Frontier Markets at COP28
From Ajaita Shah
Dear All,
We are looking forward to seeing you at COP 28 this year!
We're thrilled to announce that Frontier Markets and Frontier Innovations Foundation will have a presence at COP 28 this year.
We will be introducing our new initiative: "She Leads Bharat: Mahila Kisaan.” which aims to unlock the potential of 1 million small women farmers as climate champions of rural India through women facilitators, digital platforms, and market solutions in agriculture, renewable, energy and finance. This initiative is powered by Frontier Innovation Foundation’s “She-Leads Impact Fund,” a $20MN blended capital facility aimed to unlock markets and private sector capital for women. This first-of-its-kind catalytic capital fund was initiated by women leaders to harness the power of grant funding, corporate partnerships, and technology designed by women for women.
Our ultimate goal is to enable 1 million women digital facilitators who will positively impact the lives of 100 million women by 2030. The inaugural investments of the She Leads Impact Fund will focus on inclusive finance and climate interventions in India.
I am looking forward to speaking at several amazing COP 28 events this coming week thanks to amazing partners like Kite Insights, Edelman, EY, Adelphi, and of course, 2X. I'm looking forward to sharing insights and learning from the discussions at the summit.
Reach out if you want to chat more or find opportunities to collaborate: https://www.frontiermkts.com/she-leads-bharat
Here are the events – looking forward to seeing you there,
Ajaita
Event 1: Women In Finance and Energy Transition ROI: The new ROI return on impact through women in finance
Diversity is proven to be a competitive advantage across various industries and locations. A recent Blackrock study reveals that companies with more gender-balanced workforces outperformed their least-balanced counterparts by up to 2 percentage points annually from 2013 to 2022. Our panel discusses how gender parity is particularly crucial in the clean energy transition, where women often drive innovative and inclusive solutions.
We will be discussing the challenges in recruiting and retaining more women at all levels of the energy transition, from fund management and middle management to on-the-ground business ownership. The discussion emphasizes the unique perspectives and skills women bring, the impact of gender parity on decision-making, and the necessary steps to achieve it.
Location: Mubadala Pavilion, Energy Transition Hub, Green Zone
Date : December 4
Time: 15:00 – 16:00
Event 2: 2XG : Gender and climate-smart investing: the key to accelerating climate action
Despite being disproportionately negatively impacted by climate change, women – whether at a global, national or local level, within a political, business or social context – are already leading the charge for climate action. Moreover, as outlined by the UNFCCC women are key critical agents of change to building our society’s resilience and need to have elevated roles in decision-making positions and as users of climate capital. It’s been shown that corporations with robust female leadership have yielded a Return on Equity (ROE) of 10.1% annually, in contrast to the 7.4% for those lacking such leadership. Financing and supporting innovative climate solutions at speed and scale is key to meeting the targets set out by the Paris Agreement and ensuring a just transition. Moreover, advancing and further funding gender- smart adaptation and mitigation climate solutions is a core part of this inclusive pathway.
We will be discussing our role as a social business leading on gender and climate in India via She-Leads Bharat: Mahila Kisaan, and the opportunities to unlock private sector capital into the Agriculture, Finance and Renewable Energy sectors when investing in women entrepreneurs and women as market drivers.
Location: Technology and Innovation Hub, Green Zone
Date : December 4th
Time : 16:30 - 17:30 GST
Twist the kaleidoscope: Climate, gender and youth.
The roundtable discussion will examine how blended funding is particularly well suited to support young women entrepreneurs advancing solutions related to loss & damage, and adaptation & resilience, and explore what cross-sector, cross-industry and cross-skill collaborative solutions can be deployed towards this aim. How can thinking with a climate, gender, and youth lens help social impact entrepreneurs access the support they need to reach their full potential?
We are looking forward to sharing our experience in bringing a gender and emerging market lens via She-Leads Bharat: Mahila Kisaan, the blended capital approach via our Foundation to drive pilots around climate gender solutions in India unlocking businesses to take strong interest in rural market, gender, and climate initiatives.
Location: Majlis Room, DP World, Green Zone
Date : 5th December 2023
Time : 10.30-11.30 am
Climate Impact Female Founders Council
ClimateImpact is collaborating with EY to host the third Female Founders Council alongside COP28. In line with COP’s thematic agenda, we will be exploring the topic of Just Transition through varied discussions.
