Adam Hollowell is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Program in Education at Duke University, where he also serves as Senior Research Associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity and Director of the Inequality Studies Minor. His teaching spans ethics, inequality studies, and history across Duke’s Kenan Institute for Ethics, Sanford School of Public Policy, and Department of History. Hollowell holds a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh (2009). His research focuses on inequality, higher education, public policy, and ethics, with notable work on pandemic impacts, telemedicine in education, and reproductive health access during crises. In Inequality Studies , Hollowell emphasizes understanding policies to drive social change, as highlighted in recent media coverage. His publications explore topics like student behavior shifts during the pandemic, telemedicine adoption in universities, and James Baldwin’s ethical challenges. He is a finalist for the Judith Deckers Prize (2024). Professionally, Hollowell leads projects such as Bass Connections on college contraception access and Story+ initiatives. His work bridges academia and public engagement, addressing systemic inequities through interdisciplinary approaches.
Daniel Epstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), where he leads the Personal Informatics Everyday (PIE) Lab. He holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Computer Science and is affiliated with the Connected Learning Lab, Institute for Future Health, and Accessibility Research Collective. Epstein earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Washington and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Virginia. His research focuses on how personal tracking technology can better serve diverse users' needs, emphasizing ethical design, health equity, and long-term user engagement. Notable areas include pregnancy tracking, wearable technology for children and ADHD management, and AI-driven health chatbots. Epstein has received grants from NSF, Snap Inc., and UCI programs, totaling over $650k in funding. Epstein's work bridges HCI and health informatics, with over 60 peer-reviewed publications. He advises six Ph.D. students and has mentored numerous undergraduates. Awards include the ACM Senior Member distinction (2025), CHI Best Paper (2023), and NSF CAREER Award (2023). Professional service includes program committees for CHI, CSCW, and UbiComp, plus leadership roles in workshops like the Workgroup on Interactive Systems in Healthcare (WISH). Beyond academia, Epstein enjoys hiking, collecting turtle figures, and advocating for accessible technology.
Emily Hannum is a Professor of Sociology and Education at the University of Pennsylvania's College of Arts & Sciences, where she also serves as Associate Dean for Social Sciences. She is affiliated with the Population Studies Center, Center for the Study of Contemporary China, Graduate School of Education, and Penn Development Research Initiative. Education: PhD in Sociology from University of Michigan (1998) Research Focus: Poverty and child welfare, gender and ethnic stratification, sociology of education Projects: Gansu Survey of Children and Families, climate-environment-childhood inequalities in LMICs Workshops: Co-organizer of Penn Education and Inequality Workshop Her research explores childhood poverty in China, demographic impacts on education systems, and climate risks affecting children's welfare. She investigates environmental hazards, educational disparities, and family separation effects across China, India, and low/middle-income countries. Recent publications analyze educational expansion in East Asia, climate crisis impacts on child health, and gender disparities in Latin America. She directs longitudinal studies on rural poverty and collaborates on cross-national projects related to environmental and educational equity. Scientific awards include the Stanley I. Sheerr Term Professorship in Social Sciences.
Martin T. Wells is the Charles A. Alexander Professor of Statistical Sciences at Cornell University, with joint appointments in the Department of Statistical Science, Department of Biological Statistics and Computational Biology, Department of Social Statistics, and as Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research at Weill Medical School. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the ASA-SIAM Book Series and Co-Editor of the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Weill Cornell Medical College Research Interests span applied and theoretical statistics, Bayesian methods, biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, and computational biology. His work bridges disciplines like finance, legal studies, and health services research. Article Trends highlight advancements in Bayesian modeling, quantum cognition machine learning, tensor analysis, and misclassification correction, with applications in genomics, finance, and public health. Fellow of the American Statistical Association Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society Contributions include developing statistical software (e.g., rTensor), methodological innovations in clinical trials, and empirical legal studies on civil rights and the death penalty.
Rachel Morley is an Associate Professor at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), University College London. She holds a BA in French Language and Literature from the University of Oxford (1992), followed by BA, MA, and PhD degrees from UCL (1999, 2001, 2011). Her roles include Academic Director of Education and Student Experience at SSEES (2022–2027) and Co-Convenor of the UCL SSEES Cinema Research Group. Dr. Morley's research focuses on Cinema studies Cultural studies Feminist and queer theory Literary studies with emphasis on Soviet/Russian cinema, gender representation, and film historiography. She held a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (2020–2022) for her project on female subjectivity in contemporary Russian cinema. Her teaching spans Russian cinema, poetry, language, and translation. Past roles include Postgraduate Teaching Assistant at SSEES (1999–2009) and lecturer at the University of Cambridge (2006, 2008). She has also supported international students as SSEES International and Affiliate Tutor (2014–2018). Key Achievements: Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2016) Her work bridges film, literature, and cultural history, emphasizing underrepresented narratives and feminist perspectives in Russian and Soviet cinema.
