James Curran, M.D., M.P.H., is a professor of epidemiology and dean of the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University. Graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he received his M.D. from the University of Michigan and an M.P.H. from Harvard University. In 1981, Dr. Curran coordinated the task force on acquired immune deficiency at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and then led the HIV/AIDS Division. While at CDC, he attained the rank of assistant surgeon general. Dr. Curran is a fellow of the American Epidemiologic Society, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Author or coauthor of more than 250 scholarly publications, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science in 1993. He was given the Surgeon General's Medal of Excellence in 1996 and the John Snow Award from the American Public Health Association in 2003. He is currently chair of the Board on Health Prevention and Disease Promotion of the Institute of Medicine and the former chair of the Association of Schools of Public Health.
Joseph O’Neill, M.D., was the only physician on the White House Domestic Policy Council during the first term of the George W. Bush administration and was intimately involved in all health-related issues that reached that level of policy review. He is considered by many as the architect of President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—the largest global health initiative in history. He was instrumental in securing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) review, for the first time, of generic pharmaceuticals used outside of the United States. Dr. O’Neill has held senior management and policy roles in the Clinton and Bush administrations, including the $31 billion Department of Health and Human Services HIV/AIDS portfolio; the Ryan White CARE Act programs; the National Organ Transplant Program and Bone Marrow Registry; and the National Telemedicine initiative for HHS. Dr. O’Neill has been CEO of a publically traded biotechnology corporation. Most recently, he led development of a translational medicine institute at the University of Illinois and a global health institute at the University of Maryland. In both cases, his efforts were crucial in mobilizing public and private resources to find healthy returns on private investments, while contributing to socially responsible public agendas, especially in the global health arena. Dr. O’Neill holds degrees in Business Administration, Public Health, Health Sciences, and Medicine from the Universities of California at Berkeley and San Francisco.
Louis F. Rossiter, Ph.D., is a research professor at the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. Dr. Rossiter is the author of 14 edited books, one sole-author book published in 2001 on Medicare reform, over 50 journal publications on health economics and policy, and a new monograph on rising health care costs. He formerly served as the Secretary of Health and Human Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia. As Secretary, he directed the implementation of Virginia’s new private health insurance program for children and families; ensured significant further improvement in the State’s mental health system; created new policy initiatives in the emerging field of human genetics; and brought the major information technology projects in the Secretariat to national prominence. Dr. Rossiter was formerly a professor at the Medical College of Virginia Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University from 1982 to 2000, where he was the first director of the Williamson Institute for Health Studies. From 1989 to 1992, he served as deputy for policy to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). As deputy, he created and directed a new payment system for U.S. hospitals under Medicare and formulated all agency policy initiatives through the Federal legislative process. Dr. Rossiter currently serves on the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health; the Board of Directors of AcademyHealth and its Finance Committee; and the Board of Directors of the Coalition for Health Services Research as vice chairman. He has served on numerous boards and advisory groups, including the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Rossiter received his doctorate in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his undergraduate degree from Lenoir-Rhyne University.
Edward M. Rudnic, Ph.D., is a pharmaceutical executive and entrepreneur with an extensive background in the biopharmaceutical industry. Dr. Rudnic was the founder, chairman, and CEO of MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals, where he led the development of an FDA-approved anti-infective product. Prior to founding MiddleBrook, he was senior vice president, Development and Technical Operations for Shire Laboratories, where he was the lead inventor of Carbatrol/Equetro with cumulative sales of over $1 billion to date, and co-inventor of Adderall XR, with cumulative sales of over $10 billion to date. Previously, he was in management roles at Schering-Plough and Bristol Myers-Squibb. He has been named lead inventor or co-inventor of more than 100 U.S. and international patents (issued and pending) in such areas as novel drug delivery systems, solid dosage form research, process development, and polymer/material science. Dr Rudnic has acted in numerous consulting capacities to the pharmaceutical industry. He serves as an adjunct associate professor for the University of Maryland Department of Pharmaceutics, and as an adjunct professor at the University of Rhode Island Department of Pharmaceutics. He served as chairman of MdBio and the Technology Council of Maryland. He has been appointed by Governors Ehrlich and O’Malley to several State boards and commissions. Dr. Rudnic holds a B.S. in pharmacy, an M.S. in pharmaceutics, and a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Rhode Island.