As Founder of Frontier Markets and Frontier Innovations Foundation, I will be sharing our perspective around where women farmers’ voices and experiences need to be included to design better green and climate interventions in India. Women as climate solvers, women as influencers, women as co-creators, women as the solution for Just Transitions.
Location: The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Date: Tuesday, 5 December
Time: 4-6pm GST
UNFCCC COP 28 Side Event Concept
This event will address key issues of a proactive climate foreign policy: How can cooperation between different partner countries address the climate crisis and accelerate the global energy transition - complementary to the climate negotiation process? How can the phase-out of fossil fuels be realised as quickly as possible, even in countries whose economies are still largely based on corresponding export revenues? How can partnerships be designed in such a way that they are successful for both sides and enable a just transition to a climate-neutral and socially just future?
We are looking forward to sharing our perspective from working in India, the role that Development Finance can play to unlock the potential of gender and climate, and share more about our She-Leads Impact Fund
Location: German Pavilion, Blue Zone
Date: Friday, 8 December
Time: 11:30am - 12:30pm GST
Jan Kaliba
Former U.S. Correspondent to Czech Radio, public service media, Jan Kaliba has recently (September 2023) turned into the very first Climate Correspondent in a nationally relevant media in his „climate change sceptic“ home country.
As a lifelong sports enthusiast, during his studies at Charles University in Prague Jan started to work in Czech Radio as a member of the sports desk, covering predominantly soccer and skiing. As a radio journalist he attended and broadcasted live from two Winter Olympics, soccer World Cup in Brazil, two soccer European Championships and many other events. His storytelling gained him a place among the top 10 in 2016 AIPS Sport Media Awards where the best sport stories of the world are recognized. In 2017, he also co-founded Football Club, Czech quarterly magazine for soccer culture.
In 2017 he was selected by Czech Radio to serve as its Foreign Correspondent to the USA. In the following six years until summer 2023 he experienced and covered on the ground the 2020 Presidential Election, storming of the national Capitol in Washington D. C. on January 6, 2021, covid-19 pandemics, the protests after the murder of George Floyd and many other events, just to name a few. He also focused on the topics of systemic racism, climate change, situation of Native Americans, refugee crisis and other issues on the southern border, Czech-American community etc. His stories on Tangier Island and on the US southern border won the international category of reportage at the annual radio festival Prix Bohemia Radio two times.
In July 2023, Jan moved back to Czechia with his wife Adela (Head of International Relations in Czech Radio and an international production of Czech Radio´s broadcasting of 2020 US Elections) and two kids who were raised in Bethesda, Maryland, and Washington D. C..
Jan has turned into the very first Climate Correspondent to Czech Radio, based in Prague. Inspired by many international media outlets, figuring out his future within Czech Radio, Jan came up with a new position of a Climate Correspondent. This is the very first position of this kind in any national media in the Czech Republic. Jan is now trying not only to bring climate stories and the issue of climate change generally more into public awareness in Czechia, but also finding the best techniques to do so and trying to create networks with other journalists and experts. Just to illustrate his daily struggles let´s mention that Czechia is one of the most sceptical country in protecting climate and the debate about it among the EU member states.
Jan of course loves to play soccer and finds it as a worldwide language which took him to many great places and let him know many wonderful people, including members of Shahin AC, the international community soccer group in Bethesda, Maryland.
Steedman Hinckley
Steedman Hinckley worked more than 30 years on Russian affairs and US-Russian relations at the departments of State and Defense, the White House, and the intelligence community. He served in Russia in multiple assignments for the Department of State.
Prior to joining government, he worked on Russian and Soviet affairs at the RAND Corporation and was a wilderness guide in Alaska. He holds a B.A. in Russian and Soviet Studies from Wesleyan University and an M.A. in Policy Analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He lives with his wife, Lisa Farnsworth, a landscape painter, in Truro, MA.
I've had the privilege of enjoying a close friendship with Steedman, learning from him and thinking with him on a broad range on security and geopolitical issues, often in wonderful conversations on Truro beaches.
He is a nuanced, careful and thoughtful analyst, with a great depth of knowledge of Russia.
