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R. Gordon Douglas, MD (Chair)
R. Gordon Douglas is currently Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Douglas served as a consultant to the Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), from 1999-2011. He retired from Merck & Co. in 1999 after serving as President, Merck Vaccine Division, and a member of its Management Committee for 9 years. Dr. Douglas is a graduate of Princeton University (1955) and Cornell University Medical College (1959). After internal medicine training at the New York Hospital and Johns Hopkins Hospital, and infectious disease training at NIAID, he served successively as Head of the Infectious Disease Unit, University of Rochester, (1970-1982) and Chairman, Department of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center (1982-1990) before joining Merck. He is author of over 190 original scientific publications dealing with viral pathogenesis, vaccines, and anti-virals, and was co-editor (with Gerald Mandell and John Bennett) of Principles and Practices of Infectious Diseases, the standard reference in the field. He is recipient of the R.R. Hawkins Award (Association of American Publishers, 1980), the H. Feldman Award (Infectious Disease Society of America, 1992), and the Maxwell Finland Award (National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, 2000). He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of American Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American Clinical and Climatologic Association.
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Michelle Cantu, MPH
Michelle Cantu is the Director for Infectious Disease and Immunization at the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), a nonprofit representing nearly 3,000 local health departments nationwide. At NACCHO, Michelle leads the Immunization Program to engage local health departments to increase their capacity in prevention and control of vaccine preventable diseases. She oversees the management of the immunization advisory workgroup, national partnerships among multidisciplinary groups addressing VPDs, and evaluation to further enhance programmatic strategies, policies, and activities. Michelle has over 12 years of leadership experience in public health with a focus on infectious disease prevention. Prior to her role at NACCHO, Michelle was the Director of Community-Based STD Prevention Initiatives at Essential Access Health (formerly California Family Health Council) in Los Angeles, California. In that role, she worked with a diverse group of health centers on quality improvement programs related to reproductive health delivery, services, and data. She obtained her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus in infectious diseases and epidemiology and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Danielle Casanova, MBA
Danielle Casanova is responsible for establishing the AMGA population health initiatives’ overall vision, and she provides oversight on all collaborative and acclaim award activities. She leads strategic direction and planning of current and future quality collaboratives and the acclaim award program. She has spent 17 years in total, working for healthcare associations developing, training, and implementing national healthcare programs for the American Diabetes Association and national population health and quality programs for AMGA. Ms. Casanova received her undergraduate degree in Biology with a concentration in PreMedicine and has a master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Management.
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Stefan Gravenstein, MD, MPH
A geriatrician, former John Franklin Chair of Geriatrics and Director of the Glennan Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology at Eastern Virginia Medical School (1996-2007), and Director of Center for Geriatrics and Palliative Care at University Hospitals in Cleveland (2014-2017), he is now Professor in the departments of Medicine and Health Services Policy and Practice at Brown's schools of medicine and public health, and Director, Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Gravenstein has a long-standing interest in immunity, inflammation, cardiovascular outcomes and aging especially in the context of vaccines and the long-term care setting, and the topic of the majority of his publications. He also has a specific interest in quality improvement in health care, the culture of care, antimicrobial stewardship, and how to improve care transitions. He was Clinical Director at Healthcentric Advisors, Medicare's Quality Improvement Organization for New England from 2007 to 2019.
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Barbara Resnick, PhD, RN, CRNP
Barbara Resnick received a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Connecticut, a master of science in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania, and a doctoral degree in nursing from the University of Maryland.
Dr. Resnick’s research focus has been on motivation of older adults, particularly with regard to performance of functional activities and engaging in regular exercise. Included among her research activities have been several federally funded projects focused on older adults such as Testing the Reliability and Validity of the Exercise Plus Program Post Hip Fracture (NIA RO1 AG17082-01) and Testing the Effectiveness of the Res-Care Intervention (AHRQ R01 HS/MH 13372-010). In addition, Dr. Resnick has numerous projects focused on testing exercise interventions across a variety of clinical areas: community dwelling older adults in a continuing care retirement community and minority older adults in senior centers. Similarly, Dr. Resnick is the primary investigator on several measurement studies related to physical activity in older adults. She has authored over 100 manuscripts, numerous book chapters on both clinical and research topics relevant to the care of older adults, and she recently authored a book on restorative care nursing. Dr. Resnick is a fellow in the Academy of Nursing and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, received the 2003 Distinguished Faculty Research Award from the University of Maryland, and numerous awards for both her clinical work as well as her research.
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William Schaffner, MD
William Schaffner is Chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine as well as Professor of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. His primary interests are infectious diseases and their prevention. Dr. Schaffner has worked extensively on the effective use of vaccines in both pediatric and adult populations. He is a strong proponent of collaboration between academic medical centers and public health institutions.
Dr. Schaffner is a liaison representative to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and is a member of the Immunization Technical Advisory Committee of the American College of Physicians. He is a former member of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC), Past President of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and a former Councilor and Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Currently, he is President of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Dr. Schaffner is a consultant in public health policy and communicable disease control for numerous national and local institutions including the CDC, the World Health Organization, and the Tennessee Department of Health. Dr. Schaffner is a member of numerous professional societies and has written over 400 scientific articles and textbook chapters. He often is called upon to communicate about public health issues in the print media and television.
After graduation from Yale in 1957, Dr. Schaffner attended the University of Freiburg, Germany, as a Fulbright Scholar. In 1962, he graduated from Cornell University Medical College and completed an internship, residency training, and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He was commissioned in the U.S. Public Health Service as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the CDC in Atlanta for 2 years (1966-1968), returning to Vanderbilt after that tour of duty.
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