Susan L. Burns is a Professor at the University of Chicago, where she holds appointments in the Department of History, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, and The College. She currently serves as Department Chair and Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee. Education: PhD, University of Chicago (1994) Her research focuses on Japan’s nineteenth-century social history, emphasizing intellectual and cultural practices, the intersection of medicine and public health, gender analysis, and legal discourses. She explores continuities between Japan’s early modern and modern eras, particularly how medical and legal frameworks shaped national identity. Recent publications span leprosy’s impact on citizenship, the rise of medical marketplaces, and gendered dimensions of reproductive health. Her digital humanities work on Mapping Medical Tokyo integrates GIS and text mining for historical analysis. Scientific Awards: Fulbright-Hays Fellowship IIE Fulbright Japan Foundation Japan Society for the Promotion of Science National Endowment for the Humanities She has secured grants for research on medical commodities, psychiatric practices, and the spatial dimensions of Meiji-era health policies. Her courses include Gender and Japanese History and Medicine and Culture in East Asia .
Deborah Fox is Associate Professor in Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Faculty of Health, and a core member of the Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health. She serves as Co-lead of the Maridulu Budyari Gumal SPHERE Maternal and Women's Clinical Theme and Chair of the National Publicly Funded Homebirth Consortium. In 2024, she received the Faculty of Health Dean's Academic Excellence Award for Research (Mid Career Researcher), following her 2021 award as Highest Performing Early Career Researcher from the School of Nursing and Midwifery. Her research focuses on optimizing physiological processes and positive experiences for women with complex pregnancies, with particular emphasis on the mediation of technology in midwifery practice. Current projects include evaluation of non-invasive fetal ECG beltless and wireless fetal monitoring in labor and birth, and examining the social, economic and environmental impacts of telemonitoring and telehealth in pregnancy and postpartum care. Dr. Fox's scholarly work demonstrates consistent focus on technology's role in maternity care, women's experiences of monitoring during labor, and innovative approaches to midwifery practice. Her recent publications show increasing emphasis on digital health solutions, AI applications in women's health, and pandemic impacts on maternal care systems globally. Faculty of Health Dean's Academic Excellence Award for Research (Mid Career Researcher) 2024 Highest Performing Early Career Researcher award from School of Nursing and Midwifery 2021 Editorial Board Member, Women and Birth journal Dr. Fox is actively involved in higher degree research supervision and has developed innovative teaching resources, including an Objective Structured Clinical Examination for perinatal mental healthcare. She is scheduled to spend three months as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford in 2025.
Tracey Evans Chan is an Associate Professor and Director of the NUS Law Academy at the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Law. His expertise lies in biomedical law and ethics, with a focus on issues such as surrogacy, transplant ethics, and human-animal research. He has held significant roles, including a secondment to Singapore's Ministry of Health, where he contributed to the Human Biomedical Research Act 2015. He currently serves on the National Medical Ethics Committee and the Advisory Committee on Restricted Research under the same Act, and is a member of NUS's Institutional Review Board. Education: LLM (Harvard University) LLB (National University of Singapore) Research Interests: Chan's work bridges legal and ethical dimensions of biomedical advancements. Key areas include regulatory challenges in mitochondrial replacement technology, consent frameworks for minors, and the ethical implications of emerging medical technologies. His contributions to Singapore's legal committees reflect his commitment to balancing innovation with societal values. Publications & Trends: His recent works explore themes like advance care planning, the placebo effect in clinical practice, and cross-jurisdictional comparisons of healthcare dependency laws. These publications underscore his interdisciplinary approach to legal and biomedical challenges. Awards & Grants: No specific awards or grants are listed, but his policy contributions and academic output highlight his impactful work in regulatory frameworks. Advising & Teams: As a faculty member, he teaches courses like Medical Law and Ethics. His involvement in NUS's Institutional Review Board and Singapore's advisory committees demonstrates his role in shaping research ethics and healthcare policy.