Sandra Thurman has been a global advocate in the fight against AIDS for more than two decades. She is the director of the Interfaith Health Program, National Center for Faith and Public Health Collaboration, and the Joseph W. Blount Center for Health and Human Rights at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. In that capacity, she works with such organizations as the World Health Organization, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and various faith-based groups and academic institutions to increase access to health care and information on such issues as HIV/AIDS and H1N1 flu. In addition, she serves as president and CEO of the International AIDS Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to policy and leadership development in the global effort to combat HIV/AIDS. Ms. Thurman served as the director of the Office of National AIDS Policy at the White House from 1997–2001, and was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the first presidential envoy for the AIDS Cooperation. She led efforts to increase funding for the government’s international and domestic HIV/AIDS programs, raising total U.S. spending on prevention, care, and treatment programs to more than $10 billion annually. In 1999, Ms. Thurman led the first U.S. delegation to look at the impact of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. That trip led to the first report by the President of the United States to the Congress on the impact of AIDS, and the First Presidential Initiative on AIDS (the LIFE Initiative), which included a multisectoral approach to addressing the epidemic. Ms. Thurman serves as an advisor to nonprofit organizations, foundations, and individuals on the development of investment strategies and programs in the areas of gender and HIV/AIDS. She has provided testimony on AIDS and other health issues before the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the United Nations, the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and the U.S. Government Commission on AIDS.
Gail Wilensky, Ph.D., is an economist and a senior fellow at Project HOPE (an international health education foundation). Wilensky is a commissioner on the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, co-chair of the recently completed Department of Defense task force on the Future of Military Health Care, vice chair of the Maryland Health Care Commission, and a trustee of the Combined Benefits Fund of the United Mineworkers of America and the National Opinion Research Center. She has recently been appointed to the Defense Health Board, advising the Department of Defense on health matters and to the Board of Regents of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. From 1990 to 1992, she was administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration. She also served as deputy assistant to President G.H.W. Bush for policy development, advising him on health and welfare issues from 1992 to 1993. From 1997 to 2001, she chaired the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, and from 1995 to 1997, she chaired the Physician Payment Review Commission. From 2001 to 2003, she co-chaired the President’s Task Force To Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation’s Veterans. In 2007, she served as a commissioner on the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors. Dr. Wilensky testifies frequently before congressional committees and speaks before professional, business, and consumer groups. She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and served two terms on its governing council. She earned her Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan.
Shelia Hoar Zahm, Sc.D., received her doctorate in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health and joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a staff fellow in 1980. She was tenured in 1987 in the Occupational Studies Section, became deputy chief of the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch in 1996, and served as deputy director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) from 1998 to 2011. Dr Zahm has received the American Occupational Medical Association's Merit in Authorship Award for a paper on job-exposure matrices, the Harvard School of Public Health Alumni Award of Merit, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Merit Award, and the Public Health Service (PHS) Special Recognition Award for her work on the relationship between pesticides and the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the NIH Director's Award for her program of research on cancer among migrant and seasonal farmworkers, the NIH Director’s Award for developing NIH biospecimen storage and tracking guidelines, the NIH Merit Award for implementation of the NIH Reform Act of 2006, two NIH Quality of Work Life Awards, the DCEG Mentoring Award, and the DCEG Exemplary Service Award. Dr. Zahm serves on the editorial board of several journals and on numerous national and international committees, including service as chair of the United Auto Workers/General Motors Occupational Health Advisory Board. Dr. Zahm was elected to the American Epidemiology Society in 1995 and is an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University. Her research interests include pesticides and cancer, the etiology of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and occupational cancer among women.