Appendix C
Biographical Sketches of Workshop Speakers
Amina Abubakar, Ph.D., is a Research Fellow at Lancaster University. She studied Educational psychology at Kenyatta University in Kenya before proceeding to study Developmental Cross-Cultural Psychology at Tilburg University where she obtained her Ph.D. in 2008. She previously worked at the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Wellcome Trust Research Program in Kenya. She was also a visiting academic at Tilburg University, the Netherland and University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Her research concerns three broad areas: examining the sequelae of various childhood diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, specifically Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and contextual predictors of mental health among adolescents across cultural contexts. Her main interests are in the study of developmental delays and impairments among children exposed to various health problems such as HIV, malnutrition, and malaria. Her main focus in this regard is on developing culturally appropriate strategies for identifying, monitoring and rehabilitating at-risk children. Alongside her colleagues, Dr. Abubakar has been instrumental in developing various culturally appropriate measures of child development currently in use in almost 10 African countries. She has also been involved in various projects aimed at examining the psychosocial risk factors (i.e., maternal depression, quality of home environment, and parental socioeconomic status) predictive of poor developmental outcome among vertically infected HIV positive children and adolescents. In addition, she is also interested in examining the prevalence of and risk factors for neuro-
developmental disorders, specifically ASD, within the African context. As part of her postdoctoral work in cross-cultural psychology, she has recently completed a study involving more than 7,000 adolescents and emerging adults from 24 countries, where she investigates how various contextual factors (familial, school, peer, and cultural) affect well-being (mental health, and life satisfaction identity formation). Dr. Abubakar has given guest lectures and workshops largely focusing on cross-cultural research methods in various countries, including Cameroon, Germany, Indonesia, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and Spain. She has (co)-authored several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.
Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, MBBS, FRCPCH, FAAP, Ph.D. (iYCG Co-Chair), is the Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto, the co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health and Founding Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health, at the Aga Khan University, unique joint appointments. He also holds adjunct professorships at the Schools of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore), Tufts University (Boston), University of Alberta, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is a designated Distinguished National Professor of the Government of Pakistan and was the Founding Chairman of the National Research Ethics Committee of the Government of Pakistan from 2002–2014. Dr. Bhutta’s research interests include newborn and child survival, maternal and child undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies. Dr. Bhutta is one of the seven-member Independent Expert Review Group (iERG) established by the UN Secretary General in September 2011 for monitoring global progress in maternal and child health Millennium Development Goals. He represents the global academic and research organizations on the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) Board, is the co-chair of the Maternal and Child Health oversight committee of the WHO EMRO as well as the Global Countdown for 2015 Steering Group. He has served as a member of the Global Advisory Committee for Health Research for the WHO, the Board of Child & Health and Nutrition Initiative of Global Forum for Health Research, and was a founding Board member of the Global Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH). He serves on several international editorial boards. Dr. Bhutta is currently a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Committee for Vaccines (SAGE), the Expert Advisory Group for Vaccine Research, the Advisory Committee for Health Research of the WHO EMRO, and a co-chair of its apex Regional Committee for Maternal and Child Health. He has won sev-
eral awards, including the Aga Khan University Awards for Research (2005), Distinguished Faculty (2012), and the WHO Ihsan Dogramaci Family Health Award (2014). Professor Bhutta received his Ph.D. from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pediatrics & Child Health, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.
Chow Chun Bong, B.B.S., J.P. 
, is the Honorary Clinical Professor of the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Community Medicine, University of Hong Kong; and an Adjunct Associate Professor of the Department of Pediatrics, Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is also an Honorary Consultant of the Hospital Authority Infectious Disease Centre (HAIDC) at Princess Margaret Hospital, and Honorary Consultant Pediatrician at Princess Margaret Hospital. He is the Founding President of the Hong Kong Society of Neonatal Medicine and Inborn Error of Metabolism. He serves on various boards in the community, including Chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases and Working Group on Injury Prevention, the task force of the code on breast milk substitute, Department of Health. Dr. Chow is also Chairman of the Hong Kong Committee on Children’s Rights, Playright Children’s Play Association, Hong Kong Childhood Injury Prevention and Research, Hong Kong Early Childhood Development Foundation. He has been a board member for Against Child Abuse and Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Hong Kong Association for more than 10 years. He has been a strong advocate for children’s rights in Hong Kong for decades, especially rights for protection and safety, the right to play, and the right for quality and integrated education. He is also Director of Kwai Tsing and Tsuen Wan Safe Community and Healthy City Associations and has been involved in community safety and health promotion at the community level. He also pioneered the Comprehensive Child Development Service for high-risk pregnancies in Kowloon West Cluster and started a QK Blog project for high-risk secondary school students in Kwai Tsing District.
