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Speakers' Biographies

Michael BLUMENFIELD, M.D.
U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham CLINTON
Helen DARLING
Max GOMEZ, Ph.D.
Scott R. LILLIBRIDGE, M.D.
Joshua LIPSMAN, M.D., M.P.H.
General Dennis J. REIMER (Ret.)
David R. WALT, Ph.D.
Gary P. WORMSER, M.D.

 

Michael BLUMENFIELD, M.D.

A long-time member of the Committee on Dimensions of Disaster of the American Psychiatry Association (APA), Dr. Michael Blumenfield is recognized for his work on posttraumatic stress disorder. Many who survive or witness disasters are affected by anxiety, severe depression, intrusive recollections and impaired sleep, among other debilitating symptoms. Dr. Blumenfield's work on posttraumatic stress has focused on raising awareness that the psychological casualties of natural and man-made disasters include more than relatives and friends. Hidden victims comprise secondary sufferers such as emergency medical technicians, police and firemen, school teachers, funeral home personnel and the media. Dr. Blumenfield has participated in planning sessions designed to prepare psychiatrists for disasters. He also teaches a course on forgotten victims of disasters at the APA's annual meeting.

In his capacity as chair of the Joint Commission on Public Affairs for APA, Dr. Blumenfield has spoken extensively to members of the media as events of terrorism were unfolding. He has written many papers and book chapters and has presented extensively at national meetings. He is co-author of the book Psychological Care of the Burn & Trauma Patient, formerly wrote a syndicated newspaper column entitled Psychiatry Today, and is host of Talking about Mental Health on WVOX radio. Dr. Blumenfield is professor of psychiatry, of medicine and of surgery at New York Medical College and director of consultation/liaison psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry for Westchester Medical Center.

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U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham CLINTON

Elected United States Senator from New York in 2000, Hillary Rodham Clinton is the sole First Lady ever elected to that office and the first woman elected statewide in New York. Senator Clinton serves on the Budget, Environment and Public Works, and HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) committees.

Senator Clinton has been an advocate for children and families for more than 30 years. As First Lady, she led the fight to pass the Children's Health Insurance Program that provides health insurance for millions of working families. She has acted to increase funding for breast cancer research and for treatment of breast, colon and prostate cancer, osteoporosis and juvenile diabetes. She strongly supports the HMO Patient's Bill of Rights and action to strengthen Medicare to include prescription drug benefits. She also advocates expanding federal funding for childhood vaccinations and diseases. Senator Clinton chaired the board of the Children's Defense Fund from 1986-1989.

Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 to chair the Task Force on National Health Care, she and her task force met extensively with healthcare professionals and families, developing a comprehensive understanding of programs and policies affecting them. Their efforts culminated in the Health Security Act of 1994. While disappointed that the group was unable to make further progress, she has said that the experience brought her to the “school of smaller steps” and she continues to advocate for access to quality healthcare for working families. Healthcare was the topic of Senator Clinton's initial speech in the Senate chamber. In 1997, she wrote the best-selling book It Takes a Village: and Other Lessons Children Teach Us, contributing nearly $1 million in author proceeds to charities dedicated to children and families. Senator Clinton attended Wellesley College and is a graduate of Yale Law School.

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Helen DARLING

As president of the Washington Business Group on Health (WBGH), Helen Darling leads the nation's only nonprofit organization devoted exclusively to representing large employers' perspectives on national health policy issues. The group also works to provide practical solutions to members' most important healthcare problems. She is responsible for the strategic and operational direction of WGBH and works with Congress to advance understanding of corporate healthcare issues. Ms. Darling is co-chair of the National Committee on Quality Assurance Committee on Performance Measure, an independent nonprofit association that evaluates and reports on the quality of the nation's managed care organizations. She is a member of the Medical Advisory Panel, Technology Evaluation Center, run by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Previously, Ms. Darling was senior consultant, group benefits and health costs, for Watson Wyatt and Company, a global employee benefits and human resources consulting firm. During prior tenure with Xerox Corporation, she directed health benefits and disability purchasing for employees and retirees, negotiating and monitoring more than 200 HMO contracts. Earlier in her career, Ms. Darling was an advisor to Senator David Durenberger, the ranking Republican on the Health Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee. She also directed three studies at the Institute of Medicine for the National Academy of Sciences. Ms. Darling holds master's and bachelor's degrees from Memphis State University.

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Max GOMEZ, Ph.D.

Dr. Max Gomez is health and science editor for NewsChannel 4 (NBC). His medical and health reports appear weekdays on “Live at Five” and he also contributes medical segments to the station's various newscasts. He joined WNBC in 1991 and served three years as the station's medical correspondent/health science editor. He then went to WCBS-TV as that station's medical reporter/health editor, returning to WNBC in 1997. Earlier in his career, Dr. Gomez held similar positions with KYW-TV in Philadelphia and WNEW-TV in New York City. The recipient of numerous awards in journalism, Dr. Gomez has garnered three New York Emmy Awards, two Philadelphia Emmys, a UPI honor for best documentary for a report on AIDS, and a national television journalism award from the Leukemia Society of America.

Dr. Gomez is a member of the American Institute of Physics, the executive advisory group to the American Chemical Society and the Science on Television advisory board. He also sits on the boards of the Science Writers Fellowships at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., the American Heart Association's New York Chapter and the Chrones and Colitis Foundation. A native of Havana, Cuba, Dr. Gomez received his Ph.D. from Bowman Gray School of Medicine and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University. His undergraduate degree was awarded by Princeton University.

