Event details

September 10 - 11 2024
2 Days
Virtual Event

This is a free to register virtual event!

In the pursuit of a just society, gender, race, ethnicity, and health equity intertwine. Achieving intersectional gender and health equity means addressing disparities in healthcare based on gender identity, expression, disability, race, and ethnicity. It requires dismantling systemic barriers, promoting culturally sensitive care, and addressing the unique health needs of marginalized communities. Embracing an intersectional approach ensures equal access to quality healthcare for all individuals. By actively dismantling interconnected systems of oppression, we can create a society where everyone has the opportunity to achieve optimal health and well-being.


After the success of the 2022 Nature Conference on “Breaking Barriers for gender equity through research”, in 2024 we continue our exploration of gender equity by putting the spotlight on gender and health equity. In the wake of a pandemic that disproportionately affected vulnerable groups, this conference will join an ongoing global discussion around equitable access to healthcare with a special focus on gender, race and ethnicity.

This global virtual conference comprising a combination of keynote talks, fireside chats and panel discussions, will explore some of the key challenges at the intersection of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 10 “Reduce inequalities", Goal 5 “Gender equality”, and Goal 3 “Good Health and Well-being”. A key aspect of this conference will be breaking barriers and making connections across genders, between early and late careers, and between researchers, policymakers and health practitioners. In the theme of “Breaking Barriers”, the conference will also feature a mentorship programme that will provide further opportunity for participants to connect and build relationships.

Uma Palanisamy

Uma Palanisamy

Professor, School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Monash University, Malaysia

Primarily a pre-clinical medical and pharmacy educationist and researcher. Prof Uma has been involved in health promotion research and education with marginalised populations for over 10 years.  She strongly advocates that community engagement practices in undergraduate teaching prepares global citizens and provides real-world learning experiences. She has designed, spearheaded, and led three such programs; Community Based Practice at School of Medicine, Community Engagement Elective at School of Pharmacy and recently the Campus Community Program. Throughout this program she ahs introduced several innovative practices: themed symposium; skills workshop with sessions on EI, working with disability, mental health first aid and a privilege walk activity; reflective writing in experiential learning.

An accomplishment she had made while leading this program was securing several external community grants to help fund the workshops and research into this area. Her recent research interest is in the healthcare access of the Deaf where I co-founded the HEARD (HEAlth needs of the Deaf) program at Monash. Here she worked with the Deaf community and industry in a collaborative research to develop the DITE app(Deaf in Touch everywhere) which connects the Deaf to medical practitioners through secure  video-based interpreters. She is a 2023 Nature award recipient for the Inclusive Health Research.  

 

Naoki Kondo

Naoki Kondo

Head of Department of Social Epidemiology and Global Health

Kyoto University, Japan

Naoki Kondo, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor and Head of the Department of Social Epidemiology in the Graduate School of Medicine and School of Public Health, Kyoto University. His primary research themes are social determinants of health. He is the vice chief investigator of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study, a cohort study following up more than 200,000 older adults nationwide in Japan. His recent study focuses on how to address health inequality in the community settings, conducting intervention studies with local and central government. Dr Kondo is a member of the Technical Advisory group on Social Connection at the World Health Organization.
Roopa Dhatt

Roopa Dhatt

Global Health Policy Expert

Georgetown University, USA

Dr. Roopa Dhatt is the Co-Founder and Former Executive Director of Women in Global Health and is a leading voice in the movement to advance gender equality and redress gender disparities in leadership in global health. She is also a practicing Internal Medicine physician at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. and has faculty appointments as an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University.

Dr. Dhatt's unwavering commitment extends to confronting the issues of power dynamics, privilege, and intersectionality that hinder numerous women from accessing positions of global health leadership. She endeavors tirelessly to create inclusive spaces where the voices of these women can resound. Determined to build a movement to transform women’s leadership opportunities in health, Dr. Dhatt co-founded Women in Global Health in 2015. Today, Women in Global Health boasts 51 chapters in 47 countries with continued demand to expand. Through collective action, Dr. Dhatt, the global team, and the Chapter network drive change by mobilizing a diverse movement of emerging women health leaders, generating evidence and thought leadership for informed policy change, pressing governments and global health leaders to fulfill their commitments, and holding them accountable.