Steedman is a superb host. Iris and I enjoy his culinary skills and his renowned cosmopolitans. He is well-known for his sense of humor, love of music, and playing his guitar. Remi greatly enjoys his Newfie, Sona.
Tracy Bourke
Tracy Bourke has a passion for bringing stakeholders together to create value and impact. Tracy was born in Melbourne, Australia, where she grew up in the diverse suburbs south of the city.
She graduated top of her class and went on to complete degrees in business from Melbourne University and applied finance from Monash down the road. She started her career at Ernst & Young's office in Melbourne before moving across the world to New York to join the team's innovation and digital practices. She has led projects looking at digital transformation work for a range of fortune 500 companies, and has a passion for creating accessible banking products and financial literacy.
Tracy recently completed her executive MBA at Stern, NYU, and was named by poets and quants as one of the "best and brightest" EMBAs of the year.
Carmen Avcioglu
Carmen Avcioglu was born and raised in Puerto Rico where she became a pharmacist.Looking to expand her professional and personal horizons she moved to Boston,MA during her mid-twenties. She has continued her career as a pharmacist in a number of diverse areas in the fields like Hospital,Pharmaceutical Sales, HIV Specialty Pharmacist, Home Infusion and latest as Community Pharmacist. Her biggest belief is about patient care and wellbeing. It has been a challenge to practice her career in a for profit healthcare system. Nowadays she is looking for her third Act.
Asi-Yahola Boutelle
I’ve been committed to social justice and activism my whole life, a calling nurtured by my family, my San Francisco Bay Area upbringing, and my time with Professor Sherman Teichman. I first met Sherman following the EPIIC Program in the 2002 Global Inequities Symposium, at the Global Health Inequity panel. It was here where I also met another long-time mentor of mine, Dr. Paul Farmer, after putting a fellow panelist of his who represented a pharmaceutical company in the hot seat during Q&A at the sophomoric age of 18. Following the 2002 EPIIC symposium, I became intrigued by this fascinating program and educational format, which led me to join the Sovereignty & Intervention EPIIC Colloquim the following year. Sherman would also introduce me to a beloved mentor of mine and fellow Convisero mentor, Dr. Sousan Abadian. I worked with Dr. Abadian in my junior and senior years, doing research on Indigenous Peoples in America and the use of culturally based treatment modalities to combat intergenerational trauma and oppression. I went on from Tufts to earn Master’s Degrees in Bioethics, Biomedical Sciences, and Business Administration, and I’m currently completing my fourth Master’s Degree in Public Health. I’ve researched and written on topics from Indigenous public health, to novel ways to fight antimicrobial resistance, heart disease, and global health. I’ve also published my research on the impact of climate change on kidney disease in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases. I currently work for a non-profit in Upstate New York doing community development and case management work while raising my two beautiful children. My ultimate goal is to practice clinical medicine, which I will work towards after completing my Public Health Degree.
Erica Goldstein
Erica Goldstein is a palliative medicine physician at North Shore University working within an interdisciplinary team that specializes in serious illness across a breadth of clinical conditions. She has particular interests in care coordination and accessibility, health policy and management, physician engagement, global partnerships, social medicine, and diversity and inclusion within the health field.
Her training includes medical school at NYU Langone, emergency medicine residency at McGovern Medical School (formerly known as the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston), and palliative medicine fellowship at NYU Winthrop. She took time between years in medical school to complete a Master of Public Administration degree in Health Policy and Management at the NYU Wagner School of Public Service, which developed her skills of managing and working within teams, conducting program analysis and evaluation, communicating patients’ needs to essential decision-makers and stakeholders, and understanding the business of medicine.
In the emergency department, she worked in what is often the gateway to the US healthcare system at the height of the COVID epidemic in Houston, which was one of the cities that was hardest hit. During that time, she was in the EMRA Leadership Academy and completed the Texas College of Emergency Physicians Leadership and Advocacy Fellowship. The latter, she sat in on board meetings of an organization with over 2000 members and proposed and founded the Diversity and Health Equity (DIHE) task force. These experiences provided insight to the world of organizational medicine and policy change. Within her residency training program, she also had roles as Vice Chair of Administration and Vice Chair of Community Engagement. She has written multiple pieces for the EM Resident + Policy Prescriptions Journal Club and for SheMD and was awarded the EMRA FIX Travel Scholarship to attend the FemInEM Idea Exchange (FIX) in 2020, which unfortunately was cancelled due to COVID.