Sarah Bracke is a Professor in Sociology of Gender and Sexuality at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam . Her work critically examines intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and secularism, particularly in European contexts. She is deeply engaged in analyzing systemic crises—capitalist, nationalist, and ecological—and their impact on marginalized communities. Current Affiliation : University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Research Focus : Gender theory, reproductive rights, anti-LGBTQ+ mobilizations, secularism, and the political dimensions of care economies. Bracke’s research emphasizes the deliberate erosion of gender, reproductive, and LGBTQ+ rights, often highlighting transnational collaborations among far-right and mainstream political forces. She connects these issues to broader crises, including climate change, capitalist precarity, and nationalist rhetoric. Her work advocates for feminist coalitions that transcend traditional boundaries, prioritizing care ethics and collective solidarity over exclusionary frameworks. Her recent publications explore topics like the racialized dimensions of reproductive politics, the secularist underpinnings of European ‘Muslim Question’ discourse, and the role of academia in resisting oppressive systems. Although no specific awards or advisees are mentioned in the text, Bracke’s scholarship consistently bridges feminist theory, critical race analysis, and critiques of neoliberalism, urging transformative responses to global crises.
Ashli Owen-Smith is a behavioral scientist affiliated with the School of Public Health at Georgia State University , where her research focuses on mental health disparities, suicide prevention, and integrative/complementary approaches for complex mental-physical health conditions. She works with underserved populations including refugees/immigrants, incarcerated individuals, and LGBTQ+ communities through community-based participatory research and mixed-methods frameworks. Her current projects are funded by CDC , DBHDD , and DPH . Education: Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences (Emory, 2009), S.M. in Public Health (Harvard, 2005), B.A. in Psychology (Smith College, 2001) Her research spans mental health , trauma , suicide prevention , and mindfulness-based interventions . Recent work examines telehealth adaptations for chronic pain and mental health, vaccine hesitancy in refugee communities, and social determinants of suicide . She leads studies on gender-affirming care and health disparities in LGBTQ+ populations. Key article trends include epidemiological analysis of suicide risk factors, COVID-19 impacts on mental health, ICD-10 coding for autism, and complementary medicine in trauma recovery. Subfields span telehealth , health equity , mental-physical comorbidity , and community engagement . Students she has mentored include C.A. Scarlett , T. Griner , and M.M. Sesay . Her work integrates public health policy , clinical research , and health systems analysis .
Gayle Letherby is a Visiting Professor of Sociology at the University of Plymouth’s Peninsula Medical School (Faculty of Health), and holds visiting roles at the University of Greenwich and the University of Bath’s Centre for Death and Society (CDAS). She is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (since 2007) and recipient of the 2023 Lifetime Contribution to Autoethnography Award. Her research focuses on feminist methodology, health sociology, grief and bereavement, mobility studies, and criminology. She has supervised over 20 doctoral students across multiple universities, including topics like non-motherhood, occupational therapy, and gang culture in African Caribbean communities. Her teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate levels, covering crime theory, auto/biographical research, and feminist epistemology. Notable collaborations include participatory studies on homeless individuals’ food experiences and ethnographic explorations of medical decision-making. Her interdisciplinary work bridges sociology, criminology, and health studies, with a strong emphasis on autoethnographic and creative methodologies. Recent research explores themes like grief narratives, gendered travel experiences, and the emotional dimensions of doctoral journeys. She has contributed to policy discussions on family-centred care and has been a guest lecturer globally, including at York University (Canada) and University College Cork (Ireland). Awards: Academy of Social Sciences Academician (2007), Lifetime Contribution to Autoethnography (2023) Teaching Expertise: Feminist research methods, criminology, sociology of health, gender studies Key Research Areas: Auto/biography, non-motherhood, medical sociology, mobility, grief studies
Eli Ben-Michael is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and the Department of Statistics & Data Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He is affiliated with the CMU-NIST AI Measurement Science & Engineering Cooperative Research Center (AIMSEC), contributing to cutting-edge research at the intersection of statistics, policy analysis, and artificial intelligence. His educational background includes a PhD in Statistics from U.C. Berkeley and undergraduate studies at Columbia University where he earned a dual degree in Computer Science and Statistics. Prior to his current position, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University's Institute for Quantitative Social Science and Department of Statistics. Ben-Michael's research focuses on developing innovative statistical and computational methods for causal inference and policy evaluation, with particular emphasis on integrating machine learning techniques to address complex problems in public policy and social science. His work bridges theoretical statistics with practical applications in healthcare, criminal justice, education, and social policy. Current research directions include safe policy learning, sensitivity analysis for clustered data, and methodological innovations for the synthetic control method. His publication record shows a strong trajectory in top-tier journals including Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, and Proceedings of ICML. Recent work demonstrates increasing focus on policy-relevant applications including abortion legislation impacts, pre-trial risk assessment, and healthcare disparities, while maintaining methodological rigor in causal inference frameworks. Ben-Michael has developed open-source software tools including augsynth and multical R packages, which implement his methodological contributions for synthetic controls and multilevel calibration weighting. These packages have been adopted by researchers in multiple disciplines for causal inference applications.