Accumulating nearly 15 years of experience in global health, she has engaged with over 120 countries and assumed numerous advisory and board roles. She advises global health institutions on issues concerning the health workforce, gender equity, and universal health coverage. She earned recognition in the Gender Equality Top 100 as one of the most influential figures in global policy and served on the Lancet COVID-19 Commission. Additionally, she acted as a former W7 Germany Advisor and presently serves as a W7 Japan Advisor, advocating for feminist agendas before G7 governments in 2023. Dr. Dhatt contributes her expertise as a member of the Economist Impact Health Inclusivity Index Expert Advisory Committee and the Global Council on SDG3.

Furthermore, she holds a position on the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Scientific Advisory Board, serves on the Virchow Prize Committee, and is designated as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (YGL). In March 2021, she was invited as a public delegate to the historic U.S. Delegation to the United Nations 65th Commission of Status of Women Meeting, led by Vice President Kamala Harris. Dr. Dhatt's contributions to academic discourse have resulted in publications in renowned
journals such as the Lancet, British Medical Journal (BMJ), Devex, and Forbes. Furthermore, she has been featured in interviews by National Geographic, Nature, NPR, BBC, EuroNews, and numerous other prominent media channels.
Ndidi I. Unaka

Ndidi I. Unaka

Chief Health Equity Officer

Stanford Medicine Children's Health, USA

Dr. Unaka is the Chief Equity Officer at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at the University of Stanford. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon in 2003 and graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 2007. She completed pediatric residency and chief residency at CCHMC.

In addition to her clinical role as a pediatric hospitalist, Dr. Unaka served as the Associate Program Director (APD) of the Pediatric Residency Program from 2011 – January 2022.

Dr. Unaka spends time working on institution-level community health initiatives which reflects her passion for diversity, inclusion, and health equity. She co-leads Cincinnati Children’s Health Equity Network’s (HEN) which support the equity-oriented improvement work of clinical teams across the institution. Dr. Unaka is also the medical director of quality improvement for the Office of Population Health, which includes the institution’s accountable care organization,  HealthVine HealthVine assumes accountability for the delivery of care management and utilization management functions for approximately 100,000 Medicaid-covered youth who reside in eight counties of Southwest Ohio.

Hannah Kuper

Hannah Kuper

Co-director, International Centre for Evidence in Disability, UK

Professor Hannah Kuper is the co-director of the International Centre for Evidence in Disability at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and co-founder of the Missing Billion Initiative. She is an epidemiologist by training, and her main focus is on health and healthcare access of people with disabilities in low and middle-income countries. She is an NIHR Global Research Professor.

Davide Cirillo

Davide Cirillo

Lead Researcher, Life Sciences - Machine Learning for Biomedical Research

Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Spain

Davide Cirillo is the head of the Machine Learning for Biomedical Research Unit at the Life Sciences Department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). He received the MSc degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology from University of Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Italy, and the PhD degree in Biomedicine from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) of Barcelona, Spain. His research focuses on computational methods for precision medicine with a special emphasis on machine learning, network science, and ethics of artificial intelligence. He is a member of the ELIXIR Machine Learning Focus Group, co-leads the research subgroup of BSC Bioinfo4Women initiative, and is a scientific advisor to the Swiss non-profit Women's Brain Project. He is co-editor of the book “Sex and Gender Bias in Technology and Artificial Intelligence: Biomedicine and Healthcare Applications” (Elsevier Academic Press, 2022).

Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Founding Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health

Aga Khan University, Pakistan

Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta is Founding Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health and the 
Institute of Global Health & Development, The Aga Khan University as well as the Inaugural Robert 
Harding Chair in Global Child Health, and Co-Director of SickKids’ Centre for Global Child Health. Dr. 
Bhutta leads large research groups based in Toronto, Karachi and Nairobi focused on, scaling up evidence-based 
community interventions, and implementing reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health
interventions in humanitarian settings. Dr. Bhutta is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the 2021 IHME Roux 
Prize recipient for significant research contributions to women and child health and was awarded the
John Dirks Canada Gairdner 2022 Global Health Award, one of the most prestigious global health 
awards. Dr. Bhutta was awarded the 2023 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research for 
exceptional leadership and innovation in maternal child health research.
Marzyeh Ghassemi

Marzyeh Ghassemi

Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

MIT, USA

Dr. Marzyeh Ghassemi is an Assistant Professor at MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Institute for Medical Engineering & Science (IMES), and a Vector Institute faculty member holding a Canadian CIFAR AI Chair and Canada Research Chair. She holds MIT affiliations with the Jameel Clinic and CSAIL.

Professor Ghassemi holds a Herman L. F. von Helmholtz Career Development Professorship, and was named a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar and one of MIT Tech Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35.  Previously, she was a Visiting Researcher with Alphabet’s Verily. She is currently on leave from the University of Toronto Departments of Computer Science and Medicine. Prior to her PhD in Computer Science at MIT, she received an MSc. degree in biomedical engineering from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar, and B.S. degrees in computer science and electrical engineering as a Goldwater Scholar at New Mexico State University.

Professor Ghassemi has previously served as a NeurIPS Workshop Co-Chair and General Chair for the ACM Conference on Health, Inference and Learning (CHIL). She also founded the non-profit Association for Health Learning and Inference. Professor Ghassemi has published across computer science and clinical venues, including NeurIPS, KDD, AAAI, MLHC, JAMIA, JMIR, JMLR, AMIA-CRI, Nature Medicine, Nature Translational Psychiatry, and Critical Care. Her work has been featured in popular press such as MIT NewsNVIDIA, and The Huffington Post.
Agnes Binagwaho

Agnes Binagwaho

Vice Chancellor

University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda

Londa Schiebinger

Londa Schiebinger

John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science

Stanford University, USA

Londa Schiebinger is the John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science at Stanford University, and Founding Director of Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment. Schiebinger is a leading international expert on gender in science and technology and has addressed the United Nations, the European Parliament, the Korean National Assembly, and numerous funding agencies on that topic. Schiebinger received her Ph.D. from Harvard University and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

She is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize and Guggenheim Fellowship. She holds Honorary Doctorates from the Universitat de València, Spain, 2018; Lunds Universitet, Sweden, 2017; and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, 2013. Among her publications, see AI can be Sexist and Racist—It’s Time to Make it Fair Nature (2018); Sex and Gender Analysis Improves Science and Engineering Nature (2019); Ensuring that Biomedical AI Benefits Diverse Populations EBioMedicine (2021); Gender-Related Variables for Health Research Biology of Sex (2021); Gendered Innovations 2: How Inclusive Analysis Contributes to Research and Innovation European Commission (2020); A Framework for Sex, Gender, and Diversity Analysis in Research: Funding Agencies Have Ample Room to Improve Their Policies Science (2022).

Nyasha Sithole

Nyasha Sithole

Girls and Womens Rights Advocate and Champion, Zimbabwe

Euphrasie Adjami

Euphrasie Adjami

Coordinator of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Program

Ministry ot Health and Public Hygiene, Burka Faso

Sabine Oertelt-Prigione

Sabine Oertelt-Prigione

Professor of sex- and gender-sensitive medicine

University of Bielefeld, Germany

Sabine Oertelt-Prigione MD, PhD, MScPH is a physician, researcher and organizational consultant. She is the Chair of gender in primary and transmural care at Radboud University in the Netherlands and Professor of sex- and gender-sensitive medicine at the University of Bielefeld in Germany. Her main research focus is the implementation of sex- and gender-sensitive research and practice in biomedicine.