She looks forward to continuing to serve patients and their families within the hospital and bolstering education around symptom management and ensuring that patients' care is aligned with their values and preferences. Down the road, she has ideas of making transparent the realities of people with serious illness to advocate on their behalf and to help others better understand what to expect when they or their loved ones fall ill.
Outside of work, Erica enjoys traveling, learning about other cultures, reading, writing, hiking, dance, music, and theater.
Yoni Tsapira
I am a rising senior at Brookline High School. I am on the rowing team, where I am the captain of the varsity crew team and a three-year varsity athlete. I am also the vice president and co-founder of the economics club at Brookline High School.
My interest in international relations led me to take the Global Leadership class offered at Brookline High School, ultimately leading me to Sherman, where he was a speaker. Since my father is Israeli, my interest in international relations originated from the Israel-Palistinian conflict. In addition, this aligns with my interest in languages, as I am fluent in Hebrew and proficient in Chinese. I feel that international relations and political science relate to everything and everyone and are very interdisciplinary. They affect both peoples day to day lives and the way the world works. Not enough is known about other countries here in America, which is very near-sighted. I also enjoy traveling; I have gone to Israel several times and previously volunteered in Costa Rica over the summer, and I plan on going to many more.
I look forward to learning more about the Trebuchet and am eager to contribute in any way that I can.
Maria Udalova
I’ve had a diverse upbringing across Cyprus, London, Miami and Orlando, facilitated by my parent’s love for new adventures and change in environment. My parents also instilled in me a passion for the arts and humanities from an early age, taking my brother and I to museums, theatres, exhibitions, and historic sites around the world - a passion that’s still prevalent in my everyday life.
I’m a rising junior at Brookline High School and at BHS, I’m part of the Mock Trial, Model UN, and Speech and Debate clubs. I’ve found that they’re incredible platforms through which I can engage in exciting discourse, challenge and improve my argumentative skills, and meet many wonderful people.
Additionally, I participate in my school’s Climate and Food Justice club through which I write for the Greenzine, a forum for news, opinion and creative expression about climate change, outdoor education and the environment. Engaging in this club and contributing to the zine this year has ignited my growing interest for international environmental policy, a field I am enthusiastic about pursuing in the future.
Outside of school I play rugby, work as an artist in a pottery studio, and volunteer at the Brookline food pantry. When I have a few hours to spare, I love to bury my nose in a book, start a new art project or hang out with my friends.
I met Sherman when he came to my Global Leadership class at school as a guest speaker, after which I sought him out in hopes of working for him over the summer and beyond. I found him to be captivating and delightful to be around, and I can’t wait to see what working on the Trebuchet with them will bring me.
Meg Grieve
I am a rising senior at Tufts University pursuing a degree in International Relations and Arabic. I was born in Northern California, raised for the most part in Washington, D.C., but moved around a lot between the two, having lived in 13 houses by the time I graduated high school. Not quite ready to settle in one place for college, I took a gap year to move to Rabat, Morocco where I took language classes, lived with a host family, and volunteered to teach English, until COVID hit, forcing me to return home. Having played soccer my whole life, it wasn’t until one afternoon in a back alley of Marrakech when I stumbled upon a group of kids kicking around a soccer ball that I understood the extent of the global nature of the game and its ability to bring any two humans together. Since then, I have been interested in conflict resolution and the advancement of women’s rights through sports.
On campus, I am President of the Middle East Research Group (MERG) under the IGL and serve as captain of the Tufts University Women’s Football Club. With MERG I traveled to Cyprus to conduct research on education policies for refugee children. Additionally, I helped put on symposiums on Freedom of The Press and the United States’ pullout of Afghanistan, along with smaller panels and weekly current events discussions.
I just finished a semester at the University of Jordan on a full immersion program where I took classes, explored the country, and volunteered at Squash Dreamers, an organization that provides the opportunity for young refugee girls to play squash and learn English. I am currently an Oslo Scholar, working for the Centre for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies, completing weekly country reports and researching fundraising strategies for global pro-democracy movements. Through the scholar’s program, I was able to attend the Oslo Freedom Forum in Norway this June, connecting with activists and dissidents from around the world.
