Lisa Harris, MD
Primary Care Physician
Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
University of Rochester Medical Center
Rochester, NY

Dr. Harris was born in Oneida, New York, In March 1962. She is the eldest child and only daughter of the Honorable Judge Roy W. and Mrs. Lucile King.  Dr. Harris attended Monroe Jr. Sr., High School in Rochester New York.  She furthered her education at the University of Rochester where she received a B.S. in neurosciences. Later, she attended Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, where she received her medical degree. Her training was completed at the Detroit Medical Center, in Detroit Michigan. Dr. Harris is board certified in 2 specialties, Internal medicine and Pediatrics, allowing her to care for both the adult and pediatric populations. Currently, Dr. Harris is in private practice in Downtown Rochester. In addition to a busy medical practice, she is the President of the Medical Staff at Highland Hospital, an Assistant Clinical Professor in the departments of Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Rochester and a regular guest on "Second Opinion" shown on PBS. She is a licensed evangelist in the Church of God in Christ and president of the Christian Women's Council at her church. She is a member of Jack and Jill of Rochester Inc, The American College of Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American College of Physician Executives. She serves on numerous boards in the community and is an avid seamstress.

Kathy Kastan, LCSW, MAEd
Social Worker
Immediate Past President, WomenHeart
Cordova, TN

Kathy Kastan, LCSW/MAEd, is Immediate Past President of the Board of Directors of WomenHeart; a national organization dedicated to reducing death and disability among women living with heart disease. Ms. Kastan is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Northwest Region of the American Heart Association. As a bypass survivor at age 42, Ms. Kastan understands the unique perspectives and challenges of women living with heart disease. In speaking with women's groups, the media, health care providers and political leaders across the country about heart disease, Ms. Kastan urges women to know their risk factors for heart disease and insist that their doctors partner with them in their health care and treat them seriously.

Ms. Kastan holds an MSW and MAEd from Washington University in St. Louis and is a certified LCSW and licensed family mediator. She has more than 14 years of clinical experience in hospital and private settings, specializing in individual, family and group therapy for children, adolescents and adults.

Ms. Kastan's first book "From the Heart: A Woman's Guide to Living Well with Heart Disease" was published March 30, 2007 by Da Capo Lifelong Books-a member of the Perseus Books Group. The paperback edition was published in January of 2008. WomenHeart's All Heart Family Cookbook was also published in January of 2008 and Ms. Kastan is a co-author.

Most importantly, Ms. Kastan has been married for 27 years and has 3 wonderful boys ages 21, 18 and 16. She resides in Memphis, Tennessee.

Jeanine Thomas
Patient and National Spokesperson for MRSA
Founder of MRSA Survivor's Network
Willowbrook, IL

Founder of MRSA Survivors Network, National 
Spokesperson for MRSA and a MRSA Expert

Ms. Thomas founded MRSA Survivors Network in early 2003 due to having been critically ill with a MRSA infection contracted during a routine surgery and nearly died. MRSA Survivors Network was the first consumer organization to ring the alarm about the MRSA epidemic to state and federal health officials in the U.S.

Her organization works with leading research scientists that study MRSA and world-renowned MRSA experts (epidemiologists). She works to increase funding for MRSA research, educates and raises awareness to organizations and consumers, gives support to survivors and family members affected by MRSA.

Ms. Thomas was the first person to initiate mandated (universal) screening for MRSA in January, 2006 in the Illinois State Senate. She initiated legislation again in January, 2007, - The MRSA Screening and Reporting Act which mandates screening for MRSA in all Illinois hospitals for ICU and at risk patients and was signed into law by Governor Blagojevich in Aug. 20, 2007, making Illinois the first state to pass and enact mandated screening in the U.S.

Ms. Thomas works on a federal level with her U.S. congress members on MRSA issues and works also on an international level with health organizations.

Edward E. Walsh, MD
Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY

Edward E. Walsh, MD is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in the Infectious Diseases Unit and is head of the Infectious Disease Unit at Rochester General Hospital.  Dr. Walsh graduated from SUNY-Downstate Medical School in 1974 and completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in infectious diseases at Strong Memorial Hospital. Since 1982 Dr. Walsh has been a consultant in infectious diseases at Rochester General Hospital and directed research in respiratory virus infections, including Respiratory Syncytial Virus and Influenza virus.    

Betsy McCaughey, PhD
Founder and Chairman of the
Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID)
New York, NY

Dr. McCaughey, former Lieutenant Governor of the state of New York, is founder and Chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID) –  a national campaign to support greater infection control in hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Her research on how to prevent infection deaths has been featured on ABC's Good Morning America, the CBS Morning Show, 20/20, Dateline NBC, and many other national television and radio programs. And her steps that patients can take to help protect themselves from infection was featured recently in the Wall Street Journal.

Before entering politics, McCaughey had a distinguished career as a college professor and scholar. She served as the John M. Olin Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, held a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and taught at Vassar College and Columbia University. She earned her master's degree and Ph.D. from Columbia University and her undergraduate degree from Vassar College, where she was awarded a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Herbert H. Lehman Fellowship, John Jay Fellowship, Honorary Vassar Fellowship, Bancroft Dissertation Award, and the Richard B. Morris Prize.

McCaughey's writings on health, education, and the law have appeared in many national publications, including Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and The Wall Street Journal. Her 1994 analysis of the Clinton health plan won the H.L. Mencken Award and the National Magazine Award for the best article in the nation on public policy.

John Onate, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor Dept. of Psychiatry
UC Davis School of Medicine
Sacramento, CA

Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
 
Dr. Onate graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and trained in combined psychiatry and internal medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.   He is Board Certified in both internal medicine and psychiatry and is currently the director of the Med-Psych Clinic at the Sacramento County Primary Care Center as well as a clinician at the CARES HIV treatment center. He supervises psychiatry residents in a unique outpatient internal medicine rotation, addressing the coordination of medical care in uninsured and indigent patients with mental illness.  He also coordinates psychiatric care in the Hepatitis C clinic at the Sacramento County Primary Care Center.  Dr. Onate is strongly interested in the collaboration and integration of psychiatric care in primary care and disease management settings.  He is active in medical student education as co-instructor of record for the first year medical school course, Doctoring One.