Chief, Division of Global Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, USA

Dr. Al-Delaimy is Professor and the Chief of the Division of Global Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and a member of the Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego. He has a multidisciplinary approach in epidemiology research addressing issues of exposure assessment in relation to chronic diseases of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. His current work in environmental epidemiology is focused on soil and dust toxicants in Mexico, and indoor air pollution in India.  He chairs the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Ethics and Philosophy Committee. He has worked on cohort studies of Harvard University (Nurses health Study, Health Professionals follow up study), International Agency for Research on Cancer (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and diet), and University of California, San Diego (The Rancho Bernardo Study, the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living study). He graduated with a medical degree and a post-graduate diploma in Community Medicine from Iraq, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Otago, New Zealand. He worked as a research fellow and research associate at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, followed by a tenure scientist position at the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer based in Lyon before joining The University of California, San Diego. He has published over 80 peer reviewed publications and close to 20 reports and documents.

Director of Disaster and Emergency Health Academy at Tehran University of Medical Sciences

Ali Ardalan MD, PhD, is a pioneer in disaster risk management in Iran and the MENA region who was the driving force behind the creation of MPH and PhD training programs in disaster health studies. He is an Associate Professor and Director of Disaster and Emergency Health Academy at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, an Adviser to Deputy Minister of Health, and Director of Disaster Risk Management Office at I.R.Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education. He is also a Non-UN member of the United Nations' Disaster Management Team in Iran. Dr. Ardalan serves WHO/EMR as a temporary adviser, and collaborates with WHO/Geneva on advocacy of "disaster risk reduction for health" and "hospitals safe from disasters" in line with post-2015 framework for DRR. Since 2012, he is a Visiting Scientist at Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard School of Public Health, and a Senior Fellow at Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Dr. Ardalan is an International Board of Global Network of Disaster Reduction (GNDR) where he represents the Central Asia region. He was a nominee for the 2015 UN Sasakawa Award. Dr. Ardalan is author and co-author of over 70 articles in English and Persian peer reviewed journals and has contributed in 2009 UNISDR Global Assessment Report, and 2013 IFRC World Disasters Report. He was a guest researcher at the Karolinska Institute, and remains an active contributor to the Disaster Supercourse based in Pittsburgh University.

Water Resources Planning and Development Specialist, InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture-IICA, Brasilia, Brazil

Currently, acting as Coordinator of Natural Resources, Environment Management and Adaptation to Climate Change at the InterAmerican Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture-IICA, in Brasilia-Brazil. As Consultant for about 18 years carried several technical cooperation projects related to Water Resources Planning, Development and Management. More recently coordinated a Program to Combat Desertification and Mitigation of Drought in South America, comprising six countries. Besides his international cooperation experience, also acted in the private sector engaged in the design of hydropower development schemes. Also  published several articles, papers on Water Resources issues and authored two books, printed by VDM-Saarbrucken-Germany, on Social Change and Water Resources Planning and Development and Water Resources Resettlement and Project Cycle.

Global Alert and Response, Department of Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases, World Health Organization WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

Dr Eric Bertherat is a specialist in public health and tropical medicine, graduate in tropical microbiology at Pasteur Institute. In the department of Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases, WHO Geneva, he is the focal point for all preparedness and response activities related to plague, leptospirosis, anthrax, rickettsioses and other bacterial zoonotic diseases of international importance. He has taken part in and led many outbreak responses including on cholera, viral haemorrhagic fevers, Nipah virus, meningitis and plague. E. Bertherat is a member of the International Leptospirosis Society  and is at the origin of the Global Leptospirosis Environmental Action Network (GLEAN) that he currently co-chairs.  Dr Eric Bertherat joined WHO in 2001. Formerly he was a medical officer in the French Forces and worked several years in developing countries at different levels of the health systems.

Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, Montpellier University, France

Jean Bousquet is Professor of Pulmonary Medicine at Montpellier University, France. For 13 years, he was the Director of the Inserm (Institut de la Santé de et de la Recherche Médicale) laboratory “Immunopathology of Asthma”. He is the coordinator of MeDALL (Mechanisms of the Development of Allergy), Framework Programme 7 (EU) Integrated Project (2010-2014). He has chaired GINA (Global Initiative for Asthma: 1999-2000), National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NIH) and was ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) founder (1999-current). Jean Bousquet was Chairman of the WHO Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases (GARD, 2006-2013) and is co-coordinator of the Action Plan B3 of the European Innovative Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA, Action 5: Care Pathways, Integrated Care for Chronic Diseases).  For many years, his research was focused on allergens and immunotherapy including pioneered work in sub-lingual immunotherapy. His focus was then directed towards asthma research and he performed studies involving bronchial biopsies which demonstrated inflammation in asthma (Most cited paper in asthma for over 10 years: 1,850 ISI).  He proposed and demonstrated the concept of airways remodelling in asthma. He also examined the relationships between asthma and rhinitis as a co-morbidity, particularly in severe patients. He has now turned his research interest to systems biology to understand the mechanisms of allergy and chronic diseases (MeDALL). Jean Bousquet has public health interest, in particular as the chairman of the WHO GARD. He performed translational research from a clinical observation in his clinic, to the assessment of the disease burden (epidemiology), the understanding the mechanisms and the implementation of the results to populations developing guidelines, national or international programmes with the WHO.Jean Bousquet has edited and authored 10 books including one allergy texbook, and over 800 peer-reviewed papers posted in Medline. He was the editor of European Respiratory Review and Allergy.

Disaster and Development Network (DDN) and Dept. of Geography, Northumbria University, United Kingdom

Andrew works on theoretical, methodological and policy aspects of disaster reduction, health ecology, sustainable development, climate adaptation and human security based at the Disaster and Development Network (DDN), Northumbria University. This includes issues of environment and society, population displacement, risk, governance, education and disaster management with particular application to health and community based strategies. He serves on high level advisory, peer review, events and funding boards aimed at strengthening specialist and public engagement with this field.

Deputy Director, CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), Geelong, Australia

Dr Peter Daniels is the Deputy Director of the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong and established that laboratory’s Diagnosis, Surveillance and Response program. He contributes in an advisory capacity to the international organizations the OIE, the FAO and the WHO in matters relating to the diagnosis and management of emerging infectious diseases and laboratory management including biorisk management. He is a member of the OIE Biological Standards Commission and also chairs the Steering Committee of OFFLU, the OIE/FAO partnership to address animal influenzas. In this role he was instrumental in establishing the formal process for OFFLU contributions of molecular and antigenic analyses of animal influenza isolates to the WHO vaccine strain selection meetings. Prior to joining CSIRO Dr Daniels worked for 10 years in Indonesia at the National Research Institute for Veterinary Science in Bogor where he established an arbovirus surveillance and discovery program. Dr Daniels is currently guiding AAHL's assistance to Southeast Asian laboratories in veterinary laboratory capability building for combating transboundary animal diseases and EIDs, and worked in the veterinary team responding to the Nipah virus outbreak in Malaysia in 1999. 

President, EcoHealth Alliance, New York, USA

Dr. Peter Daszak is President of EcoHealth Alliance, a US-based organization which conducts research and outreach programs on global health, conservation and international development.  Dr. Daszak’s research has been instrumental in identifying and predicting the impact of emerging diseases across the globe.  His achievements include identifyng the bat origin of SARS, identifying the underlying drivers of Nipah and Hendra virus emergence, producing the first ever global emerging disease ‘hotspots’ map, identifying the first case of a species extinction due to disease, coining the term ‘pathogen pollution’, and discovering the disease chytridiomycosis as the cause global amphibian declines.  Dr Daszak is a member of the IOM’s Forum on Microbial Threats, the NRC Advisory Committee to the USGCRP, the Supervisory Board of the One Health Platform, the One Health Commission Council of Advisors,  the CEEZAD External Advisory Board; has served on the IOM Committee on global surveillance for emerging zoonoses, the NRC committee on the future of veterinary research, the International Standing Advisory Board of the Australian Biosecurity CRC; and has advised the Director for Medical Preparedness Policy on the White House National Security Staff on global health issues.  Dr Daszak won the 2000 CSIRO medal for collaborative research on the discovery of amphibian chytridiomycosis, is the EHA institutional lead for USAID-EPT-PREDICT and PREDICT-2, is on the Editorial Board of Conservation Biology, One Health, and Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Ecohealth.  He has authored over 200 scientific papers, and his work has been the focus of extensive media coverage, ranging from popular press articles to television appearances. 

