MD, MPH, is an adolescent medicine physician, Professor and Chair of the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University, and a Senior Fellow at The Guttmacher Institute. Dr. Santelli has conducted research and led programs to understand risk for unintended pregnancy, HIV and other STIs, to improve adolescent access to clinical and community preventive services, to connect underserved populations with healthcare, to measure the impact of adolescent health services on clinical and public health outcomes, and to promote the ethical conduct of research with adolescents. His 25+ year career in public health has included tenures at the Baltimore City Health Department, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Columbia University. At Columbia, Santelli leads an academic department that conducts a broad variety of community and clinic-based interventions, in the US and globally. He is currently the principal investigator of two NICHD funded projects on HIV risk among youth and linkages between HIV infection and reproductive health with the Rakai Health Sciences Project in southern Uganda. The Youth project is using existing Rakai Community Cohort Survey data to examine longitudinal predictors of HIV acquisition and new qualitative data to understand adolescent developmental transitions and HIV risk. The HIV and Linkages project is examining couple related decision making about HIV risk reduction and reproduction among seroconcordant and serodiscordant couples. Santelli is also the PI on an AHRQ-funded project to increase health care provider awareness of adolescent clinical preventive services using new media. He has been a national leader in insuring that adolescents have access to medically accurate, comprehensive sexuality education.
PhD
Fred Ssewamala is an Associate Professor of Social Work and International Affairs at Columbia University; and the Founding Director of the International Center for Child Health and Asset Development at Columbia University. In the past 10 years, Dr. Ssewamala has been the Principal Investigator on five National Institutes of Health-funded research grants, and several foundation-funded research grants, including the MasterCard Foundation. His research focuses on advancing and broadening knowledge about innovative economic strengthening interventions aimed at improving the developmental outcomes (including health and education) and life chances of marginalized and vulnerable children and youth, including those affected by HIV/AIDS. His academic work has been published in high-impact academic journals, including American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, and Social Service Review. Ssewamala holds a Masters and PhD in Social Work, with a focus on social and economic development policy, from Washington University in St. Louis.
Russell Viner is Professor of Adolescent Health at the UCL Institute of Child Health, and active in research, health policy and clinical medicine.
Research interests are in health services, burden of disease, health policy for young people, as well as obesity, diabetes and chronic condition management in adolescents. He also an active clinical paediatrician, working across the fields of clinical medicine (diabetes, obesity and adolescent general medicine) and health policy.
As Clinical Director of the London Strategic Clinical Network for Children for NHS England, he is responsible for leading healthcare for London’s 2 million children and young people.
He leads the Adolescent Workstream of the DH Policy Research Unit in Children, Young People and Families (CPRU), holds a programme grant from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and is named on >£11 million in current research grants.
Dr Ritsuko Kakuma is Senior Research Fellow at the Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit, Centre for Mental Health. Her research and development activities are primary based in low- and middle-income settings and include areas of: mental health policy and system strengthening, human resources for mental health, mental health stigma and discrimination, knowledge translation, and health research capacity development. She is currently engaged in projects in community-based mental health care in Vietnam, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, India and Nepal. She is also developing monitoring and evaluation frameworks for mental health systems both domestically and globally.
Jane Waldfogel is the Compton Foundation Centennial Professor for the Prevention of Children’s and Youth Problems at Columbia University School of Social Work and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics. During the 2013-14 academic year, she is a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation.
Waldfogel received her Ph.D. in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School in 1994. She has written extensively on the impact of public policies on poverty, inequality, and child and family well-being. Her books include: Britain’s War on Poverty; Steady Gains and Stalled Progress: Inequality and the Black-White Test Score Gap; What Children Need; Securing the Future: Investing in Children from Birth to College; and The Future of Child Protection. She is also the author of over 100 articles and book chapters.
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Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta is the Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health and Policy at the Centre for Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto and the Founding Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health, at the Aga Khan University, a unique joint appointment. Dr Bhutta’s research interests include newborn and child survival, maternal and child undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. He is the President-elect of the International Paediatric Association, is a leading voice for integrated maternal, newborn and child health globally.