Dr. Chow has authored more than 150 original articles, abstracts, and chapters in books on pediatrics and infectious diseases. He has actively promoted various research works, including childhood injury surveillance and intervention, adolescent health, early child development and child abuse, obesity and physical activity; intrauterine growth in Chinese infants, physical health status of new immigrant children from mainland China, growth parameters in Down Syndrome children; and safe community and healthy city, child policy and play.
Nicholas Burnett, Ph.D., is the Managing Director of Results for Development. Since 2010, he has led the organization’s global education program
that centers on addressing tough challenges that are often neglected, especially using combinations of analysis, financing, model identification, and connecting key stakeholders. Current areas of activity include early childhood education (in collaboration with the Lego Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation), innovations in education (through the Center for Education Innovations), financing and innovative financing, the linkage between secondary education, and skills for employment and out-of-school children. Dr, Burnett was previously UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education, Director of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR), and Human Development Sector Manager for West and Central Africa at the World Bank. He was responsible for the landmark GMR 2007 report Strong Foundations on early childhood. Educated in Economics at Oxford, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins Universities, Dr. Burnett is currently also a visiting special professor of international education policy at Nottingham University in the United Kingdom and was from October 2014 to January 2015 Visiting Professor at the Center for International Cooperation in Education at Hiroshima University in Japan.
Sophia Chan, Ph.D., is the Under Secretary for Food and Health of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Dr. Chan holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Manchester, a master’s degree in Public Health from Harvard University, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Before joining the government, Dr. Chan was Professor in Nursing and Director of Research in HKU’s School of Nursing. She was also an Assistant Dean of the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of HKU. Dr. Chan’s research achievements include tobacco control and smoking cessation promotion. She pioneered the first smoking cessation counselling training program locally and has been a consultant to the WHO on training health care professionals in tobacco dependency treatment interventions through advocacy and education.
Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, Ph.D., is the Vice Chair of BRAC, the world’s largest nongovernmental organization. Previously, he was its Deputy Executive Director, founding Director of the Research and Evaluation Division, and founding Dean of the James P. Grant School of Public Health.
Dr. Chowdhury is also a Professor of Population and Family Health at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University in New York. During 2009–2012, he worked as the Senior Adviser to the Rockefeller Foundation, based in Bangkok, Thailand. He also served as a MacArthur Fellow at Harvard University. Dr. Chowdhury holds a Ph.D.
from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. (Hon’s.) from the University of Dhaka.
Dr. Chowdhury was a coordinator of the UN Millennium Task Force on Child Health and Maternal Health, set up by the former Secretary General Kofi Annan. He is a co-recipient of the Innovator of the Year 2006 award from the Marriott Business School of Brigham Young University in the United States, and in 2008 he received the PESON oration medal from the Perinatal Society of Nepal. He has wide interest in development, particularly in the areas of education, public health, poverty eradication, and the environment. Dr. Chowdhury has published more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed international journals including the International Journal on Education, Lancet, Social Science & Medicine, Scientific American, and the New England Journal of Medicine. One of his recent books is From One to Many: Scaling Up Health Programs in Low Income Countries (co-edited with Richard Cash et al.), published in 2011. He coordinated the recently launched Lancet Series on Bangladesh (http://www.thelancet.com/series/bangladesh). The Lancet also published a profile celebrating his contributions to global health.
Dr. Chowdhury is a founder of the Bangladesh Education Watch and Bangladesh Health Watch, two civil society watchdogs on education and health respectively. He is on the board and committees of several organizations and initiatives, including the Board of Trustees of BRAC University in Bangladesh, and International Advisory Board of the Centre for Sustainable International Development at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom.