Professor, Head of the dermatology Unit, Vetsuisse Faculty in Zürich, Switzerland

Claude is a French veterinarian who leads the dermatology unit at the Vetsuisse Faculty in Zürich. He is especially interested in skin allergic diseases such as atopic dermatitis and virus-induced skin cancer. He has contributed to discover and describe numerous animal papillomaviruses and to better define their pathogenic roles. He has also carried out several epidemiological studies on canine and feline atopic dermatitis. He has published the first work on the quality of life of allergic animals and the impact of this disease on the owners. He has recently proposed criteria for the diagnosis of atopic diseases and these criteria are now widely used for inclusion of individually in clinical studies.

Fish and Wildlife Health Specialist, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, WA, USA

Dr. Haman is an aquatic animal veterinarian working with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. She is also a PhD candidate in Zoology at the University of British Columbia where her research is focused on marine mammals as sentinels of the land-to-sea flow of zoonotic pathogens, such as Toxoplasma gondii. Further, this research highlights the importance of pathogen distribution and movement between ecosystems and the potential impacts not only on wildlife, but also human health. Katie is especially interested in molecular epidemiology and understanding the overlap between wildlife (aquatic and terrestrial) and human health, especially within a framework of One Health.

Professor of Applied Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, UK

Duncan was Head of Immunology at the Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, UK and took up his position at the University of Nottingham in 2006. His mainstream research is on the immune response to viruses and vaccines in animals and rapid and accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases. Recent funding included the EU FP7 Collaborative Project “WildTech” (completed 2014) which he coordinated, with 13 international partners and about 45 associate partners. The project established effective high throughput technologies to detect pathogens themselves (i.e. pathogen-specific nucleic acids) and antibodies in wild animals. Epidemiological modelling and wildlife diseases data management systems represent important outputs and contribute to monitoring of infectious disease risks from the large wildlife reservoir to farm livestock and humans. Until now, surveillance of wildlife infectious disease has been largely passive in structure rather than a proactive attempt to predict and manage future disease threats across Europe. Duncan continues to promote the EU perspective of wildlife diseases within the remit of One Health particularly with regard to infectious risks for farm livestock. He has good links with university and government agencies in USA.    

One Health Initiative, Sarasota, USA

Dr. Bruce Kaplan, a retired veterinarian, lives in Sarasota, Florida. He formerly worked as an Editor/Writer/Public Affairs consultant. Dr. Kaplan currently devotes his time to promoting the “One Health” movement with One Health collaborators. A One Health leader, he is the primary contents manager for the One Health Initiative website and serves as Contributing Editor on the editorial board of the One Health Newsletter. He also currently serves on several Scientific Advisory Boards and is a member of the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society (AVES) Board. Dr. Kaplan has written, co-authored and edited numerous articles for newspapers and scientific publications. He has authored and co-authored several books on food safety, diseases control and other human and veterinary health related issues. Dr. Kaplan practiced veterinary medicine for over 23 years. He has held positions in public health with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an epidemiologist and the USDA's Office of Public Health and Science in Washington, D.C.

