Organizing Committee
Biography
Dr. Mason was commissioned in the U.S. Public Health Service in 1967, and served his first tour at the CDC ( 1967-1969 ). He was attached to the Community Pesticides Program. This was Dr. Mason’s introduction to Environmental Medicine and Toxicology. He served Intermittent Tours of Active Duty at the rank of CAPT ( O-6) from 1987 – 2001 at the NCI/NIH, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, and post 9/11 was activated to serve at the CDC, National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ( 2001 - 2010 ). Over these 40 plus years, Dr. Mason has come to be recognized internationally in his chosen field of Environmental Epidemiology. He led the team at the National Cancer Institute which published our nation’s first ‘Atlas of Cancer Mortality for U.S. Counties’. This contribution to our understanding of the role that environmental exposures/contaminants play in disease prompted a number of countries worldwide to pursue research to determine ‘local determinants’ of disease(s). He has served, and continues to serve on scientific advisory boards addressing environmental concerns. He served as the Chairperson of the Merit Review for Epidemiology Subcommittee for the Department of Veterans Affairs from 1997 – 2002. He also holds Joint Professorships in the USF College of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Divisions of Medical Ethics and Humanities and Global Emergency Medical Sciences. Prior to joining the graduate faculty at USF in 1993, Dr. Mason held academic appointments as Adjunct Professor: at Georgetown University: School of Medicine; Thomas Jefferson University Medical College: Environmental Medicine and Toxicology; Temple University School of Medicine: Family Medicine and Community Health; and, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: Clinical Epidemiology Dr. Mason was the Co-Director of the Homeland Security for Medical Executives Course ( HLSMEC ) in partnership with the Defense Medical Readiness Training Institute (2004 – 2007). This course was designed to train senior medical officers (O4 – O6) for Command and Senior Staff positions, as well as civilian executive medical managers, in support of the National Response Plan (NRP)/ National Response Framework (NRF). Between 15 March and 15 August of 2002 he led the team which: developed Florida’s preparedness plan; addressed a statewide laboratory capacity strategic assessment, which included surge capacity; and developed a ‘template’ for Florida’s Smallpox Preparedness Plans. Dr. Mason was appointed to the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board/ Defense Health Board effective September 2006. He served from 2006 – December 2010. He has been selected to serve as a Public Member of the Board of Directors for the American Board of Disaster Medicine. In 2008 he was invited to join the Interstate Chemical Terrorism/ Threats Workgroup. He also serves as an Associate Dean of the International Center for Pre-hospital and Disaster Medicine. His most recent appointment is to serve on the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies’ Committee on Development of a Consensus Definition for Chronic Multisymptom Illness in 1990-1991 Gulf War Veterans ( 2013 – 2014 Dr. Mason serves as a member of the Aerospace Medicine Residency Advisory Committee, Naval Operational Medicine Institute, Naval Air Station Pensacola, as well as a member of the Science Advisory Board, Robert E. Mitchell Center for Prisoner of War Studies. He was recently appointed as a Senior Scientific Advisor to the Joint Forces Command, Joint Center for Operational Analysis. He has served as a Member of the Public Private Outreach Working Group, USCENTCOM. Dr. Mason has held appointments at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology as a Visiting Scientist, as well as, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, Uniformed Services University. One of his professional goals is to expand the University of South Florida’s education and training programs for the Uniformed Services. To this end he has trained officers from the tri-services at both the Master’s and Doctoral level
Research Interest
population surveillance systems.Evidence-based Clinical Decision Making. Disaster Management – Preparedness, Response, Recovery. Biochemical/Molecular Epidemiology – Bioengineering
Biography
Dr.Ilise L Feitshans JD and ScM and DIR is a bi-lingual lawyer with a Master’s of Science in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University, where she examined the role of women’s rights to genetic information. Ilise won awards for her path breaking Senior Scholars Honors thesis for Barnard College, entitled “Occupational Health From an International Perspective†compared laws and their implementation in three nations and under international law; it became the blueprint of her life’s work. She wrote the chapter “Occupational Health as a Human right†for the ILO Encyclopedia, and is the author of the treatise DEIGNING AN EFFECTIVE OSHA COMPLIANCE PROGRAM, which addresses law and occupational medicine. The non-lawyer version, BRINGING HEALTH TO WORK describes law and policy issues in reproductive health at work, ethics of occupational safety and health; methods for achieving corporate compliance with occupational safety and health laws, and provides the theoretical basis for the justification of safety and health programs. Her articles and press releases have been published in many nations. Ilise has given university level presentations in both English and French, especially at the UN in her former capacity as Coordinatrice of the Encyclopedia for Safety and Health, ILO, Geneva Switzerland. Ilise taught legislative drafting at the Columbia University School of Law in the City of New York, and in turn, Ilise has drafted laws from the local level (NYC Board of Health regulations concerning confidential testing of minors for HIV) to the international level, (ILO Memoranda of Understanding with non-profit organizations and with the US government) and in 2013, a report to the Council of Europe that was accepted after full debated by the full Parliamentary Assembly, “Nanotechnology: balancing benefits and risks to public health and the environmentâ€.
Research Interest
public health, environment, women’s rights
Biography
Dr. George Perry received his PhD in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego. He completed his Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.Dr. Perry joined the UTSA faculty in 2006 from Case Western Reserve University where he was Professor of Pathology and Neurosciences and Chair of the Department of Pathology. He is also distinguished as one of the top 20 Alzheimers disease researchers with over 800 publications, one of the top 100 most-cited scientists in Neuroscience & Behavior and one of the top 25 scientists in Free Radical research . He currently serves as and President for the American Association of Neuropathologists. He is on the editorial board of over 60 journals including American Journal of Pathology and Journal of Biological Chemistry, and is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Research Interest
mechanism of formation and physiological consequences of the cytopathology of Alzheimer disease.
Biography
Professor of Internal medicine at the University of Rijeka, Policlinic Department with Daily Hospital for diabetology and endocrinology of Internal clinic, Clinical Hospital centre Rijeka, Croatia. After graduating from the University of Rijeka on 1988, specialized in Internal Medicine in 1996 and in Endocrinology and Diabetology in 2005 in Clinical hospital centre Rijeka. In 1996 she worked in Italy, University of Padova as a visiting scientist. Her fields of expertise are the pathophysiology diabetes induced myopathy, insuline resistance and the clinical course and pathophysiology of cardiovascular complications of diabetes. She was principal investigator in clinical studies and supervises multiple research projects, both clinical and experimental, focusing on type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus. She has published 86 papers and charpters. She is an active member of many associations including the International Diabetes federation (IDF), American Diabetes Association (ADA), European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).
Research Interest
pathophysiology diabetes
Biography
Dr. Hom Nath Chalise received his PhD from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2007. He is now an Associate Professor and Research Coordinator in Asian College for Advance Studies (ACAS), Pubanchal Unviersity Nepal. He is also gerontology coordinator in ACAS. Prior to that he was research scientist in Nepal Development and Research Institute and worked closely with UNICEF, World Bank, WFP, UNFPA. His current research interest includes depression, loneliness, social support, functional disability, HIV/AIDS, Public Health. He has published dozens of peer–reviewed research papers in International journals and participated in many international conferences around the world. He is in the editorial board of couple of international journals related with aging and public health. His team received best proposal grant for strategies for ‘Aging in Place†Networking of Junior Gerontologist in Pacific Rim Countries in 2008- Tokyo, Japan.
Research Interest
aging and public health