I was connected with Sherman through Grace Spalding-Fecher, a recent Tufts alumni and former Trebuchet intern. I am honored to be a part of this community and excited to work with Sherman and the rest of the Trebuchet team on our many overlapping interests.
Sandenna McMaster
In 2021, I graduated from Lewis & Clark College, where I received a degree in International Relations with a concentration in the Middle East and Northern Africa region. On campus, I served as the co-chair for the 59th Lewis & Clark International Affairs Symposium: “System Shocks: Finding Clarity in a Chaotic World”. I was also an active participant in the French Club, the College Outdoors program, and the Botany club. During my studies, I had several external opportunities to conduct research projects surrounding humanitarian conflict resolution, environmental sustainability and agricultural adaptation, policy implementation and tribal conflicts in Western Africa. Originally from Alaska and a dual citizen of France and the United States, I had the chance to grow up with diverse narratives from the communities surrounding me. This instilled in me an understanding of the power of perspective, cross-cultural collaboration, and the interconnectedness of the issues our systems face today.
Through my academic and professional career, I sought every opportunity to explore the world – to interact with diverse cultures and environments. In 2016, I founded a project to finance and deliver educational supplies of over 150 children in the coastal village of Gomoa Fetteh, Ghana. In the summer of 2017, I researched and collaborated with an advocacy group in Ollantaytambo, Peru to fund the building of a primary school in the remote, mountainous village of Willoc Alto. Through these experiences, I not only continued to grow my passion for global development, but also challenged myself to see how and by what means others interact with the world around them.
After graduating, I followed my interest in conflict analysis and mitigation and began working as a research assistant in Paris, focusing on the concepts of memory, vengeance, and retributive justice in conflict. I then worked as a paralegal for the International Arbitration team at Bird & Bird LLP, focusing on Middle Eastern and North African arbitral cases. Here, I have gained the necessary technical knowledge on international law, and the mechanisms at work behind international negotiations, treaties, and relations.
Throughout my travels and the different places I have lived, I have been able to keep my connection to my hometown of Palmer, Alaska strong through my favorites hobbies: climbing (both on rock and ice), hiking, snowboarding, and backpacking.
Meeting through a mutual friend, I have had the pleasure and privilege to get to know Sherman Teichman, and in turn, this incredible community he has created. Joining the Trebuchet fills me with both a sense of great pride and of greater responsibility; it serves not only as a network of inspiring global actors, but a wholly necessary conduit for multidisciplinary connections and collaborations that ignite innovative projects for a prosperous future.
Shaharris Beh
Shaharris is the founder and Supreme Commander (actual title) of NeedList.ORG, a tech charity that helps shelters get free groceries delivered weekly.
Recently, during the 2021 pandemic, he helped launch Taco Bell in Malaysia as Head of Marketing and Technology; as of November 2023, there are 22 outlets.
Most of his professional life was spent as founder and CEO of HackerNest, a global nonprofit that produced 1200+ tech events (hackathons, tech socials, innovation trainings, job fairs, etc.) in 65+ cities with partners including the US/UK/Canadian governments, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Stanford, Harvard, Dove, Deloitte, Grindr, Airbnb, banks, law firms, and hundreds others. He raised ~$4m in sponsorship and was a prolific speaker, advisor, and consultant for numerous public and private sector organizations. In 2016, he received the Institute for Global Leadership's Boryana Damyanova Award for Corporate Social Responsibility for his work on HackerNest.
Past career blips include:
- founding a VC-backed tech startup alongside a web development firm to fund it and a coworking space to house it
- working with the UNDP on HIV/AIDS
- copywriting for DDB
- private equity financial analysis for Centaur Capital Partners
- voice acting for cartoons
At Tufts, he was a member of the EPIIC 2001-2 colloquium on Global Inequities, the Chair of the TCU Judiciary, a member of the International Relations Director's Leadership Council, a campus resident advisor, and a women's self-defense instructor.
Trivia: Shaharris was the "before and after" guy in a Head & Shoulders commercial, went to 11 schools in 10 years, and used to build and donate computers to shelters as a hobby.
