Forum Network

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.

Darryl Pinckney is an American novelist, playwright, and essayist. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. Pinckney was awarded The Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction in 1992 for his novel High Cotton.

Dr. Jim Walsh is an expert in international security and a Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Walsh's research and writings focus on international security, and in particular, topics involving weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. Dr. Walsh has testified before the United States Senate on the issue of nuclear terrorism and chaired the Harvard University International Working Group on Radiological Terrorism. Since 2001, Dr. Walsh has given some 700 media interviews, including more than 300 appearances on CNN. His comments and analysis have appeared in *the New York Times*, *the Washington Post*, *the Los Angeles Times*, *the Times of London*, *the Christian Science Monitor* and numerous other publications. He has appeared on the CBS *Evening News*, NPR, PBS, Fox, MSNBC, the Discovery Channel, MTV, Al Jazeera, and outlets in more than a dozen countries. His film credits include *Testament* (2004), *Meltdown *(2004), and *Fortress Australia* (2002). Before coming to MIT, Dr. Walsh was Executive Director of the Managing the Atom Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He was also a visiting scholar at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of the country's three nuclear weapons labs. Previously, he was named a Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar by the United States Institute for Peace and won the Hubert Humphrey Fellowship from the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Dr. Walsh received his Ph.D from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.