PRESENTER:

 

Kay Johnson

Kay Johnson has been a leader in maternal and child health (MCH) policy for over 25 years.  She has been active in Medicaid and health policy at the federal and state levels since 1984 and a consultant to more than 40 states. Her expertise encompasses a wide range of MCH policy and program issues. Ms. Johnson is president of Johnson Group Consulting. Since 2004, she has been an advisor and consultant to the CDC Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative. She also holds appointments as a Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School and a Lecturer in Health Policy at the George Washington University.  Formerly, she was the national policy director for March of Dimes and director for health at the Children's Defense Fund. She is past-chair of the Maternal and Child Health Section of the American Public Health Association and served on the board of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, Partnership for Prevention, All Kids Count, and National Perinatal Association. She served four years as a federal appointee to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Her work includes roles in staff leadership and process facilitation for several national initiatives, including the: Select Panel on Preconception Care; National Newborn Screening Task Force; Summit on the Future of Perinatal Health; and National Committee on Perinatal Health. Kay provided direct service to low-income families in child care and child development programs in the 1970s. She holds a Masters in Public Health from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and a Masters in Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

 

 

Alina Salganicoff

Alina Salganicoff is Vice President and Director of Women's Health Policy for the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Her work focuses on health coverage and access to care for women, with an emphasis on challenges facing underserved populations, including low-income and uninsured women as well as women of color. In addition, Dr. Salganicoff also directs the Foundation's KaiserEDU.org project, an online resource for students and faculty in health policy. Before directing the Foundation's work in women's health policy, Dr. Salganicoff worked on the staff of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. She also worked as a Research Associate at The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, on the health program staff of the Pew Charitable Trusts, and as a trainer and counselor for CHOICE, a Philadelphia-based, reproductive health care advocacy organization. Dr. Salganicoff has served as a member of the advisory committee to the Jacobs Institute's project on women's health and managed care and as an advisor to the U.S. Public Health Service's Office on Women's Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Dr. Salganicoff completed her undergraduate degree at Pennsylvania State University and holds a PhD in Health Policy from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Susan Wood

Susan Wood is the Executive Director of the Jacobs Insitute of Women's Health.  Dr. Wood is also a Research Professor at George Washington University's School of Public Health and Health Services. She has dedicated her career to applying scientific evidence to health policy decisionmaking. Dr. Wood is the former Assistant Commissioner for Women's Health at the Food and Drug Administration where she directed the FDA Office of Women's Health and served as the "champion for women's health inside and outside the agency", focusing on areas such as inclusion of women in clinical studies; regulatory research on topics such as cardiovascular disease and medications used during pregnancy; and in developing outreach campaigns for women regarding menopausal hormone therapy, safe medication use and diabetes. In August 2005, Dr. Wood resigned on principle in response to the decision announced by FDA leadership to once again delay approval of Plan B emergency contraception, despite the recommendation of FDA scientific staff and advisory committees. Her principled stance against the politicization of science at the FDA catapulted her to 'superhero' status around the country. Dr. Wood has also served as  Director of the Division of Policy and Program Development at the Office of Women's Health, U.S Department of Health & Human Services (1995 - 2000); and as Deputy Director/ Science Advisor for the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues (1990 - 1995). She completed a Doctor of Philosophy (Biology) and Boston University, Research Fellowship training (Neuroscience), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.