Terry McGovern founded the HIV Law Project in 1989 where she served as its executive director until 1999. Ms. McGovern successfully litigated numerous cases against the federal, state and local governments including S.P. v. Sullivan which forced the Social Security Administration to expand HIV-related disability criteria so that women and low income individuals can qualify for Medicaid and social security, and T.N. v. FDA, which eliminated a 1977 FDA guideline restricting the participation of women of childbearing potential in early phases of clinical trials. As a member of the National Task Force on the Development of HIV/AIDS Drugs, she authored the 2001 federal regulation authorizing the FDA to halt any clinical trial for a life threatening disease that excludes women. In 1999, she was awarded an Open Society Institute Fellowship and an appointment at the Mailman School. In 2001, she was named director of the Women’s Health and Human Rights Advocacy Project, whose goal is to improve the reproductive and overall healthcare of low- income women, and work on issues related to fundamentalisms and the impact on women’s human rights. Ms. McGovern has published extensively and testified numerous times before Congress and other policymaking entities. From 2006 until 2012, she was Senior Program Officer in the Gender, Rights and Equality Unit of the Ford Foundation. She oversaw global and domestic programming relating to HIV, gender, LGBT and Human Rights. Terry is currently professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and director of the Gender Health and Human Rights Initiative.
Jing Fang earned her PhD at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex University, UK in 2006. Before that, she was the Deputy Director of Yunnan Reproductive Health Research Association (YRHRA), a NGO based in Yunnan China, and had undertaken research on Chinese rural health care services, particularly women’s reproductive health in poor rural China for more than one decade. She also involved in providing technical support for Quality of Care Project of the National Family Planning Commission and the Improving Reproductive Health Project of the Ministry of Health, China as well as HIV/AIDS prevention project of Yunnan Province. In the last decade, she focused on her study on the governance and accountability of Chinese health system. During 2006-2009 she worked at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), an independent intergovernmental organization based on Kathmandu, Nepal, as an EcoHealth specialist and led a project entitled “land use change and human health in eastern Himalaya: an adaptive ecosystem approach”. From 2012 onward, she joined a few other experts in Southeast Asia countries to work on a multi-country and multi-component EcoHealth program entitled “Field Building Leadership Initiative—advancing EcoHealth in Southeast Asia” At present she is a professor and acts as the director of the Institute for Health Sciences, Kunming Medical University. She is a member of the Gender and Health Equity Network (GHEN), an international group consisting researchers, governmental officials and practitioners in India, UK, US, China, Sweden, Mozambique and WHO; she was also a member of the Gender and Rights Advisory Panel (GAP), WHO from 2010-2013; a member of executive editorial group of the journal EcoHealth; a member of advisory committee of the Forum for Health, Environment and Development (Forhead), China and a member of the EcoHealth Emerging Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee of IDRC.
Jane Ferguson is currently employed as Scientist in the Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Department of the World Health Organization in Geneva. She is the focal point for adolescent health and responsible for research and development related to adolescents. Jane has held a variety of positions in various configurations of the Organization over the past several decades, predominantly devoted to moving adolescent health onto the public health agenda.
During these years she has worked with Ministries of Health, civil society organizations, including youth organizations, UN partners and technical and funding agencies in countries in all regions of the world. She has led adolescent health strategy development, defined research priorities and developed programme support tools, including recent guidelines on adolescent reproductive health outcomes and HIV prevention, treatment and care.
Jane has an MSW from the University of Toronto and an MSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics. She has co-authored papers in peer reviewed journals on programming for adolescent health, adolescent epidemiology, and the clinical and programmatic aspects of adolescent sexual and reproductive health, including HIV. Over the years she has contributed to many inter-agency groups responsible for coordinating and accelerating action for adolescent health.
Nick Allen is the Ann Swindells Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oregon, where he is involved in the training of clinical psychologists and conducts research into adolescent mental health. His research focuses on the transition from childhood to adolescence as a critical developmental phase for determining well-being across the lifespan, especially mental health. He uses use a developmental psychopathology approach to understand how children and adolescents are affected by the environments in which they grow up, focusing on how family interactions and other aspects of the child’s environment that have been shown to increase risk for mental health problems (e.g., stress, abuse, socio-economic disadvantage) influence the child or adolescent’s emotional functioning and the development of the biological systems that undergird these emotions (particularly brain development). The aim of this work is to not only shed light on the underlying causes of mental health and ill-health during these stages of life, but also to inform innovative approaches to early intervention and prevention by utilising this knowledge to generate and test novel, developmentally-targeted clinical and public health interventions.