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Scott R. LILLIBRIDGE, M.D.

Scott R. Lillibridge, M.D., was named by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson to lead the department's coordinated bioterrorism initiative in July 2001. As Secretary Thompson's special assistant for bioterrorism, Dr. Lillibridge directs anti-terrorism efforts across the department. A vital component of the federal government's response to a bioterrorism event, HHS has responsibilities that include detecting the biological agent, investigating the outbreak and providing stockpiled drugs and supplies. A captain in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Dr. Lillibridge also supports the Surgeon General's efforts to revitalize the Commissioned Corps and its readiness force.

In his previous position as director of the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., held since 1998, Dr. Lillibridge enhanced CDC's capacities to assist states and other partners in responding to bioterrorism. He joined the CDC in 1990. In 1995, he led the U.S. Medical Delegation to Japan after the sarin gas attack that killed 10 people in the Tokyo subway. Also that year, Dr. Lillibridge was lead physician for the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) response following the Oklahoma City bombing. During the 1996 Olympics, he served as the PHS science advisor to the multi-agency task force assembled to protect the public against biological and chemical terrorism.

Dr. Lillibridge has worked in 14 nations on epidemiology and other public health issues. Prior to joining the CDC, he served in the Indian Health Service in Oklahoma and Arizona. He is a graduate of East Tennessee State University and the School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

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Joshua LIPSMAN, M.D., M.P.H.

Joshua Lipsman, M.D., M.P.H., was appointed Commissioner of Health for Westchester County in May 2000. Prior to that, Dr. Lipsman was Executive Director of the Gay Men's Health Crisis in Manhattan in 1999, and prior to that, for seven and a half years he led the Alexandria, Virginia department of health. He previously was the medical director and administrator of the city's system of public health clinics in Houston, Texas, and a staff physician and community health director on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota.

Dr. Lipsman received his M.D. degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, and completed a family medicine residency in Saint Paul, Minnesota at the St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center. He is board certified both in family medicine and in public health and general preventive medicine. He holds a M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health.

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General Dennis J. REIMER (Ret.)

General Dennis J. Reimer (Ret.) assumed his duties as director of the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City in 2000. The institute is dedicated to preventing, reducing and mitigating the effects of terrorism with particular emphasis on the role of first responders.

Previously, General Reimer served 37 years in the U.S. Army, retiring in 1999. He became the 33^rd Chief of Staff in 1995. Prior to that, he served as Commanding General of the United States Army, Forces Command, Fort McPherson, Ga. During his military career, General Reimer commanded soldiers from company to Army level and served in a variety of joint and combined assignments, as well as two combat tours in Vietnam. He also served in Korea as the Chief of Staff, Combined Field Army and Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations and Training, Republic of Korea/United States Combined Forces Command.

He served three tours at the Pentagon, aide-de-camp to the Army Chief of Staff, General Creighton Abrams; Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans for the Army during Desert Storm; and Army Vice Chief of Staff. He holds a B.S. degree from the U.S. Military Academy and a M.S. from Shippensburg State College.

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David R. WALT, Ph.D.

David R. Walt is Robinson Professor of Chemistry at Tufts University, a position he has held since 1995. He was awarded a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry and pharmacology from SUNY at Stony Brook. Following postdoctoral studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Walt joined the chemistry faculty at Tufts. He served as chairman of the department of chemistry at that university from 1989 to 1996.

Dr. Walt's research is centered at the chemistry-biology interface. He is particularly interested in solving problems in biomedicine, biochemistry and analytical chemistry using the techniques of organic chemistry. A major theme running through the various projects under his purview is the extensive use of polymers and immobilization techniques. Dr. Walt serves on many government and journal advisory panels and boards. Since 1993, he has been a member of the scientific advisory board of the Northeast Hazardous Substance Research Center. He is also a member of the core planning group for Characterization, Monitoring and Sensor Technology, Department of Energy, Integrated Program. He is executive editor of Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology and is the scientific founder of Illumina, Inc. Dr. Walt has received numerous national and international awards and honors in recognition of his work. He has published more than 150 papers, holds 40 patents, and has given hundreds of scientific presentations at meetings and conferences.

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Gary P. WORMSER, M.D.

In 1985, the first research paper on AIDS appeared in The New England Journal of Medicine, co-authored by Dr. Gary Wormser and colleagues who had observed something new in their patients. Dr. Wormser has continued to contribute in a major way to our understanding of infectious diseases. He is an internationally recognized physician scientist who treats patients while expanding knowledge of infectious diseases through research. In addition to AIDS, diseases such as Lyme, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) are of particular interest. Dr. Wormser is also engaged in preparing physicians to identify illnesses caused by biological or chemical agents, such as anthrax, botulinum toxin, plague, smallpox and tularemia.

Dr. Wormser is vice chairman of the Department of Medicine of New York Medical College and at Westchester Medical Center and is chief of infectious diseases for both institutions. A professor of medicine and of pharmacology at the College, Dr. Wormser has responsibility for scientific affairs and research development in the Department of Medicine, charged to further develop the basic and clinical research focus within the university and at affiliated institutions. He speaks widely at national and international conferences, and is the author of 300 original articles, book chapters and reviews. His authoritative textbook, AIDS and Other Manifestations of HIV Disease, is in its third edition. Dr. Wormser received his B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins Medical School.

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