Kenneth Hugh Mayer

Kenneth Hugh Mayer

Co-director, The Fenway Institute

Harvard University, USA

Dr. Mayer is a physician who trained in the Harvard programs in Internal Medicine at Beth Israel Hospital and in Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. As the founding Medical Research Director of Fenway Health, he created a community health research program that has developed an international reputation for its capability to conduct community-based research, focusing on sexual and gender minority health and biobehavioral approaches to HIV and STI prevention. He is currently a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Professor in Global Health and Population at the Harvard TC Chan School of Public Health, and is an Attending Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Starting in 1994, he has been a site Principal Investigator of NIH-funded clinical trials units, focusing on bio-behavioral HIV prevention research (HIVNET, HVTN, MTN, ATN), and is a member of the scientific leadership of HPTN. He has co-authored more than 1000 peer-reviewed publications, co-authored the first text on AIDS for the general public and has co-edited 5 academic texts. He has served on the governing boards of amfAR, HIVMA and IAS, is an Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the International AIDS Society, and is a member of the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board.

Alex Keuroghlian

Alex Keuroghlian

Director of Education and Training Programs, The Fenway Institute

Harvard University, USA

Alex Keuroghlian, MD, MPH (any pronouns) is Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School (HMS); Director, Division of Education and Training at The Fenway Institute; and Director and Michele and Howard J Kessler Chair, Division of Public and Community Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). They are principal investigator of the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at The Fenway Institute, a HRSA BPHC-funded cooperative agreement to improve care for LGBTQIA+ people across the U.S., as well as the HRSA HAB-funded 2iS Coordinating Center for Technical Assistance, which implements interventions nationally for people with HIV. Dr. Keuroghlian established the MGH Psychiatry Gender Identity Program and is clerkship director for two senior electives in sexual and gender minority health at HMS. He also co-directs the HMS Sexual and Gender Minority Health Equity Initiative, which leads longitudinal medical curriculum and faculty development in LGBTQIA+ health.  

Carl Streed

Carl Streed

Associate Professor of Medicine

Boston Medical Center, USA

Dr. Carl Streed, Jr. is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Section of General Internal Medicine at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and the Research Lead for the GenderCare Center at Boston Medical Center. As the Research Lead for the GenderCare Center at Boston Medical Center he collaborates with researchers, clinicians, and communities to assess and address the health and well-being of transgender and gender diverse individuals. To achieve equity in healthcare access, health, and community well-being, Dr. Streed actively incorporates the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility into his work as a clinician-investigator. As such, his personal and professional pursuit for a more equitable and inclusive society is focused on elevating voices often ignored and redistributing power. His clinical, training, advocacy, and research initiatives regarding the health and well-being of marginalized persons, particularly sexual and gender minority populations (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer [LGBTQ] persons), have been used to influence and inform institutional, state, and federal policy as well as clinical care, academic research, and scholarship.

Nationally, Dr. Streed has chaired the American Medical Association Advisory Committee on LGBTQ Issues, served on the board of GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality, is on the Faculty Advisory Board of the Medical Student Pride Alliance, and currently serves as the President of the US Professional Association for Transgender Health. Dr. Streed’s efforts to improve the health and well-being of sexual and gender minority persons and communities have earned him several awards, notably from the University of Chicago and Johns Hopkins University Alumni Associations, the American Medical Association Foundation (twice), the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, as well as recognition from the Obama White House.

 

Margaret McCarthy

Margaret McCarthy

Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology

University of Maryland, USA

Margaret (Peg) McCarthy received a PhD from the Institute of Animal Behavior at
Rutgers University, Newark NJ, completed postdoctoral training at Rockefeller
University in New York NY and was a National Research Council Fellow at NIH-NIAAA
before joining the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1993 in
Baltimore Maryland, USA. She was a Professor in the Department of Physiology
before becoming the Chair of the Department of Pharmacology in 2011.

McCarthy has a long-standing interest in the cellular mechanisms establishing sex
differences in the brain. She uses a combined behavioral and mechanistic approach
in the laboratory rat to understand both normal brain development and how these
processes might go selectively awry in males versus females. She has published over
200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has been cited close to 10,000 times.