Lisa L. Wynn is Professor in the School of Social Sciences (Discipline of Anthropology) at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She serves as Associate Editor of American Ethnologist (2022-2027) and previously held leadership positions including President of the Australian Anthropological Society (2020) and membership on the AAS Executive Committee (2018-2021). Wynn earned her PhD in 2003 from Princeton University's Anthropology Department, followed by postdoctoral positions at Princeton's Office of Population Research and Center for Health and Wellbeing. Her research program centers on gender, reproductive health technologies, sexuality, and religion, with continuous fieldwork in Egypt since 1998. More recently, she has expanded her work to examine ethics review bureaucracies, lay understandings of infectious disease, and young adult vaping behaviors in Australia. Her methodological approach combines deep ethnographic engagement with critical analysis of how power structures intersect with medical technologies and bodily experiences, particularly among marginalized communities. Analysis of her recent publications reveals an evolving trajectory that maintains her foundational interest in Middle Eastern contexts while increasingly addressing digital spaces (as seen in studies of online fatwas) and contemporary health crises (including pandemic responses and vaping culture), with consistent attention to bodily autonomy and reproductive justice. Her significant scholarly contributions have been recognized through multiple prestigious awards: Vice Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Award from Macquarie University (2009) Australian Award for Teaching Excellence (2012) OLT National Teaching Fellowship (2012-2014) Leeds Honor Prize from the Society for Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology (2008) Wynn actively mentors graduate researchers specializing in gender, sexuality, medicine and technology, with particular emphasis on sexual and reproductive health. Her research program has received substantial funding from the Social Science Research Council, Australian Research Council, Office of Learning and Teaching, and Hort Innovation. Notably, she co-led a major international project to develop multilingual sexual and reproductive health resources that have reached millions of users across 208 countries. She also created a free online ethics training program for humanities and social sciences researchers at Macquarie University. Through collaborations with Cambridge Reproductive Health Consultants and other partners, Wynn has successfully translated academic research into accessible public resources, including evidence-based information on medication abortion available in six languages (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi).
Professor George Palattiyil is a Personal Chair of Social Work and Refugee Studies at the University of Edinburgh , with a focus on forced migration, HIV/AIDS, human rights, and social work education. He leads interdisciplinary initiatives like the Global Refugee Health Research Network and contributes to teaching across BSc, MSW, and MSc programmes. PhD in Social Work (University of Strathclyde, 1999) Masters in Social Work (Kerala, India) His research bridges social work and public health, emphasizing lived experiences of refugees, HIV-affected families, and older populations. Recent projects include: Impact of COVID-19 on families of care home residents in Scotland Adolescent reproductive health in Uganda, Jordan, and Bangladesh HIV/TB care barriers for refugees in Kampala Human rights of HIV-positive asylum seekers Cross-border surrogacy ethics Scientific achievements include: Senior Fellow , UK Higher Education Academy Best Personal Tutor Award (2019) Editorial work on Social Work in a Global Context He supervises PhD projects on topics like Queer women in Kerala , Refugee detention alternatives , and intergenerational care in China . His teaching integrates cross-cultural experiences, including abroad programmes to India.
Claire Donnat is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Chicago, specializing in statistical and machine learning methods for graph-structured and high-dimensional data. Her work bridges theoretical innovation with applications in biomedical research, environmental science, and public health. Education: B.S. and M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Polytechnique; Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford University (2020). Her research focuses on three methodological directions: (1) statistical foundations for graph neural networks (GNNs), (2) structured estimation with graph constraints, and (3) multimodal data integration with uncertainty quantification. Key applications include thermotolerance in photosynthetic microbes, family network analysis for child welfare, and spatial transcriptomics. The 15 most recent publications highlight her work in GNNs, CCA, tensor modeling, and epidemic analysis, with keywords spanning statistics, machine learning, and network science. Her methodological contributions address challenges in sparsity, graph topology, and heterogeneous data fusion. Scientific Awards: Facebook Research Award (2021), C3.AI COVID Grand Challenge winner (2020), Lumiata hackathon winner (2020), Stanford Centennial Award (2019), and others. Claire's research group actively recruits postdocs and students for projects involving graph-based modeling, data integration, and biomedical applications. She also provides research consulting in statistical methodology and graph modeling for life sciences.
