The
Sanford F. Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem was established in 1976 and is a leader in
vector-borne research. Kuvin Center scientists combine biochemistry, entomology,
molecular biology, genetics and immunology to investigate prevalent tropical and
infectious diseases, including malaria, leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, and
helminthic diseases. The mission of the Kuvin Center is to advance research in
infectious and tropical diseases and to promote peace through cooperative
science. The International Advisory Committee is responsible for stewardship of
the Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases. The
Committee does not manage the Center’s day-to-day activities; rather, the
Committee serves to promote the mission of the Kuvin Center.
Jeffrey Kuvin (Chair) is
Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and
Professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Jeff
received his undergraduate degree in Near East / North African Studies from the
University of Michigan in 1988 and was a member of the varsity swimming team. He
won a swimming silver medal at the 1985 World Maccabiah Games. He graduated from
Emory University School of Medicine in 1992 and trained in internal medicine and
cardiovascular diseases at Tufts Medical Center. While an attending cardiologist
at Tufts, Jeff was the Director of Education and Fellowship Training, Associate
Chief of Cardiology, and Associate Chief Medical Officer for Graduate Medical
Education. He presently serves as the Chair of Education for the American
College of Cardiology and is the Chair of the ACC Annual Scientific Sessions.
Jeff is the son of Sanford and Gabrielle Kuvin, founders of the Kuvin Center,
and lives in Lyme, New Hampshire with his wife and two children.
John C. Beier, Sc.D., is
Professor and Director of the Division of Environment and Public Health in the
Department of Public Health Sciences. Dr. Beier’s research career is committed
to the ecology and control of vector-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue,
Zika, other arboviruses, and leishmaniasis. With a strong network of
international collaborators and University of Miami faculty and students from
several departments and centers, interdisciplinary research is being conducted
on vector species of mosquitoes and sand flies, pathogen transmission dynamics,
determinants of human risk, novel vector control methods, and innovative
integrated vector management strategies for disease control. He has 300
publications. His current research is supported by an NIH grants on the ecology
and behavior of African malaria vectors and a CDC grant for vector-borne
diseases in southeastern U.S. He is also involved with research on new
approaches for malaria and dengue vector control. He was ranked by BiomedExperts
#1 for Anopheles mosquitoes and #2 for Disease Vectors. Dr. Beier teaches
Ecology and Control of Vector-Borne Diseases, and in 2013 won the Best Teacher
award. In external activities, he is an Editor for Acta Tropica, a past member
of the World Health Organization Vector Control Advisory Group, past Chairman of
review committee for the Department of Defense Military Infectious Disease
Research program for Vector Biology, and past Chairman of the National
Institutes of Health study panel on Vector Biology.
Anne Blumberg worked for the
Division of Health Care Policy and Finance in Massachusetts and as a program
coordinator in clinical trials at Merck and Company in New Jersey. She currently
serves on the Presidential Advisory Board of the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute.
Anne has a degree in physical anthropology from Barnard College and an MPH from
Boston University School of Public Health. She lives in Newton, Massachusetts
with her husband and two children.
Dana Gershon is an attorney
with a private practice that specializes in employment law. She counsels clients
on all aspects of employment relationships, including federal and state
anti-discrimination laws, wage and hour laws, and employee non-competition
agreements. She represents numerous clients in the healthcare industry,
independently and through an affiliation with Ankner & Levy, PC. Prior to
starting her own practice, Dana worked at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky
and Popeo, P.C. She also served as Manager of the Litigation Department at
Goodwin Proctor, LLP, and taught legal research, writing and oral advocacy at
Boston University School of Law. Dana received her J.D. from Columbia University
School of Law, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. She received her B.A.
from Cornell University, magna cum laude, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa
Honor Society. She is a member of the Bars of Massachusetts and New York. Dana
is a past President of the Board of Trustees of the Rashi School in Dedham, MA
and a current trustee there. She is a trustee of the Boston Jewish Community
Relations Council, and on the Council at Temple Israel in Boston. Dana
co-chaired Combined Jewish Philanthropy’s Boston-Haifa Connection and was
instrumental in the founding of the Parents and the Center Program in Haifa,
Israel. Dana is also on the Board of Advisors of the New England Center for
Children in Southborough, MA.
Oren Harman is the Chair of
the Graduate Program in Science, Technology and Society at Bar Ilan University.
He was trained in history and biology at the Hebrew University, Oxford, and
Harvard, and is a historian of science and a writer. He teaches evolutionary
theory, the interplay between scientific, social, and philosophical thought, and
writing. His books include The Man Who Invented the Chromosome (Harvard, 2004),
Rebels, Mavericks and Heretics in Biology [with Michael Dietrich] (Yale, 2008),
Outsider Scientists [with Michael Dietrich] (Chicago, 2013), Dreamers,
Visionaries and Revolutionar-ies in the Life Sciences (Chicago, 2018), and The
Price of Altruism (W.W. Norton, 2010) which won the 2010 Los Angeles Times Book
Prize for Best Book of the Year in Science and Technology, was nominated for the
Pulitzer prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Oren was a
member of the Young Israeli Academy of Sciences, has been a frequent contributor
to The New Republic and Haaretz Magazine, and is the co-creator of the Israeli
Oscar-nominated documentary series "Did Herzl Really Say That?" His work has
been featured in The New York Times, The London Times, Nature, Science, The
Economist, Forbes, New Scientist, Scientific American, Times Higher Educa-tion,
Discover, The Huffington Post, RADIOLAB and many others. In 2015, Oren was
awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award by his university. His next
book,Evolutions: Fifteen Myths that Explain Our World is forthcoming from
Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2018. He grew up in Jerusalem and New York City,
and lives with his wife and two children in Tel Aviv.