In addition to being Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Margaret is the
inaugural Director of the University of Maryland - Medicine Institute for
Neuroscience Discovery (UM-MIND). She is a Reviewing Editor for Journal of
Neuroscience and a fellow with AAAS and ACNP, former President of the
Organization for the Study of Sex Differences and current President of the Society for
Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
Bambara Gustave

Bambara Gustave

Head of Studies at the Directorate General for the Economy and Planning

Ministry of Economy and Finance, Burkina Faso

Gustave BAMBARA, is an economist planner, specialist in population and development, health option, cumulative expert in demographic dividend and manager of development projects and programs. Over the past ten years, he has held strategic positions within the Burkinabe public administration, particularly in the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
With theoretical and practical experience in development planning and health financing, he has contributed to developing several development policies and strategies in Burkina Faso and conducting studies in various fields. He actively participated in the Forum Génération Equality (FGE) initiative and is currently a member of the FGE Burkina Faso team.
Session Chair: Akin Jimoh

Session Chair: Akin Jimoh

Chief Editor

Nature Africa

Akin Jimoh is a leader in promoting science and public health journalism in his native Nigeria and across the African continent. He was the first news editor for the World Federation of Science Journalists’ website and played key roles as a mentor and anglophone coordinator (2009 - 2013) in the Science Journalism Cooperation (SjCOOP) Project.  

A medical physiologist and health promotion/education specialist by training, Jimoh started his journalism career in 1990. He became a health reporter with Nigeria’s leading publication, The Guardian, where he expanded the health section to also cover areas in science and public health.  He was also involved in the conceptualization of the ‘revenue spinning’ CompuLife section at the Guardian, focusing on emerging markets in technology in Nigeria in the 1990’s.  

He has been a consulting editor at Africa Science Technology and Innovation (AfricaSTI) News, an online science publication. Jimoh regularly volunteers for the Nigeria Academy of Science in the area of science communication.

Session Chair: Rita Moreira

Session Chair: Rita Moreira

Senior Publisher, Biomedicine Open Access

Springer Nature

Session Chair: Laura Helmuth

Session Chair: Laura Helmuth

Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Laura Helmuth is the Editor in Chief of Scientific American and a former editor for The Washington Post, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Slate and Science. She is a member of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s standing committee on science communication and an advisory board member for SciLine and 500 Women Scientists.
Session Chair: Subhra Priyadarshini

Session Chair: Subhra Priyadarshini

Chief Editor, Supported Projects, Community Partnerships Editorial

Springer Nature

Session Chair: Gerrit John-Schuster

Session Chair: Gerrit John-Schuster

Chief Editor, BMC Global and Public Health BMC

Springer Science and Business Media

Session Chair: Andrea Macaluso

Session Chair: Andrea Macaluso

Director, Strategic Partnerships, Americas

Springer Nature

Francine Ntoumi

Francine Ntoumi

President and Co-founder

Congolese Foundation for Medical Research

Francine Ntoumi, Ph.D., FRCP serves as the President and co-founder of the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research and leads its Research Center for infectious diseases  in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. She is Professor of molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases at the Institute of Tropical medicine, University of Tübingen. She has a long-standing record of research investigations on malaria in Senegal, Cameroon, Gabon and rep of Congo.

Since 2009, Ntoumi has been highly involved in developing health research capacities in Central Africa through the coordination of the Central Africa clinical research network (CANTAM) and since 2018 leading the Pan-African Network for Rapid Research, Response, Relief and Preparedness for Infectious Diseases Epidemics consortium (PANDORA-Id-Net). She is also highly engaged in promoting gender balance in science in the African region through an important program, “To make Science, a female ambition.”

Ntoumi is member of several scientific and advisory committees and is involved in many international scientific networks in Africa, Europe, and the United States. She is a fellow of the African Academy of Science.

In recognition of her efforts in developing research capacities in Africa, Prof. NTOUMI  received many awards including the prestigious African Union Kwame Nkrumah Regional Scientific Award for women (2012), The Georg Forster Prize (Germany, 2015), the Christophe Merieux Prize (France), the Congolese Gold Medal in Science (2016) and the German federal Cross of Merit  (2022).she has been acknowledged as Officer of Congolese Merit (2022) and in August 2023, she has been recognized as the Public health Champion by the World Health Organization. Currently, she is the National Ambassador for UNICEF in Rep of Congo.