Pamela Y. Collins, M.D., M.P.H., is Associate Director for Special Populations and director of the Office for Research on Disparities & Global Mental Health and the Office of Rural Mental Health Research at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Prior to her arrival at NIMH 5 years ago, while a faculty member at Columbia University, Dr. Collins’s research focused on the intersections of mental health and HIV prevention, care, and treatment in the United States, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Collins currently oversees NIMH’s research efforts to increase mental health equity locally and globally. She was one of the editors of the 2011 Lancet series on global mental health, she is a leader of the Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health initiative, and recently led the development of the 2013 PLoS Medicine Policy Forum series on global perspectives for integrating mental health. Dr. Collins obtained her M.D. from Cornell University Medical College and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She trained in psychiatry and
completed an NIMH postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University/ New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Collins studied cultural psychiatry and applied medical anthropology as a research fellow in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Angela Diaz, M.D., M.P.H., is the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. After earning her medical degree in 1981 at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, she completed her postdoctoral training at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in 1985 and subsequently received a Master’s in Public Health from Harvard University.
Dr. Diaz is the Director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, a unique program that provides comprehensive, integrated, interdisciplinary primary care, sexual and reproductive health, mental health, dental services, and health education services to teens—all for free. The Center has an emphasis on wellness and prevention. Under her leadership the Center has become the largest adolescent specific health center in the United States, serving each year more than 12,000 vulnerable and disadvantaged youth, including those who are sexually exploited and trafficked. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and President and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Children’s Aid Society of New York. Dr. Diaz has been a White House Fellow, a member of the Food and Drug Administration Pediatric Advisory Committee, and a member of the National Institutes of Health State-of-the-Science Conference on Preventing Violence and Related Health Risk Social Behaviors in Adolescents. In 2003, Dr. Diaz chaired the National Advisory Committee on Children and Terrorism for the Department of Health and Human Services. She was elected in 2008 as a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In 2009, Dr. Diaz was appointed by Mayor M. Bloomberg to the New York City Commission for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Runaway and Homeless Youth Taskforce. Dr. Diaz is active in public policy and advocacy in the United States and has conducted many international health projects in Asia, Central and South America, Europe, and Africa. She is a frequent speaker at conferences throughout the country and around the world.
HaiLiang Guo is Foundation Administrative Director of the China Women’s Development Foundation.
Yasmin Hussain, Ph.D., is the first Director for Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Regional Center for Special Educa-
tion. She was previously attached to the Malay Women Teachers Training Institute in Melaka as a specialist lecturer in the Special Education Department. She completed her Bachelor of Science majoring in Special Education and Masters in Special Education at University of Western Michigan, in 1991 and in 1992, respectively. She then completed her Ph.D. in Management specializing in Special Education from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, in 2000. Since then she has been lecturing and sharing her expertise with preservice and in-service teachers through workshops and hands-on learning in special education. As a specialist in the field of special education needs, Dr. Yasmin has published papers, journals, and books that become focal resources for teachers of special education in Malaysia. Among her papers are The Use of ICT Among Special Education Teachers in Melaka (2004), A Survey on Primary Mastery of KIA2M Among Year One Pupils in Melaka (2007), Classroom Management for Beginning Teachers (2009), Behaviour Management for Children of Special Needs for Beginning Teachers of Special Education (2010), and The Development of Special Education in Teachers’ Training Institutes in Malaysia (2010).
Divya Lata is the Early Learning and Education Advisor at Plan International Asia Regional Office. She specializes in Disability Rights, Education and Early Childhood Development and has been working in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and countries of the former Soviet Union (CEE/ CIS region) with well-known international organizations, notably the Aga Khan Foundation, the Save the Children Fund, the Open Society Foundation currently Plan International. Advancing child-focused programs in diverse long-term as well as fragile contexts, Ms. Lata currently serves as the Vice-chair of the Consultative Group for Early Childhood Development and as a member on the Executive Committee of the Asia Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood, Singapore.
Albert Lee, MBBS, M.D., M.P.H., FRCP (Workshop Co-Chair), is Clinical Professor in Public Health and Primary Care and Founding Director of Centre for Health Education and Health Promotion of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Editor of Lancet-HK Edition and Cogent Education. He holds Honorary Professorship at Faculty of Education of University of Hong Kong and adjunct professorship at Indiana University School of Public Health (Bloomington) in the United States; and Brighton University Centre for Health Research, United Kingdom.