Ayan Ahmed Holmberg
Ayan Ahmed Holmberg is from Mogadishu, Somalia.
She started working for UNICEF during the civil war in Somalia. She relocated to Nairobi where she worked for UNDP Somalia War Torn Societies project, The BBC, UN HABITAT in South Sudan, INGO Progressive Interventions in Somaliland & Steadman Research Group. All of this work in the horn of Africa was realized while raising three kids and relocating to Khartoum, Islamabad, Boston, Addis Ababa etc. Ayan currently lives in the Boston area and works at Beth Israel Lahey Health.
John Barrengos
John feels blessed for his spouse, Kate Knopp, whose patience for his energy is almost without limit. Their hearts are filled with their children, Acadia and Eliot. John still manages to do some singing and strives to embrace and remain grumpy about the aging process.
On the professional side, after working as a commercial banker to schools, hospitals, and non-profits, John began his career serving independent schools in 1990, when he served as development director at his alma mater, Moses Brown School (RI). John served as Associate Director of CITYterm, an experiential semester program at The Masters School (NY), as director of summer programs and leadership education at Miss Porter's School (CT), and as Head of School at The Independent Day School, a PK-8th grade day school in CT. At IDS, he strengthened educational design through increased collaborative teaching and substantiated assessment practices and he refinanced and renovated the campus. Since 2013, John has served as Director of Admission & Financial Aid at the Putney School (VT), one of the most progressive boarding schools in the U.S..
John has been invested in service to non-profits, most especially schools. John currently serves as a trustee for the Small Boarding Schools Association and for High Meadow Farm (NH); his former board service includes boarding and day schools, national educational, and local arts organizations. John earned his Ed. D. in Organizations and Leadership from Columbia University Teachers College.
Matej Vipotnik
Matej is a commodity trader in London.
He took part in the 1994/95 EPIIC symposium ‘2020 Visions of the Future’ and the 1995/96 symposium ‘The Future of Democracy’. With Sherman’s encouragement, he collected evidence of war crimes in Bosnia for the Hague Tribunal. For a few years he worked as a foreign correspondent, which remains his most interesting job to date.
Jeff Golden
My dream is to one day be a Czech parachutist or a Haitian human rights activist (per Sherm’s email ;)). In the meanwhile, though, I have followed my passion and my heart, and I have been richly rewarded. Not always the way I hoped. OK, basically never the way I hoped. But with lots of joy and beauty and magic on the one hand, and also lots of pain and heartbreak and more magic on the other.
I’ve spent a good portion of the last twelve years researching and writing a book, and have been richly rewarded. It won the Grand Prize at the Nautilus Book Awards this year. Previous winners include the Dalai Lama, Barbara Kingsolver, and Thich Nhat Hanh.
Reclaiming the Sacred is a vital asset for anyone concerned about the global climate disaster or the vast environmental destruction being caused by humans worldwide. This book explores the cultural and psychological underpinnings of the materialism that are driving much of this destruction.
The book explores the psychology of happiness--those factors that really do contribute to human well-being—far more than money and possessions—and it explores the psychology of money--the ways that money nonetheless hooks so many of us. It explores the immense costs of materialism, in particular global warming, and it points the way beyond materialism, toward healthy and integrated relationships with ourselves, each other, and nature.
But it’s also so much more than that—a deep dive into love and belonging and spirit. I highly recommend it! :)
Fodder for conversation: No more flying for me. Two intentional communities. Founding a community organization in response to the murder of an incarcerated mentally ill black man by corrections officers in a state prison very close to home. Vegan. Finding my birth mother when I was 38. A wonderful romance spanning four continents, then a 16-year marriage, and then a painful implosion and divorce. Two luminous children. The greenest USGBC building in New York state. A truck converted to run on vegetable oil. A lost hiker trekking solo in the Amazon. A high school teacher. School bus driver.
Marni Chanoff
Dr. Marni Chanoff, Founder and CEO of Joy In Health, is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and Mclean Hospital, and she practices and teaches Integrative Psychiatry.
She completed residency at Harvard’s MGH/McLean Psychiatry Training Program, receiving the Mel Kayce Award for Excellence in Psychotherapy. She attended the University of Miami School of Medicine, where she graduated with research distinction and was honored as the most distinguished graduate in psychiatry.
