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  • Ward's academic career has included teaching posts and professional connections with Ohio State University, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the University of Calgary, and the California Institute of Technology. He was elected as a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 1984. Peter Ward specializes in the Cretaceous Tertiary extinction event and mass extinctions generally. He has published books on biodiversity and the fossil record. His 1992 book *On Methuselah's Trail* received a "Golden Trilobite Award" from the Paleontological Society as the best popular science book of the year. Ward is co-author, along with astronomer Donald Brownlee, of the best-selling *Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe*, published in 2000. In that work, the authors suggest that the universe is fundamentally hostile to advanced life, and that, while simple life might be abundant, the likelihood of widespread lifeforms as advanced as those on Earth is marginal. According to Ward's April 2007 book, *Under a Green Sky*, all but one of the major extinction events in history have been brought on by climate change the same global warming that occurs today. The author argues that events in the past can give valuable information about the future of our planet.
  • Jean Frazier is director of the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatric Research Program and the co-director of CHA's Center for Child and Adolescent Development. Dr. Frazier also serves as an assistant professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Frazier is currently involved in research to study the possible clinical and biological associations of the psychotic process in youths with mental illness. In addition, Dr. Frazier has published numerous articles and book chapters and as been honored by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) and the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society.
  • David Perna is a licensed psychologist who primarily treats patients who suffer from anger disorders and learning challenges. His approach to anger management is guided by an appreciation of how his patients learning challenges intersect with a variety of perceived or actual environmental stressors. Perna maintains an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School and is a Clinical Associate at McLean Hospital, the medical schools largest psychiatric teaching facility. He is the former Director of the Child and Adolescent Anger Management Program at McLean Hospital.
  • Heather Pringle, a Discover Magazine contributing editor, has written an upcoming book on Nazi science called The Master Plan.
  • Denise L. Faustman, MD, PhD, has worked in the field of autoimmunity for over 15 years and has made some of the key discoveries regarding the role of MHC Class I antigen presentation in immunity. Her earlier research achievements include introducing the concept of modifying antigens on donor tissues to prevent their rejection, a scientific accomplishment that is now in human clinical trials for diverse human diseases treatable with cellular transplants. In 2001, her lab reversed type 1 diabetes in mice with end stage disease, a project that is now being translated into human clinical trials. Her current research continues to focus on uncovering new treatments for type 1 diabetes, as well as searching for therapies for other autoimmune diseases, including Crohn's disease, lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome, and multiple sclerosis. Dr. Faustman is currently the director of the Immunobiology Laboratory at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and an associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. After completing her internship, residency, and fellowships in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at the MGH, Dr. Faustman became an independent investigator at the MGH and Harvard Medical School in 1987.
  • Since *Greater Boston*'s debut in January of 1997, host and executive editor Emily Rooney has brought her journalistic credentials and deep knowledge of Boston to the program. Emily was director of political coverage and special events at Fox Network in New York from 1994 to 1997. Prior to that, she was executive producer of ABC *World News Tonight with Peter Jennings*. Before that, Emily worked at WCVB-TV in Boston for 15 years, from 1979 to 1993, where she served as news director for three years and as assistant news director before that. Since being with *Greater Boston*, Emily has picked up a number of awards, including the prestigious National Press Club's Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism, a series of New England Emmy Awards, and Associated Press recognition for Best News/Talk show for *Beat the Press* and *Greater Boston*.
  • Gerald Holton is Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus at Harvard University. Holton obtained his PhD at Harvard as a student of PW Bridgman. His chief interests are in the history and philosophy of science, in the physics of matter at high pressure, and in the study of career paths of young scientists.