Raeka Aiyar

Raeka Aiyar

Vice President, Scientific Outreach and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

The New York Stem Cell Foundation

Dr. Aiyar is a geneticist turned science communicator, with over a decade of experience in disseminating the impact of biomedical research to diverse audiences. She has led several international, interdisciplinary collaborations in functional genomics, synthetic biology, and precision medicine. Dr. Aiyar oversees NYSCF's scientific communications and outreach, driving communications materials and initiatives, leading discussions and event programming for scientists and the public. She also leads NYSCF’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts across communications, events, health equity research, and grantmaking.
Session Chair: Rucha Kapare

Session Chair: Rucha Kapare

Global Head of External Diversity Equity Inclusion

Springer Nature

Laura Helmuth

Laura Helmuth

Chief Editor

Scientific American

Joanna Semlyen

Joanna Semlyen

Associate Dean

University of East Anglia, United Kingdom

Joanna Semlyen is Professor of Psychology and Equality at Norwich Medical School and Associate Dean for Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of East Anglia. She is Academic Lead for the Wellcome Trust funded study: Increasing Diversity and Access to inclusion (IDEA) and is Principal Investigator for the MRC IAA funded study developing guidelines for EDI and  research (EDIT).  She is a HCPC Registered Health Psychologist and a British Psychological Society Chartered Psychologist.

Her research focus is on the health and healthcare experiences of minoritized populations and publishes widely in the area of health inequalities in gender and sexual minorities and she is the co-author of a recently published Palgrave MacMillan book Sexual minorities and mental health: Current perspectives and new directions.

Her current research also focuses on EDI considerations in research and education, improving research culture and levels of cultural competency within medical and psychology training and is developing interventions to improve skills, knowledge and awareness of diversity issues in medics, psychologists and other HCPs. She continues to research sexual minority health.

Neta Erez

Neta Erez

Alessandra D'Almeida Filardy

Alessandra D'Almeida Filardy

Alessandra Filardy is a Brazilian immunologist who works as an assistant professor and principal investigator in the Cellular Immunology Laboratory at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. She got her B.Sc. in Microbiology and Immunology and her M.Sc. in Microbiology from the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ, Brazil). She received her Ph.D. from UFRJ in 2010 in Immunology, followed by a postdoctoral study at the National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA) in Mucosal Immunology. Her main research interest is to understand the regulation of cellular immune responses in lung and intestinal mucosae during homeostasis and in inflammatory/infectious disorders. She is a faculty member in two prestigious graduate programs (Microbiology and Immunology and Inflammation) at UFRJ, where she coordinates one of them, trains grad students, and has contributed to more than 50 graduate committees. She is on the board of directors of the Brazilian Society of Immunology and received several awards and recognitions for her scientific achievements including 2018 BD - SBI Researcher; 2018 Society for Mucosal Immunology Technique Sharing Grant; 2019, 2022 National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) Researcher level 2; 2019, 2022 Research Support Foundation of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) Scientist; 2021 Society for Mucosal Immunology Mentorship Program Grant and 2021 Nature Award for Mentoring in Science – Brazil. 
Daniel Shulz

Daniel Shulz

Director of Research

CNRS and Universite Paris-Saclay, France

Dr. Shulz graduated in Medical Sciences and Neurobiology at the Hadassah School of Medicine (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), and received his Ph.D. in Neurosciences from the Paris University. Since 2002, Dr. Shulz has served as Director of Research at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).  He is principal investigator of the Sensorimotor integration and plasticity laboratory and head of the Department of Integrative and Computational Neuroscience at the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience in Saclay, France. Dr. Shulz’s research interest includes the study of sensory processing and plasticity and the neural basis of tactile perception and sensorimotor learning with a particular emphasis on developing brain machine interfaces for the control of neuroprosthesis. Dr. Shulz teaches Sensory physiology and Neuroscience at several French universities.  He is an Honorary member of the Argentinian Society for Neuroscience and in charge of the office for international relationship with Latin America for the French Neuroscience Society. In 2023, Dan Shulz was the recipient of the Nature lifetime achievement award on Mentoring in Science. For the last thirty years and in parallel to his research, he has put much effort in scientific mentoring of students and young fellows by encouraging independent thinking and international collaborations, and by a non-discriminative approach to diversity.

