Allen D. Boyd, Jr., M.D.
Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Chief of the Division of Adult Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Rochester.

Dr. Boyd received his undergraduate degree from Brown University, his medical degree from the University of Tennessee and completed his Orthopaedic Residency at Case Western Reserve University. Following residency, he completed a 6-month Fellowship in Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery in Switzerland and Italy. 

Upon return to the USA, Dr. Boyd completed an 18-month Fellowship in Total Joint Replacement at Brigham & Women's Hospital with Harvard University in Boston.  He served as a faculty member at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. for 3 years before assuming his current position in Rochester.  Dr. Boyd is currently the Director of the Evarts Total Joint Center at Highland Hospital, which is a regional center for joint replacement surgery and research.

C. McCollister Evarts, M.D. 
CEO, University of Rochester Medical Center and Strong Health

Dr. Evarts helped introduce total hip replacement surgery in the United States. He has been nationally recognized for his work in helping to research, develop and document proven methods for preventing blood clots, a potentially fatal complication that can arise after hip replacement surgery.  Dr. Evarts himself has benefited from his research, after undergoing hip arthroplasty in 2003.
 
Dr. Evarts began his medical career as a graduate of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, before serving his internship and residency in orthopaedic surgery at Strong Memorial Hospital. In 1964, he joined the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and, over the next decade, headed that institution's Orthopaedic residency training program, and ultimately served as chair of its department of Orthopaedics. It was during his tenure at Cleveland Clinic when Dr. Evarts traveled to England to spend time training with Sir John Charnley, observing him as he performed hip arthroplasties.

Dr. Evarts returned to the University of Rochester Medical Center in 1974 as chair of Orthopaedics, where he is credited with transforming the Medical Center's Orthopaedics department into a national hub for research and clinical care. In 1987, Evarts was recruited to serve as chief executive officer, senior vice president for Health Affairs, and dean of the College of Medicine at The Pennsylvania State University and The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. While at Hershey, Evarts was named to the prestigious Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He retired from Hershey in 2000, and moved back to Rochester in 2002, where he served as a senior advisor at the Medical Center until tapped to lead the organization in 2003.

John Baum, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Emeritus
Professor of Pediatrics University of Rochester Medical Center

Dr. Baum specializes is Rheumatology and Immunology. He received his B.A. in Biology from NYU and M.D. in Medicine from NYU College of Medicine. Currently he sits on the editorial board for the Journal of Rheumatology in Toronto and Clinical Rheumatology in Brussels. He is also a reviewer for the Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology, American Journal of Pediatrics, New England Journal of Medicine and Arthritis and Rheumatism. Dr. Baum is the author of seven publications and has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards. His current research interests include Pharmacology Therapy in Ologoarticular and Rheumatoid Arthritis, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and Hypermobility.

Lesley Visser
Sportscaster
Lesley Visser earned her bachelor's degree in English from Boston College. She began her career in sports journalism in 1974 as a member of the Boston Globe sports staff on a grant from the Carnegie Foundation.  Two years later she was assigned to cover the New England Patriots, becoming the first female NFL beat writer.

Ms. Visser first worked at CBS in 1984 and became full-time in 1987, with assignments including "The NBA on CBS", college basketball, Major League Baseball, college football, the US Open Tennis Championship and the Olympic Winter Games. She returned to CBS Sports in 2000 after seven years at ABC, where she covered Monday Night Football, college football, the Triple Crown, figure skating and gymnastics. She has been honored with the Compass Award for "changing the paradigm of her business" and was one of the 100 luminaries commemorating the 75th anniversary of the CBS Television Network in 2003. She was named "WISE Woman of the Year" in 2002 and voted the "Outstanding Women's Sportswriter in America" in 1983 and won the "Women's Sports Foundation Award for Journalism" in 1992. In 1999 she won the first AWSM Pioneer Award.

Elissa Orlando
Civilian Guest

Elissa L. Orlando is a 20-year veteran of public affairs programming and multimedia storytelling. Orlando is director of national programming and special projects at WXXI Public Broadcasting. She was producer of the nationally televised Crucible of Freedom companion program to Ken Burns Not for Ourselves Alone.  Orlando has won several New York State broadcasting awards for television news reporting in Somalia Africa, Homestead Florida and other local and national venues.  She is a recipient of the Gracie award for television programming from American Women in Radio and Television, and she is the recipient of a Telly award for her production of the TV documentary Reclaiming the Crescent.  Orlando also received the Woman of the Distinction award from the Jefferson County Women's Conference in 1995. She was formerly TV news and public affairs director at WXXI, where she also served as executive producer, Website editor, and news anchor of Need to Know, WXXI's Emmy Award-winning newsmagazine.