Dr. Lee is well known as an academic clinician, educational innovator, and research leader in Family Medicine, Health Promotion, and Disease Prevention and has particular focus on promotion of child and adolescent health through school settings linking to community and primary health care contributing models of care for school health applicable internation-
ally. His innovation in education includes pioneering professional training in primary health care and school health in countries without related academic and professional institutions. His strategic research focus is on child health policy linking health, education, and social sectors. He has been appointed as the WHO Temporary Advisor on many occasions, and was commissioned to conduct international workshops for Asian and Pacific countries on health promotion. He has published more than 180 papers in peer-reviewed journals and over 100 invited presentations globally. Dr. Lee is the founding Steering Committee Member of Alliance for Healthy Cities (AFHC) (2003–2010) (established after the WHO Regional Consultation meeting). He is Chairman of Scientific Committee of AFHC 2014 Global Conference. He is President of Hong Kong Health Education and Promotion Foundation. His contribution to community services was recognized by award of the Chief Executive Commendation for Community Services in 2004 Honors list of Hong Kong Government, inclusion in World’s Who’s Who, and Most Outstanding Capacity Building Award in advancing health promotion through funded projects by Food and Health Bureau (de facto Ministry of Health for Hong Kong) in 2011. Dr. Lee received his medical degree from the University of London (University College London-Middlesex), his higher academic qualifications at the doctoral and master level, and professional qualifications at Fellowship level in Family Medicine and Public Health awarded by Royal Colleges in Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Rance P. L. Lee, Ph.D., became Founding Master of Wu Yee Sun College on August 1, 2011. Professor Lee graduated from the Department of Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Chung Chi College) in 1965. After obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1968, he immediately returned to Hong Kong to teach sociology at his Alma Mater. He became Chair Professor of Sociology in 1984. During his long service as a faculty member, he took on many administrative duties on top of teaching and research responsibilities at the university: he served variously as Director of the Social Research Centre, Dean of Social Science, Chairman of the Department of Sociology, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Continuing and Professional Studies, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Physical Education, Chairman of the Management Committee of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies. The highlight of his services, however, was his tenure as Head of Chung Chi College from 1994 to 2004, in which he contributed much not only to Chung Chi College, but to the overall development of the university’s college system.
Dr. Lee was a pioneer in medical and health sociology in Hong Kong, and led many surveys on social issues and medical problems in both Hong Kong and China. As an academic, his services to the community
included advising government bodies as well as other community organizations, including the Central Policy Unit, the Social Welfare Advisory Committee, the Research Grants Council, the Advisory Committee on Social Work Training and Manpower Planning, the Council on Human Reproductive Technology, the Health Services Research Committee, the Police Education and Welfare Trust Management Committee, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, the Release Under Supervision Board, the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Council, and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal Panel. In 1992, Dr. Lee was appointed as Non-official Justice of the Peace, was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. He was conferred Honorary Fellowship by Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2010.
Ann S. Masten, Ph.D., LP (iYCG Co-Chair), is Regents Professor, Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. She completed her doctoral training at the University of Minnesota in clinical psychology and her internship at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1986, she joined the faculty in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, serving as chair of the department from 1999 to 2005. Dr. Masten’s research focuses on understanding processes that promote competence and prevent problems in human development, with a focus on adaptive processes and pathways, developmental tasks and cascades, and resilience in the context of high cumulative risk, adversity, and trauma. She directs the Project Competence studies of risk and resilience, including studies of normative populations and high-risk young people exposed to war, natural disasters, poverty, homelessness, and migration. The ultimate objective of her research is to inform sciences, practices, and policies that aim to promote positive development and a better future for children and families whose lives are threatened by adversity. Dr. Masten currently serves on the Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF) and the U.S. National Committee of Psychology for the Institute of Medicine/National Academies. She formerly served on the BCYF Committee on the Impact of Mobility and Change on the Lives of Young Children, Schools, and Neighborhoods and the planning committee on Investing in Young Children Globally. She also has served as President of the Society for Research in Child Development and President of Division 7 (Developmental) of the American Psychological Association (APA). She is a 2014 recipient of the Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contributions to Developmental Psychology in the Service of Science and Society from the APA. Dr. Masten has published and presented
extensively on the themes of risk and resilience in human development. Her book, Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Children, has been published by Guilford Press, and she taught a free MOOC (mass open online course) on the same theme in 2014 on Coursera.