She trained in ketamine assisted psychotherapy (KAP) with The Ketamine Training Center.
She completed her Ayurvedic studies at the Kripalu School of Ayurveda. and is certified as a culinary coach by Harvard’s Institute of Lifestyle Medicine.
She also completed fellowships at The MGH Center for Psychoanalytic Studies and Harvard University Health Services. Following her training, she joined the clinical faculty at McLean Hospital as Psychiatrist-in-Charge of the Schizophrenia and Bipolar Program. She then served as an Ellenhorn PACT Team Psychiatrist and Chief Medical Officer.
She has been in private practice and consulting for several years and is now thrilled to be building Joy In Health, which she founded to inspire and empower people to work towards their health goals with support from a collaborative clinical team.
Jay Schnitzer
Jay J. Schnitzer is Senior Vice President, Corporate Chief Engineer, and Chief Medical Officer at The MITRE Corporation. As an M.D. board certified pediatric surgeon, Jay led early studies of pulmonary developmental anomalies. With a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, coupled with field experience in international and domestic disaster medical response, he co-led a national effort of over 1,000 private sector organizations to discover solutions to the current COVID-19 pandemic, building on his experience leading the Defense Sciences Office of DARPA.
As CMO he leads MITRE’s corporate and national initiatives in health and biological sciences, building coalitions leveraging the best talent across the nation in these areas. He created and directs two signature “moonshots”: 1) the Oncology–Standard Health Record moonshot to use electronic clinical data to derive clinical trial endpoints with the goal of reducing risk, cost, and length of time required for clinical trial execution (https://health.mitre.org/mcode/); and 2) the Quantum Information Science (QIS) moonshot to create major advances in quantum computing, sensing, and communications based solely on photons as quantum bits (https://www.mitre.org/quantum-moonshot). He co-led an assessment of NOAA scientific integrity policies and procedures as applied to Karl T, et al.: Possible Artifacts of Data Biases in the Recent Global Surface Warming Hiatus, Science, 2015
(https://www.mitre.org/publications/technical-papers/assessment-of-national-oceanic-and-atmospheric-administration). He led the writing and editing of the Integrated Report for the Independent Assessment performed in response to Section 201 of Veterans Choice Act in 2015, which became the blueprint for the VA MISSION Act of 2018, and organized and facilitated the associated Blue Ribbon Panel, which unanimously endorsed the Report (https://www.va.gov/opa/choiceact/documents/assessments/integrated_report.pdf). He co-chaired (with Dr. John D. Halamka, President of Mayo Clinic Platform) the COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition, https://c19hcc.org, which delivered products that were implemented and improved Covid outcomes in four areas: the COVID-19 supply chain, social policies (e.g., criteria for implementing non-pharmaceutical interventions), discovering novel data-driven clinical insights for therapeutics, and using technology to successfully harness the power of a large, pro-bono consortium of over 1,000 private sector organizations (COVID-19 Healthcare Coalition - Impact Report (c19hcc.org).
As CTO he directed MITRE’s independent internal research and development (R&D) program and oversees development of MITRE's corporate technology strategy, to 1) ensure a world-class internal R&D effort across multiple technology disciplines that supports the entire corporation; 2) deliver capabilities directly to government that will transform outcomes in six key federally-sponsored areas: healthcare, national security, aviation and transportation, commerce, veterans affairs, and cybersecurity; and 3) return value to the nation by transferring innovations to industry (Research Overview | The MITRE Corporation).
Before joining MITRE, Dr. Schnitzer was the Director of the Defense Sciences Office (DSO) at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he led a team of 20 program managers and 70 support staff and oversaw research and development across multiple domains, from life sciences and biomedical research to quantum physics, including materials science, advanced mathematics, and engineering. He also expanded the portfolio of new programs, improved staff morale, and managed an annual budget of $460 million.