Director, Institute for Biosecurity Research (IBS), Halle, Germany

Alexander Kekulé is director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and chairman of the Institute for Biosecurity Research (IBS). In his research, Professor Kekulé is focused on molecular biology of hepatitis viruses, viral oncogenesis and infectious diseases control. He has been granted several research awards, among them the Karl Heinrich Bauer Award for Cancer Research and the Hans Popper Award for Basic Research of the International Association for the Study of the Liver.

Consultant and CEO, Environmental Health LLC, Durham, USA

Dr. Hillel Koren is an internationally recognized leader in the field of environmental health research and scholarship. He has made significant contributions to the understanding of immunological mechanisms and environmental factors involved in chronic lung diseases, particularly asthma, and has received numerous leadership awards, including a Bronze Medal from the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Dr. Koren served as senior science advisor to the US EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory and as leader of the Asthma and the Environment Research Program. Dr. Koren has been active in many US health initiatives, including the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, the Department of Health and Human Service’s “Healthy People 2000” report. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Fraunhofer Institute of Toxicology and Experimental Medicine in Hannover, Germany. Dr. Koren is the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Helmholtz Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH) Munich, Germany, and Chair of CK-CARE’s (Davos) Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Koren has published extensively (with more than 200 publications and contributions to four textbooks) in the areas of immunology, as well as in cell and molecular biology. In recent years He expanded the scope of his research to include allergic diseases, aerobiology, climate change, and the interconnection between the environment and human health (“ecohealth”). A native of Israel, Dr. Koren lives in Durham, North Carolina. He earned an MSc in microbiology at the University of Tel Aviv and his PhD at the Max-Planck Institute for Immunobiology, Freiburg, Germany. Dr. Koren joined the Microbiology and Immunology faculty at Duke University, prior to his tenure at the US EPA. Soon after his retirement from the US EPA in 2008, he established a successful consulting firm Environmental Health, LLC.

Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC) and Director, Master of Public Health Online Program and Distance Education, USC Institute for Global Health, USA

Shubha Kumar, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) and the Director of the Master of Public Health Online Program and Distance Education at the USC Institute for Global Health.  Her professional and research background include management and leadership in global health and development, program planning & evaluation, health systems strengthening, and health education.  She specializes in impact evaluation, particularly Social Return on Investment (SROI) Analysis, and frequently lectures and consults nationally and internationally on this subject. She has successfully led the design and oversight of several programs in healthcare, disaster relief, and education, as well as launched an international humanitarian NGO for which she was the Chief Operating Officer.  Kumar earned her M.P.H. and Ph.D. in Healthcare Management & Policy from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Global Health at UCLA and a Senior Consultant at SVT Group, a consulting firm specializing in impact management and evaluation.

Visiting Professor, International Institute for Global Health, United Nations University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Roderick Lawrence graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the University of Adelaide (Australia) with First Class Honours. He has a Master Degree from the University of Cambridge (England) and a Doctorate of Science from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale, Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1999 he was nominated Professor in the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences at the University of Geneva. He currently is Visiting Professor for a two year period at the International Institute for Global Health at United Nations University. He is also Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI) at the National University of Malaysia. His research fields include projects funded by the European Commission and the World Health Organization on housing and urban health from a human ecology perspective; and public and private responsibilities in the definition and implementation of intersector projects and programmes for housing and urban planning grounded in the coproduction of knowledge and know-how.

Professor, Aqueous and Environmental Geochemistry. Co-Director TREHB Project, Deptartment of Geological Sciences, College of Natural Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

Dr. Long received his Ph.D. degree in aqueous geochemistry from the University of Kansas.  He is a member of the Department of Geological Sciences at Michigan State University and holds appointments in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Institute for International Health, and the Center for Integrative Toxicology at Michigan State University.  His teaching and research interests are in the areas of aqueous and environmental geochemistry.  Aqueous geochemistry attempts to understand the interplay of physical, chemical, and microbiological processes on water quality as water moves through its cycle (e.g., groundwater, lakes, rivers) both in time and space.  Environmental geochemistry applies knowledge gained from aqueous geochemistry studies to solve societal issues (in both international and national settings) such as remediation of contaminated sites, impact of human activities (e.g., urbanization, agriculture) on the environment, and understanding factors necessary to reduce environmental exposure to disease causing agents that might adversely influence human and ecosystem health. International activities include Australia, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Israel, Kenya, Macedonia, Malawi, Mexico, Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania.

Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland

Andrea Meisser is a former member of the Davos City Council and former president of the Swiss Veterinary Association. He is member of the Human and Animal Health research group within the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, with overall responsibility for the project “One Health: The potential of closer cooperation between human and animal health in Switzerland” of the National Centre of Competence in Research, NCCR North-South, Partnership Action Programme PAMS, Bern, Switzerland.

Head of the Veneto Region Food Allergy Centre of Excellence for Research and Treatment, University of Padua, Italy

Dr. Maria Antonella Muraro is a Medical Doctor and Consultant in Paediatric Allergy at the Department of Women and Child Health at the University Hospital of Padua. She is also Head of the Veneto Region Food Allergy Centre of Excellence for Research and Treatment, University of Padua, Italy. Since 2009, Dr Muraro has been a member of the Board of Officers of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI), Chair of the EAACI Task Force on Anaphylaxis, Chair of the Task Force for the European Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Guidelines and chair of the EAACI Anaphylaxis Awareness Campaign. In 2013 she was appointed EAACI Secretary General. Dr. Muraro is also an independent medical expert for EU Fp7 iFAAM project, European Trilateral Project, ILSI - Food Allergy EG “Prioritisation of allergenic food with respect to public health importance”, as well as founder of a government funded Anaphylaxis Surveillance Network in the North Eastern Italy. The main aims of Dr. Muraro’s research in paediatric allergology include: identification of precocious markers for the diagnosis of the diseases of allergy in children, phenotypes of food allergy and anaphylactic shock. Furthermore, she is researching new protocols for children who are severely affected by anaphylaxis to foods. Her most recent studies evaluate food allergies in children at school in the Venetian Region, and the quality of life of patients as medical advisor of Food Allergy Italia, the national patient association.

Associate Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies, Director, Global and Strategic Initiatives, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

Steve Pueppke is Associate Vice-President for Research and Graduate Studies at Michigan State University and serves as Director of Global and Strategic Initiatives in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.  A Native of North Dakota, he has a BS degree from Michigan State University (1971) and a PhD degree in plant pathology from Cornell University (1975). He held research positions at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Florida before becoming Chair of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Missouri in 1984.  He later became Unit Leader of Plant Science there.  He was a visiting professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland (1989-90), and the University of Marburg, Germany (1996-97).  Dr. Pueppke was Associate Dean for Research in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois from 1998-2006 and Director of MSU AgBioResearch from 2006-2013. Dr. Pueppke has served on several boards and committees within the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and is the former chair of the Experiment Station Committee on Policy.  He is a past president of the board of the National Council on Food and Agricultural Research and past chairperson of the National Agricultural Biotechnology Council.  Since arriving at MSU, Dr. Pueppke has served on the USDA Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture and on the Michigan Renewable Fuels Commission. He is a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society and in 2008 received the Chevalier de l’Ordre des palmes Académiques from the Republic of France.  Dr. Pueppke has published more than 125 peer reviewed papers over a 40 year scientific career.  His current professional interests include agricultural biotechnology, 21st century food systems, and strategy. 

Academician Professor Emeritus, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Professor Dato’ C.P. Ramachandran is well known for his dedication and commitment in research on the control and elimination of tropical diseases. He published over 120 scientific papers on filariasis and other tropical diseases and parasitology. Currently, Professor Dato’ C.P. Ramachandaran is holding numerous teaching positions and is member of several editorial, advisory and review boards. As former secretary of the WHO’s special program on Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, he established tropical diseases research centres in various developing regions and initiated the WHO-GLOBAL program for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis. Numerous awards honour Professor Dato’ C.P. Ramachandran’s efforts for the benefit of human kind and global public health. Among them are: the Sandhom Gold Medal in Medical Parasitology by the Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, the Highest Award for Tropical Medicine by the Malaysian Scientific Association and the Mary Kingsley Medal (UK) for Tropical Medicine.

Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

Arno Rosemarin PhD is Senior Research Fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute and has a multidisciplinary environmental and natural resources background with specialities in disaster risk reduction, sustainable sanitation, hygiene and water resources management, food security and phosphorus limitation, limnology and aquatic toxicology. In recent years he has been working on ecological sanitation in urban and rural settings and co-founded the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance. www.susana.org; www.forum.susana.org; www.sei-international.org

Professor, Queens University and Co-Chair Global Environmental Change and Human Health Project, Hamilton, Canada

Mark W. Rosenberg is professor of geography and cross-appointed as professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He is the co-chair of the scientific steering committee of the Earth System Science Partnership Joint Project on Global Environmental Change and Human Health (ESSP GECHH). From 2000 to 2008, Professor Rosenberg was the chairperson of the International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Health and the Environment (CHE). He was the editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal on Aging (2004 to 2010) and a North American Editor of Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy (2001 to 2010). His research covers a wide range of topics including health and the environment, access to health care services, and vulnerable populations (especially older populations and Aboriginal Peoples).

Senior research fellow, Institute for Hygiene and Public Health, WHO CC, University of Bonn, Germany

Peter Schmitz is an engineer and medical doctor, specialised in surgery, tropical medicine and public health with more than 30 year experience in humanitarian assistance and development. He works in hospital hygiene and is a consultant on disaster management, disaster risk reduction and global health in the development context.   Following many short term assignments in the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia with various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from 1982 until 1996 he was Regional Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health in the North of Namibia with German development service (DED) until 1999. From 2000 to 2009 he was Programme Director and Chief Medical Officer of Malteser International. His core functions were strategic planning, training, technical and managerial support of the NGO’s programmes in humanitarian assistance focussing on disaster response, structural development and rehabilitation in post-conflict and post-disaster situations. This included primary health care services, water sanitation and hygiene programmes, HIV / AIDS programmes, psychosocial care, gender based violence, livelihood, reconstruction and community rehabilitation programmes.   From May 2009 to March 2013 he was head of health programmes and medical services of DED, now GIZ, in Bonn. Throughout his professional career Peter Schmitz was involved in teaching and training, based on many years of practical experience abroad. He is a lecturer on Global Health topics and humanitarian assistance at the University in Bonn and he is teaching within the European master course on humanitarian assistance (NOHA) at the University in Bochum.   He is an author in a number of publications on quality of humanitarian assistance, project design (VENRO 2005, Go International, Hackenbruch 2009), disaster management (Handbuch Humanitäre Hilfe, Dijkzeul, Lieser 2013) and on disaster risk assessment (Worldriskreport 2013, BEH 2013)

Professor, Global Ecology, Remote Sensing, and GIS, Departement of Forestry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

David L. Skole has more than 25 years experience with research on the global climate change, land use and sustainable development. His work focuses on land use interventions, such as agro-forestry, that simultaneously mitigate climate change and poverty in rural households and communities in tropical countries. His platform program, Carbon2Markets, uses climate adaptation and mitigation tools to enhance rural livelihoods through carbon payment schemes. He was formally recognized for his climate change research as a member of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Executive Director, Institute for Human-Animal Connection, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, USA

Clinical Professor Philip Tedeschi is the Executive Director of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver within the Graduate School of Social Work. He is the founder of the Animal Assisted Social Work Program and is recognized for expertise in the clinical methods for Animal Assisted Interventions and coordinates the school's Animal-Assisted Social Work Certificate program for Master of Social Work (MSW) students, as well as the Animals and Human Health certificate program. He received his MSSW degree for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his specialization was the bioaffiliative connection between people and animals. He teaches MSW courses in ethical treatment of animals, human-animal interaction and animal welfare, human ecology and international social work including the natural environment and its non-human inhabitants. Philip’s research, scholarship, presentations, training and community practice work have focused on human-animal interaction, conservation and environmental social work, intervention in interpersonal violence including, assessment and intervention with animal abuse and cruelty globally. Philip has been recognized as a graduate level educator and remains active as a social work practitioner with over 30 year of practice experience. He serves on numerous national organization board of directors including the Delta Pet Partners National Board, The Green Chimneys Institute Board of Advisors, The Horses and Humans Research Foundation, the African Network for Animal Welfare and The National Link Coalition.