Stephen Hoffman received
his medical degree from Cornell, diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene at the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and completed residency training
in family practice at the University of California, San Diego. He is the former
Director of the Malaria Program at the Naval Medical Research Center, Past
President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and Member
of the National Academy of Medicine. He is a highly cited author and has
contributed significantly to our understanding of malaria, typhoid fever and
other tropical infectious. He is presently the Chief Executive and Scientific
Officer of Sanaria, a biotechnology company focused on developing vaccines to
protect against malaria.
Marvin Konstam directs the
Tufts Medical Center CardioVascular Center, which oversees the Divisions of
Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Vascular Surgery, and Interventional Cardiology. He
served as Chief of Cardiology at Tufts from 1995-2007. His special area of
clinical, academic, and research interest is heart failure, with a focus on
developing new therapies for this condition. He is a member of the Board of
Trustees at Tufts Medical Center. . Marv previously served as Chair of the
Academic Cardiology Council of the American College of Cardiology and as
President of the Heart Failure Society of America. He co-founded Cardiovascular
Clinical Science Foundation (CCSF), a non-profit contract research organization
conducting clinical trials in collaboration with the pharmaceutical and medical
device industries. He currently serves as the Board Chair and Chief Scientific
Officer of CCSF. Among additional prior roles, he has served as the Chief
Medical Officer of Orqis Medical, a start-up cardiovascular medical device
company; a member of the Cardiovascular and Renal Advisory Committee of the Food
and Drug Administration (he continues to serve on FDA Advisory Committees on an
ad hoc basis); and a consultant to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, as a member of the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee and in their
programs for improving quality of care in heart failure. Marv received both his
undergraduate and medical degrees from Columbia University and performed his
post-doctoral training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Massachusetts
General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals.
Yair Lootsteen is Deputy
Chair of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism - the Israeli Reform
Movement, charged with overseeing that organization's financial affairs. He has
been on the IMPJ Board since 2013. Born in London, England, Yair grew up in
Toronto, Ontario. He made aliyah to Israel in 1979 and has since resided in
Jerusalem. A lawyer, Yair served in the IDF's Military Advocate General Corps
for 23 years, completing his term of duty in 2007 with the rank of Colonel. He
held several challenging positions during his military career, the last being
that of the Legal Advisor to the IDF in Judea and Samaria. Since completing his
regular IDF service, Yair has invested much of his time on issues relating to
Jewish pluralism in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem. From 2010 to 2013 he
served as president of Kehilat Kol Haneshama, Jerusalem's largest Reform
synagogue and continues to be an active member of that synagogue's board. A
member of the Israel team of ARZENU – the International Federation of Reform and
Progressive Religious Zionists, Yair is Co-Chair of the World Zionist
Organization's Standing Committee on Budget and Finance. He is also a regular
columnist for the Canadian Jewish News. Yair is married to Hanna and they have
two children, Naomi and Natan.
Andrew Wetenhall is the
Co-Head of Basic Materials-Americas in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan
Stanley. He advises companies globally in basic materials and natural resources
industries on mergers, acquisitions and major capital raising initiatives. He
works with clients around the world, including in the Americas, Europe, Russia,
the Middle East, and China, and has acted on behalf of industry leaders such as
Weyerhaeuser, LyondellBasell, Peabody, Phelps Dodge and FairmountSantrol, among
many others. Andrew serves as a lead governor of the Board of Governors of the
Canadian Football League as well as on the board of directors of the Montreal
Alouettes Football Club. He serves as director of Plusgrade, a private software
company focused on the travel industry. Andrew graduated with a bachelor of arts
from Vanderbilt University and lives in New York with his wife and three
children.
Virginia (Ginny) Wise is Senior
Vice President of Advancement at Tulane University. With over 25 years of
professional development experience, Ginny spent her early career at Harvard
University where she held positions of increasing responsibility at the College,
Business School and Divinity School. Ginny received her undergraduate degree
from Dartmouth College and a Masters of Education from Harvard University. Ginny
has also been active in Jewish communal life. In Boston, she served on the board
of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Jewish Family and Children’s Service, Jewish
Big Brother Big Sister, and as board chair of InterfaithFamily.com. She received
the Boston Young Leadership Award in 2002. In New Orleans, she completed the
Lemann-Stern Leadership program and has served on the Jewish Federation Board.
She is currently Marketing Chair for the Jewish Community Center. Nationally,
she served on the JFNA Young Leadership Cabinet. She is also involved at
Dartmouth College where she currently sits on the Dartmouth College Fund
Executive Committee. Having also served Dartmouth as a member of the Alumni
Council, as well as Class President and Club President, she is a past winner of
the Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award. In 2010, Ginny moved back to her
hometown of New Orleans with her husband and three sons.