Formerly, Dr. Schnitzer led medical and clinical teams as chief medical officer at Boston Scientific Corporation. He provided medical and clinical oversight of the entire product lifecycle, including clinical trials for all medical devices manufactured by four business divisions: endoscopy, urology/women's health, neurovascular, and neuromodulation. He provided medical and clinical leadership that supported the successful sale of a $1 billion medical device division (neurovascular); oversaw and led the design and successful initiation of two new pre-market neuromodulation medical device clinical trials (an international trial for deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease and a US trial for occipital nerve stimulation for migraine); and championed successful acquisition and integration of a new business opportunity for first ever medical device therapy for asthma, including a successful clinical trial portfolio.
Earlier, Dr. Schnitzer held a staff appointment at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) as an attending pediatric surgeon, with a joint appointment at the Shriners Burns Hospital, and was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School. His research focus included: 1) studying the developmental molecular biology of abnormal lung growth and maturation in a mechanistic search for novel prenatal therapeutics for congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) as an NIH-funded investigator, and 2) exploring the interface between healthcare simulation and medical disaster preparedness and mass casualty response—a logical combination of his engineering background coupled with field experience in international and disaster medicine. At the MGH, he was the site miner for the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT). He supervised a six-member medical response team at Ground Zero for two weeks following the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, treating FDNY, NYPD, and Iron workers so that they were able to conduct continuous uninterrupted 24-hour search and rescue operations following the destruction of the twin towers. Subsequently, he led a mobile operating room surgical team for US response to the Bam, Iran earthquake in December 2003. In the laboratory, he demonstrated efficacy of prenatal glucocorticoid therapy to improve lung maturation in animal models of congenital diaphragmatic hernia.
Other credentials include: board certification (and recertification) in general surgery and pediatric surgery; Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP); provider and instructor in Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Advanced Burn Life Support (ABLS), and Advanced Trauma Operative Management (ATOM); and provider in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). Memberships in national and international societies include, among others, the American Surgical Association, Association for Academic Surgery, American Pediatric Surgical Association, Surgical Biology Club I, Boston Surgical Society, American Burn Association, New England Surgical Society, and the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons.
Dr. Schnitzer was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and attended public schools in Springfield and Longmeadow, MA, graduating from Longmeadow High School as class valedictorian and an Eagle Scout. In 1973, he graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts with a B.S. in chemical engineering (high distinction). In 1983 he received a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Schnitzer completed his residency training program in general surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston (1983-1988), one year performing trauma surgery in the Gaza Strip (1988-1989), and a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Children’s Hospital, Boston (1989-1991). His awards and honors include: the WPI Salisbury Prize Award in chemical engineering, the Von L. Meyer and Sydney Farber Awards from Children’s Hospital Boston, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security FEMA Under Secretary’s Award, the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Achievement, the MITRE President’s Award, the WashingtonExec Pinnacle Awards 2020 Healthcare Industry Executive of the Year, and the 2023 FCW Fed100 Award.
He is married to Sara Roy, and they live in Boston, MA with their daughters Annie and Jess.
Alfonso Enriquez
Alfonso is a technologist with a passion for innovation. His collegiate journey at Tufts University was notably marked by his involvement with the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) and BUILD: Guatemala. These experiences deeply ingrained in him the transformative power of entrepreneurship and cooperative development, shaping his professional ethos.
One of the most cherished moments from his time in Guatemala was not solely the collective progress but also the lighter, human interactions—such as the humorous attempts at teaching children the Spanish pronunciation of "Google."
Alfonso's academic endeavors extended beyond the classroom, with research focused on the economic development and social entrepreneurship in Mexican rural communities and Cuba, underscoring his commitment to sustainable change. It was during his time with EPIIC that his interest in computer science began to crystallize, especially at the nexus of ethics and artificial intelligence in warfare.
After graduation and a significant period in the non-profit sector, Alfonso underwent a profound career transformation. He harnessed his entrepreneurial drive within the tech industry, founding Beam—a startup designed to revolutionize the telemedicine landscape by enabling doctors to launch their digital practices.
As a software engineer at Justworks, Alfonso is currently streamlining the process for small businesses to manage international workforces. His role is a harmonious blend of his belief in technology as a catalyst for good, promoting growth and opportunity.
Looking to the future, Alfonso is not only planning a life with his fiancée, Alexandra Flores-Quilty, but also a career trajectory where he can leverage the leadership lessons from the IGL. He aspires to be a responsible leader in the tech industry, guiding innovation while ensuring that technology acts as a conduit for positive societal transformation.