Helia Molina, M.D., M.P.H., is a Consultant working with the Forum on Investing in Young Children Globally and recently completed her term as Minister of Health in Chile. Dr. Molina is a pediatrician and professor in public health at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She is the Past National Executive Director (at the Ministry of Health) of Chile Crece Contigo, the Chilean Social Protection System for early infancy. Previously, she was Chief of the Healthy Public Division at the Ministry of Health from 2006 to 2010. From 2005 to 2008, Helia was a member of the Knowledge Network in Early Childhood Development WHO Social Determinants of Health Commission. She served as Regional Advisor in Child Health and Development to the Pan-American Health Organization in Washington, DC, and was previously the Director of the Chilean Epidemiology Society from 2000 to 2004, and the Past President of The Chilean Pediatric Society (1987). She holds the degrees of M.D. from the University of Chile, where she specialized in pediatrics, and M.P.H. from the University of Chile (1990). She has many technical publications about early child development and infant public policies.
Emma Pearson, Ph.D., is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychological and Human Development Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Her research and consultancy work across Asia and the Pacific has included national evaluations of early childhood programs; establishment of country-specific Early Learning and Development Standards; advising on the scale-up of community-based early childhood education, and service on regional and national advisory boards. She facilitated the creation of the Pacific Regional Council for Early Childhood Care and Education (PRC4ECCE) and developed the first working draft of the recently approved regional Pacific Guidelines for the Development of National Quality Frameworks for ECCE.
As a result of varied work with colleagues across the region, she strongly believes that solutions for current challenges in the measurement, design, and financing of early childhood programs should be sought through equal and seamless engagement between stakeholders at all levels of provision, from children and families to national ministries, regional bodies, and international organizations. This interest is reflected in her current research activities, which include leadership of a mixed-method, nationwide investigation of Bruneian priorities for young
children, to culminate in the drafting of a Brunei-specific curriculum for children ages 3 to 5 years.
Kalana Peiris holds bachelor degrees in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Colombo Sri Lanka and has 17 years of experience in development work in conflict, postconflict, remote rural, and multicultural environments in Sri Lanka. He has also contributed in the development of the maternal, newborn, and child health program for Plan International in Timore Leste and is currently the Public Health Advisor in Plan International in Lao PDR. He led a team of professionals from Plan International, Foundation for Health Promotion and Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, that developed, implemented, and documented a unique integrated methodology in improving parental ownership of early stimulation and responsive care. This methodology showed potency to achieve far-reaching outcomes of child development, early and foundations of life-long learning, reducing domestic violence, and improving nutrition and well-being of children in early childhood. This has made significant impact and is being replicated in seven Asian countries by the Plan International Asia Regional Office. He has a particular interest and has demonstrated capability in gender transformative program design, implementation, and monitoring; community mobilization and empowerment, prevention of gender-based violence; child protection; and prevention of alcohol and substance use.
Chemba Raghavan, Ph.D., works at the UNICEF East Asia Pacific Regional Office as an Education Specialist. She serves as the Regional Focal Point for the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) as well as for Early Childhood Development (ECD) and the Out of School Children initiative (OOSCi). As the Focal Point, Dr. Chemba provides leadership and coordination of knowledge generation and management, evidence-based advocacy, and technical support for initiating and sustaining national partnerships to promote ECD and advance gender equality. Prior to her current role in UNICEF, she had several years of experience in teaching and research (in the fields of Gender and Child Development) in the United States. Dr. Chemba obtained her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 1993.
Nirmala Rao, M.S., Ph.D., C Psychol, FHKPS, is the Serena H. C. Yang Professor in Early Childhood Development and Education, Professor, Faculty of Education and Dean, Graduate School, University of Hong Kong. A Developmental and Chartered (Educational) Psychologist by training, she has been recognized internationally for her research on early childhood development and education in Asian cultural contexts. Her research has
focused on the development, evaluation, and dissemination of evidence-based programs directed at children in the early childhood stage of development with the objective of finding out why they have the effects that they do. Dr. Rao has published widely on early childhood development and education, child development and educational policy, and educational psychology. She has been the recipient of numerous research grants from governments and international nongovernmental organizations. She has participated in international meetings as an expert/specialist and undertaken consultancies for UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Bank. Dr. Rao serves on the editorial board for several journals, is the Associate Editor of Child Development and a member of the Steering Committee for the upcoming Lancet Series on Early Child Development. Dr. Rao is also actively involved in professional organizations that aim to promote the well-being of children through research and advocacy efforts.