Nataly Buslón

Nataly Buslón

Senior PostDoctoral Researcher

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

Nataly Buslón, PhD, is a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher in Responsible AI at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). She has worked as a Senior Advisor on various public and private sector AI projects, including UN Women LAC, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) fAIr LAC, and the Organization of American States (OEA). She was previously a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and co-leader of the research group of the Bioinfo4Women initiative. She received her PhD and Master's degree in Sociology from the University of Barcelona (Cum Laude), and was a Visiting Researcher at Columbia University (2016) and Stanford University (2022). Her research focuses on the study of the ethical, socio-economic, and cultural aspects of AI, in line with the framework of responsible artificial intelligence, with an emphasis on sex and gender differences. She is an Ambassador for Women in Data Science at Stanford in Barcelona, a member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), and the <A+> Alliance for Inclusive Algorithms. She is also part of the Women for Ethical Artificial Intelligence UNESCO. 
Xiaoxuan Liu

Xiaoxuan Liu

Xiao is a Senior Clinician Scientist at University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. She co-leads the Birmingham AI & Digital Health Group, a research and policy group focused on responsible innovation and regulatory science in AI health technologies. She is a Deputy Editor at NEJM-AI, vice-chair of the WHO focus group for Clinical Evaluation of AI in Health and advisor to the MHRA on AI as Software as a Medical Device. She has led international efforts for responsible innovation in medical AI, including SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI and STANDING Together. Previously, Xiao was an ophthalmology doctor in the NHS and a Health Scientist at Apple.
Marieke Bak

Marieke Bak

Assistant Professor, Digital Health Ethics

Amsterdam UMC, Netherlands & Technical University of Munich, Germany

Marieke Bak works as Assistant Professor at the department of Ethics, Law and Humanities of the Amsterdam UMC, the Netherlands, and as Research Associate at the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine, TU Munich, Germany. She is an ethicist with a strong interest in technology and in international health policy. Her research focus is on data and AI ethics in healthcare. She leads the ELSI work package of several interdisciplinary national and EU projects on digital health, teaches medical ethics and takes part in medical ethics committees. She is a board member of the Amsterdam Public Health Institute’s Personalized Medicine programme and of the Dutch Society of Bioethics.
Session Chair: Nazneen Damji

Session Chair: Nazneen Damji

Chief, a.i. Governance and Participation Section; and Senior Policy Advisor, Gender Equality, HIV and Health

UN Women

With over 25 years of professional experience promoting women’s rights and gender equality, Nazneen Damji is the Chief, (ad interim) of the Governance and Participation Section and Senior Advisor, Gender, Health and HIV/AIDS at UN Women where she supports policy and programming on gender equality dimensions of HIV/AIDS, as well as women’s health, including sexual and reproductive rights. She brings particular expertise on the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS on households and communities. She oversees the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Rights as well as the Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership and led the organization’s COVID19 Response Task Team. Ms. Damji holds an MSc. in Economics (Gender and Development) from the London School of Economics.
Carla Rodriguez-Watson

Carla Rodriguez-Watson

Director of Research

Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA

Carla Rodriguez-Watson, PhD, MPH is the Director of Research for the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA. An epidemiologist by training, she brings her extensive experience in real-world data for public health surveillance and health outcomes research to develop initiatives focused on improving and leveraging real-world data, methods, settings, to advance the safety and effectiveness of medical products, particularly for populations with high unmet need. This work takes many forms: multi-stakeholder convenings, regulatory science, education programs to develop the next generation of scientists, and ultimately research and analysis with the Innovation in Medical Evidence and Surveillance (IMEDS) Network – a distributed network of 9 health systems (125 M covered lives) leveraging the FDA Sentinel initiative tools and framework - where regulatory science tools and learnings can be implemented.