Professor, Department of Civil and Environmenal Engineering, Michigan State Univeristy, East Lansing, USA

Thomas Voice specializes in environmental chemistry and physical-chemical processes in the environment, and the interface of these areas to the broader issues of environmental fate and transport,  human health, exposure assessment, water quality, hazardous and industrial waste management, site remediation, and environmental policy.  He maintains an active research program with laboratory facilities designed to support field sampling and analysis, and the investigation of physical-chemical processes that occur in the natural environment or in treatment technologies.  He also holds adjunct appointments in the Department of Geological Science and in the Institute of International Health, and serves as Graduate Program Director for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  In addition to his teaching and research duties, Dr. Voice is involved in several collaborative international programs involving research, education and training, and has overseen technology transfer and community outreach projects.

Senior Policy Advisor, United Nations System Influenza Coordination UNSIC, Switzerland

Chadia Wannous is a Senior Policy Advisor at the UN System Influenza Coordination Office in Geneva, Switzerland. Chadia is a public health professional with a doctorate degree in International Health and Development. She has more than twenty years of experience working in the public health filed in a number of countries in the Middle East, South East Asia, the Caribbean, and North America. Prior to her current position in Geneva, Chadia served as a Technical Officer at WHO Regional Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response sub-unit in Bangkok, and as a Senior Advisor for the UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt and then as a Regional Coordinator for the UN System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC) in the Middle East and North Africa region. Since 2006, Chadia is working on emergency preparedness with a focus on Pandemics Preparedness and Response. In this Chadia is leading on strategic planning and contributing to the development and promotion of pandemic preparedness and response efforts and strengthening partnerships and alliances to optimize UN system links with global initiatives related to pandemic preparedness and response.Most recently she is coordinating the Toward A safer World Network, which aims to contribute to increased societal resilience (including continuity of governance, economic systems, critical services and resilient livelihoods) in the face of pandemics and other comparable threats to health through strengthening the capabilities of the network’s committed individuals to implement best multisectoral, whole-of-society preparedness practices.

Dean, DU Graduate School of Social Work, University of Denver, Denver, USA

Professor James Herbert Williams, PhD., is Dean and Milton Morris Endowed Chair at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver. He holds his MSW from Smith College, MPA from the University of Colorado and PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Washington-Seattle. Dr. Williams’ research and training has been funded by grants from several federal and state agencies and private foundations. Dr. Williams’ publications and community engagement focus on health promotion and disease prevention, health disparities, economic sustainability, human security, conflict resolution, delinquency and violence, mental health services for African American children in urban schools, disproportionate minority confinement of African American youth in the criminal justice system, community strategies for positive youth development, and social issues of the African American community.  His scholarship has been published in several prominent health and social science journals. 

Dr. Williams has 30 plus years of experience as a scholar/educator and social work practitioner.  He has served on two commissions for the Council on Social Work Education and as a member of the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Board of Directors. He is the current President of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Deans and Directors of Schools of Social Work. 

Professor, State Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P.R. China

Dr Ye’s research background includes an expertise in social-economic impacts of climate changes and disaster risk governance. As the executive director of the Integrated Risk Governance Project, sponsored by Future Earth/ICSU and UNISDR, he has engaged extensively with the scientific research community, government policy makers, business sectors, educators and general public around the world on the disaster risk reduction and green development, supervising two current doctoral projects in co-benefit of reducing disaster risks and building resilient society.