Claire Runciman is a Sociologist with a doctorate in employment relations, spending the first part of her career as an academic at the Australian National University. Runciman then worked in government in areas of epidemiology, development of health policy, and child safety prior to establishing and running the Support Service of the Nurse–Family Partnership Program in Australia between 2008 and 2014. Runciman now works with Dr. David Olds on the Leadership Group for the Australian Nurse–Family Partnership Program (ANFPP) and also as an independent consultant. The AANFPP has now been in existence for 6 years and is about to undergo a major expansion. A theme of Runciman’s career has been promotion of social inclusion. The ANFPP is largely targeted at vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Islander families, and Runciman is particularly interested in implementation of evidence-based programs as it relates to vulnerable families.
Najma Shaikh, Ph.D., works as the epidemiologist at Kheth‘Impilo, a nongovernmental organization that provides HIV treatment care and support in South Africa (SA). Trained as an infectious disease epidemiologist, she has worked as the Senior Specialist in the HIV/AIDS Directorate and prior to that, headed the Epidemiology Unit of the Western Cape Department of Health in SA. Dr. Shaikh has worked as an academic, researcher and health manager during the course of her career. Her main research areas include the epidemiology of HIV, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections, mortality surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation of programs in the public health sector.
She conceptualized and implemented the district-level HIV surveillance system for the Western Cape, which has been rolled out nationally. She was part of the team that implemented the Prevention and Mother-
to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) program, antiretroviral therapy (ART) program, and the prevention strategy in the Western Cape province.
Other areas of research in collaboration with the Medical Research Council, Human Science Research Council, and the National Department of Health include HIV Epidemiology, with particular focus on programs and interventions. She has published papers and reports and has served on several advisory committees in the health research arena at the national, provincial, and international level. She was awarded a Fogarty Postdoctoral Scholarship at Columbia University New York, a Medical Research Council postintern Research scholarship, and the Oliver Tambo Fellowship for Public Health Leadership in SA.
Andy Shih, Ph.D. (Workshop Co-Chair), is Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs at Autism Speaks. He works closely with members of Autism Speaks’ Board, Scientific Advisory Committee, senior staff, and volunteer leadership to develop and implement the organization’s research program. He oversees the etiology portfolio, which includes genetics, environmental sciences, and epidemiology, as well as the Innovative Technology for Autism program, which supports the research and development of novel assistive technologies. Dr. Shih also leads Autism Speaks’ international scientific development efforts, including the Global Autism Public Health Initiative, an international advocacy effort currently active in more than 45 countries around the world that integrates awareness, research, and service development. His team serves as facilitators and technical advisors to community stakeholders, including government ministries, professional societies, and advocacy organizations. Dr. Shih joined the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) in 2002, an autism science organization that merged with Autism Speaks in 2006. Prior to joining NAAR, he served as an industry consultant and was a member of the faculty at Yeshiva University and New York University Medical Center. Dr. Shih’s research background includes published studies in gene identification and characterization, virus-cell interaction, and cell-cycle regulation. He earned his Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from New York University Medical Center.
Karlee Silver, Ph.D., is the VP of Targeted Challenges for Grand Challenges Canada. Dr. Silver leads the Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. She is a member of the Knowledge Exchange Working Group for the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.
Prior to joining Grand Challenges Canada, Dr. Silver trained in the laboratory of Dr. Kevin Kain at the Sandra Rotman Centre for Global
Health in Toronto, first as a Canadian Institutes of Health Research postdoctoral fellow, then as a MITACS Elevate postdoctoral fellow, where she helped to identify host responses of malaria infection in pregnant women to harness for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
Dr. Silver received her doctorate in 2006 from the University of Oxford, where she attended as a Rhodes Scholar and trained in genetics and immunology under the supervision of Professor Richard Cornall and Professor Sir John Bell. An accumulation of inspirations, including traveling through southern Africa after Oxford, led to a refocus toward global health. Witnessing both the strength of women to sustain their families and communities, and the vulnerability of these same women to the consequences of poverty inspired Dr. Silver to apply herself to health issues of women in developing countries.