Carla earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Washington School of Public Health, her MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and her BA from Rutgers University.

James Garcia

James Garcia

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Cal State Fullerton, USA

Dr. García is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Cal State Fullerton. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Health Psychology from the University of North Texas. He completed his Pre-Doctoral Clinical Internship at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Health/Rehabilitation Neuropsychology at Casa Colina Hospital and Centers for Healthcare. Clinically, he has worked with medical populations for over a decade, delivering health psychology interventions and neuropsychological evaluations to communities of color, Spanish speakers, and racial/ethnic LGBTQ+ patients across the continuum of medical care (e.g., inpatient medical rehabilitation, intensive care units, outpatient medical rehabilitation, medical/surgical units, primary care, residential medical facilities). Using a Public Health and Community Health approach to eliminate Health Disparities and promote Health Equity, Dr. García has been involved in health activism at the national level and with local community-based organizations, including his past leadership role as Vice President of Outreach and Community Engagement for the Pomona Pride Center. He has served as an invited community member for the OC Healthcare Agency on their LGBTQ+ report. Currently, he is a Member of the Stroke Psychological Health and Well-Being Committee and a Member of the Stroke Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the American Heart/Stroke Association. He is also extensively involved in reviewing diversity science as an Associate Editor for the journal Current Psychology and Editorial Fellow for Health Psychology. Additionally, he sits on several advisory boards for federally funded health disparities grant projects at CSUF. 
Magdalena Skipper

Magdalena Skipper

Editor in Chief, Nature

Magdalena Skipper is Editor in Chief of Nature and Chief Editorial Advisor for the Nature Portfolio. She is a geneticist by training and was previously Editor in Chief of Nature Communications and Chief Editor of Nature Reviews Genetics. She serves on the NASEM Strategic Council for Research Excellence, Integrity and Trust. She is passionate about supporting women in research careers and was a co-founder of the Nature Award for Inspiring Women in Science.
Svitlana Moroz

Svitlana Moroz

Women's Rights Activist

Ukraine

Svitlana (Sveta) Moroz is a woman living with HIV and women’s rights defender from Ukraine. Svitlana is a lead author of community-led research exploring gender inequality, sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender-based violence, human rights, mental health, HIV criminalisation. Svitlana mobilized resources, built women’s capacities, and co-authored various shadow reports on the situation of women who use drugs, women living with HIV, sex workers, and LBT women submitted to the UN Committee CEDAW. Together with her community colleagues from Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS (EWNA) she advocates for adequate gender equality standards and commitments in HIV response in the EECA region. Under Svitlana’s leadership, in 2022-2023, EWNA carried out Women-led Gender Assessment: How countries address barriers to HIV services for women living with HIV, sex workers and women who use drugs, focusing on 15 countries of the SEECA countries.

Lillian Mworeko

Lillian Mworeko

Executive Director

ICW East Africa, Uganda

Lynn Hendricks

Lynn Hendricks

Transdisciplinary Pracademic

Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Professor Lynn Hendricks is a lecturer at the Division of Health Systems and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU) and holds a joint PhD in Social Science and Public Health. She has expertise in methods innovation, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge translation, and leads the Social and Environmental Determinants of Health transdisciplinary interest group at SU. She is the founding director of the research consultancy Research Ambition and founding co-director of the NPO Hearts in Action.

She is a fellow of Gilead Public Health as well as a fellow of Microsoft Society & AI. She is a board member of the Centre for HIV/AIDS Management at SU. A long-standing previous executive member of the Psychological Society of South Africa, she now serves as a divisional executive for the Division of Climate and Environmental Psychology.

She has a keen interest in creative and co-productive research in communities and works with digital mediums as well as primary arts-based methods. Her work includes co-producing a local and international public art exhibition with the Iziko South African Museum and a community-led documentary about young Cape Flats-based women who contracted HIV perinatally. She has received the Springer Nature Inclusive Health Research Award and the Cochrane Thomas C Chalmers Award in recognition of her work. 

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