Part I: "Us Against COVID-19: Challenges in Vaccine Uptake" Part II: "Fostering Community Conversation to Stop AAPI Hate"
Part I: "Us Against COVID-19: Challenges in Vaccine Uptake"
Speaker: Dr. Marya Ghazipura is an epidemiologist and biostatistician in New York City with nearly 10 years of experience in epidemiological consulting, evidence analytics, scientific advisory, guideline creation and evaluation, developing implementation frameworks, and working with other strategists to sustain improvements in complex health systems. She has worked with and consulted for scores of industries internationally, including leading large teams to develop clinical guidelines to be used by the Canadian government and medical societies; serving as a key consultant for the development of a common database for Gilead Sciences; collaborating with NASA scientists to utilize modelled satellite data on air pollution to assess health outcomes; acting as the primary scientific advisor for the NYDG Foundation; and co-authoring a textbook on hospital preparedness pathways and protocols in the event of an epidemic or disaster. She is currently serving on New York City’s COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Council to advise the Mayor on the latest evidence in disease evolution, treatment, and vaccine. She possesses extensive experience leading teams of major stakeholders -- including government, pharmaceutical, and medical -- to guide government policy and budgetary decision-making, clinical decision-making and practice guideline development. She is passionate about translating research into practice and providing decision support.
Moderator: Rebecca Distler serves as the Global Health Programs Lead at ID2020, providing strategic guidance on partnerships, programs, and operations related to digital ID in health. Prior to joining ID2020, Rebecca was Director of Global Health Initiatives at Element, an AI digital identity company. She has spent her career working across Africa and Asia to build programs and partnerships that scale innovation in global health – including work with the World Health Organization, Clinton Global Initiative, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. Rebecca holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the Yale School of Public Health and a BA in Political Science from Yale University. She is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper (currently serving as Curator of the New York Hub) and a Forbes Ignite Impact Fellow.
Part II: "Fostering Community Conversation to Stop AAPI Hate"
Speaker: Flora Ferng is the East Asian Communities Liaison of NYC Commission on Human Rights. She recently received Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Prize Foundation special COVID-19 Response Award on helping to combat the spike in anti-Asian bias. Previously, she was the Managing Director for Asian Americans for Equality. She joined AAFE as a Homeownership program counselor and trainer in 1997. Ms. Ferng was passionate about using her experiences to provide education and outreach to people of all classes and backgrounds in NYC. Her extensive background in program coordination & implementation enables her to mobilize the community and ethnic media to raise public awareness about changes in government policy and regulations and to help people understand and access these information. Flora was a member of Fannie Mae’s National Advisory Committee on Community Outreach. Between 2009 to 2015, she had been a member of the Manhattan Community Board 3, assigned to the Human Services, Health, Disability and Senior/ Youth & Education Committee. Currently, she is the Board Secretary of Apicha Community Health Center.
Moderator: Anna Tan is a Program Coordinator at the NYC Office of Labor Relations and a freelance dancer and choreographer. Her professional interests are in mental health, worksite wellness, and healthy aging, and she is passionate about exploring the intersection of dance and public health as a tool for community engagement and to improve quality of life. She is also an incoming curator for the Global Shapers NY Hub, a community of young people born out of the World Economic Forum dedicated to driving action, dialogue, and change.