Howard Sobel, M.D., M.P.H., has been with the WHO since 1999. He has worked in the area of expanded immunization program, maternal and child health at the WHO headquarters, and at country offices in Cambodia, Guyana, and the Philippines. He is now working in the Western Pacific Regional Office as Regional Coordinator, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Programs. His field of expertise includes public health, clinical, and preventive medicine.
Jan van Ravens is a senior policy maker and consultant, affiliated to the Child Study Center at Yale University. In recent years he supported early childhood policy development in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Georgia, Indonesia, Jordan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macedonia, Montenegro, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panamá, Romania, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. As member of a research team from Yale and Harvard he studied the governance of child policy in Colombia, Kenya, Perú, and Uganda. Former positions include Senior Policy Analyst in a UN-team that issues the annual Education for All Global Monitoring Reports; Head of International Affairs in the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; and coordinator of Higher Education and Lifelong Learning in the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Having participated in international networks (UNICEF, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], European Union [EU], UNESCO) he values international comparison as an important means to better understand and improve the functioning of national systems for education, health care, and social protection. Graduated at Leiden University, he has published about 75 titles—partly academic, partly more journalistic—on early childhood policy and on education.
Emily Vargas-Barón, Ph.D., directs The RISE Institute, a global authority on policy development in early childhood development (ECD) and early childhood intervention (ECI). She also conducts advisory services and research projects on ECD policy planning and implementation. She has helped more than 20 countries develop their national policies and strategic plans for ECD, and she has helped 4 countries design their national ECI systems and program policies and procedures. Previously she was a Deputy Assistant Administrator for U.S. Agency for International Development, directing the Center for Human Capacity Development that provided global support for education, training, and telecommunication programs in 80 nations. In the State of Texas she founded and led for 15 years an ECD/ECI institute (Center for Development, Education and Nutrition [CEDEN] now called ABC Child and Family Resource Center). She was an Education Advisor for the Ford Foundation in the Andean Region of Latin America, based in Colombia for 6 years. She also served as a policy and program specialist in UNESCO for 4 years. She has published several books and many journal articles, principally on ECD, ECI, and educational development. She has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University, with a specialization in international educational planning.
Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Ph.D., is the Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Globalization and Education at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. He is also the cochair of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Workgroup on Early Childhood Development, Education, and the Transition to Work, and serves on the Network’s Leadership Council. He is a community and developmental psychologist who studies the effects of public policies and programs related to immigration, early childhood, and poverty reduction on children’s development. He conducts research in the United States and in low- and middle-income countries, including studies on early childhood development and policy in Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, and other countries. His recent books include Immigrants Raising Citizens: Undocumented Parents and Their Young Children (2011, Russell Sage). He has served on the BCYF of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Early Childhood Advisory Committee of the Inter-American Development Bank, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation for the Clinton and Obama Administrations. In 2011 he was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate as a member of the U.S. National Board for Education Sciences. In 2013 he was elected to the National Academy of Education. He obtained his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from New York University.
Min Zhou, Ph.D., is currently Tan Lark Sye Chair Professor of Sociology, Head of the Division of Sociology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Director of the Chinese Heritage Centre, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She is also Professor of Sociology & Asian American Studies and Walter and Shirley Wang Endowed Chair in U.S.China Relations & Communications, University of California, Los Angeles (on leave). Dr. Zhou’s main areas of research include international migration, immigrant integration, the new second generation, ethnic/racial relations, immigrant communities, Chinese Diaspora, Asia and Asian America, and urban sociology, and she has published widely in these areas, including 14 books and more than 160 journal articles and book chapters. She is the author or co-author of Chinatown (1992), Growing Up American (1998), Contemporary Chinese America (2009), The Accidental Sociologist in Asian American Studies (2011), and The Asian American Achievement Paradox (2015). Currently, Dr. Zhou is working on three projects: Inter-Group Relations and Racial Attitudes Among Chinese Locals and African Merchants in Guangzhou, China; Chinese Immigrant Transnationalism; and Highly Skilled Chinese Immigrants in Los Angeles and Singapore.”
