Dr. Arthur Caplan
Board President
Currently the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City.
Prior to coming to NYU School of Medicine, Dr. Caplan was the Sidney D. Caplan Professor of Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, where he created the Center for Bioethics and the Department of Medical Ethics. Caplan has also taught at the University of Minnesota, where he founded the Center for Biomedical Ethics, the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia University. He received his PhD from Columbia University.
Dr. Caplan is the author or editor of thirty-five books and over 850 papers in peer reviewed journals. His most recent books are Vaccination Ethics and Policy, with Jason Schwartz and, Getting to Good: Research Integrity in Biomedicine with Barbara Redman.
He has served on a number of national and international committees including as the chair of the National Cancer Institute Biobanking Ethics Working Group, chair of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations on Human Cloning; chair of the Advisory Committee to the Department of Health and Human Services on Blood Safety and Availability. He has also served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, the special advisory committee to the International Olympic Committee on genetics and gene therapy, the Special Advisory Panel to the National Institutes of Mental Health on Human Experimentation on Vulnerable Subjects, the Wellcome Trust Advisory Panel on Research in Humanitarian Crises, and the co-director of the Joint Council of Europe/United Nations Study on Trafficking in Organs and Body Parts.
Caplan has served since 2015 as the chairperson of the Compassionate Use Advisory Committee (CompAC), an independent group of internationally recognized medical experts, bioethicists and patient representatives which advises Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals about requests for compassionate use of some of its investigational medicines.
Dr. Caplan is a regular commentator on bioethics and health care issues for WebMD/Medscape, WGBH radio in Boston, WOR radio in New York City, Hearst Media Group, Connecticut and CNN. He appears frequently as a guest and commentator on various other national and international media outlets.
Dr. Caplan is the recipient of many awards and honors including the McGovern Medal of the American Medical Writers Association and the Franklin Award from the City of Philadelphia. He was a USA Today 2001 “Person of the Year and was described as one of the ten most influential people in science by Discover magazine in 2008. He has also been honored as one of the fifty most influential people in American health care by Modern Health Care magazine, one of the ten most influential people in America in biotechnology by the National Journal, one of the ten most influential people in the ethics of biotechnology by the editors of Nature Biotechnology, and one of the 100 most influential people in biotechnology by Scientific American magazine.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he co-directs an advisory group on sports and recreation for the US Conference of Mayors, created a working group on coronavirus vaccine challenge studies, developed an ethical framework for distributing drugs and vaccines for J&J, helped develop rationing policies for NYU LMC and many other health systems, is a member of the WHO advisory committee on Covid, ethics and experimental drugs/vaccines, helped set policy for WIRB/WCG for research studies He was an advisor to Moderna. And serves on the NCAA Sports and Covid committee.
He received the Patricia Price Browne Prize in Biomedical Ethics for 2011. In 2014 he was selected to receive the Public Service Award from the National Science Foundation/National Science Board, which honors individuals and groups that have made substantial contributions to increasing public understanding of science and engineering in the United States. In 2016 the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) honored him with their Rare Impact Award and hFood and Drug Law Institute’s Distinguished Service Leadership Award. In 2019 he was honored by the Food and Drug Administration’s, Reagan/Udall Foundation with its Innovation Award.
He holds seven honorary degrees from colleges and medical schools.
Pravin Chopra, MD
Global Medical Executive I Biopharmaceuticals Advisor
Advocating improved patient outcomes and optimized access across international markets, Pravin brings a worldwide, stakeholder-oriented perspective of the healthcare and biopharmaceutical landscape. While spearheading global medical affairs strategy, development operations, clinical research, and commercialization activities, over the years, in medical leadership roles at Pfizer, Sanofi, Amgen, and Boehringer Ingelheim, Pravin has facilitated the delineation of regional treatment practices, guidelines, and healthcare policy.
Trained as a physician in India, Pravin takes keen interest in promoting ethics, transparency, medical education, and consumer awareness, and believes in advancing globally-aligned regional innovation and sustainable therapeutic solutions, and forging public-private partnerships, while emphasizing patient voice and value.
A Global Fellow in Medicines Development (GFMD), with the International Federation of Associations of Pharmaceutical Physicians and Pharmaceutical Medicine (IFAPP), Pravin is Head, Scientific Affairs, and Director, Board of Officers, at the IFAPP Academy. Additionally, he is Visiting Senior Lecturer, at the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King’s College London.
Pravin’s network and learnings span biopharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare, nutraceuticals, and rare diseases, driving scientific direction and strategic business development for regional needs and priorities, shaping medical expertise and capabilities, and engendering stakeholder engagement, as an imperative for underserved patient communities.
Valerie Horsley, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University and of Dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine
Horsley received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Furman University, her PhD in Biochemistry, Cell, and Developmental Biology from Emory University, and completed postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University. Her lab uses mouse genetics, genomic technology, and cell biology to study skin development, repair, and homeostasis. The lab is working to understand how cells communicate with skin resident cells to promote skin repair and ameliorate disease. Dr. Horsley’s scientific achievements have been recognized by the Pew Foundation, Genetics Society of America, the Society for Investigative Dermatology, and the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering from the White House. Dr. Horsley also has a passion for outreach and ensuring that policymaking and public awareness of science is a priority in Connecticut.
Deena Casiero, MD
Associate Clinical Professor
Director, Primary Care Sports Medicine
UConn Head Team Physician
Dorit Rubenstein Reiss, JD
Professor of Law
UC Hastings College of Law
Kerri Raissian, PhD
Associate Professor of Public Policy
University of Connecticut