Forum Network

Dr. Sarah Zaidan is a game designer, artist and researcher whose work explores how video games and comic books can engage in a dialogue with identity, gender and civic awareness. She is Kingston University London’s first recipient of a Ph.D. by practice in superhero art and history with research findings presented in the form of an award winning video game, The Adventures of MetaMan: The Male Superhero as a Representation of Modern Western Masculinity (1940-2010). She is one of the creators and illustrators of the feminist superhero comic series My So-Called Secret Identity, in collaboration with Batman scholar Dr. Will Brooker and animation artist Susan Shore. Dr. Zaidan teaches video game design at Emerson College and is a research fellow with the Engagement Lab. Her work is characterized by rapid prototyping, iterative design processes and by discovering game systems in everyday life. [Dr. Sarah Zaidan on Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sarah-zaidan-544205b "Linkedin Profile")

Korkut Uygun, PhD, of Mass General has built a major program for reengineering organs, specifically livers, which aims to ensure that all organs are utilized for the public good.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a politician, educator, and political activist. On June 26, 2018, she won the Democratic primary in New York's 14th congressional district covering parts of the Bronx and Queens in New York City, defeating the incumbent Congressman, Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley, in what has been described as the biggest upset victory in the 2018 midterm-election season. Ocasio-Cortez is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and has been endorsed by various politically progressive organizations and people.

Brian Conley is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the program director of Applied Politics and Global Public Policy at Suffolk University. [ Suffolk.edu](https://www.suffolk.edu/college/12172.php "Suffolk.edu")

Daniel Ziblatt is Eaton Professor of the Science of Government at Harvard University where he is also a resident faculty associate of the Minda de Gunzburg Cener for European Studies and Harvard's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. His research focuses on democratization, democratic breakdown, political parties, state-building, and historical political economy, with an emphasis on Europe from the nineteenth century to the present. His three books include How Democracies Die (Crown, 2018), co-authored with Steve Levitsky), a New York Times best-seller, being translated into fifteen languages. He is also the author of Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2017), which won the American Political Science Association's 2018 Woodrow Wilson Prize for the best book in government and international relations as well as three other prizes including the American Sociological Association's 2018 Barrington Moore Book Prize. His first book was Structuring the State: The Formation of Italy and Germany and the Puzzle of Federalism (Princeton, 2006 [2008]). Ziblatt co-chairs (with Steve Levitsky) a new Challenges to Democracy Research Cluster (for postdocs, undergraduates, and PhD students) at Harvard's Weatherhead Center. He also directs a research program for graduate and undergraduate students at Harvard's Institute of Quantitative Social Science ("Politics Through Time") and has served as interim director of Harvard's de Gunzburg Center for European Studies. [Harvard University](https://scholar.harvard.edu/dziblatt "harvard.edu")

David is a prolific voice on social media with more than a million followers. He uses his platform to raise the voices of others who have stood up against violence to create an alliance through their shared loss to end gun violence everywhere. With his younger sister, Lauren, also a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he co-wrote #NeverAgain, a New York Times bestseller. David is a proud member of the 2018 graduating class of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. David is a proud member of the 2018 graduating class of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Image: [www.twitter.com](https://twitter.com/davidhogg111 "twitter")

Carey Gillam is a Kansas girl, of the heart and home. But her research has taken her throughout rural America. She has spent time with row crop farmers, ranchers, vegetable growers and orchard operators from the Dakotas to Texas, and from California to the Southeast. She has been welcomed inside the high-tech laboratories, greenhouses and corporate offices of some of the largest U.S. agribusinesses. And she has spent countless hours interviewing key U.S. regulators, lawmakers, and scientists. With years of this behind-the-scenes reporting, Gillam has developed deep insight into the risks and rewards of the modern-day food system, and hopes to share that knowledge with others who care about the food they eat and feed to their families.

José A. Palma brings a decade of success fighting for social and economic justice and immigrants’ rights to Justice at Work. José was born in Usulután, El Salvador. He came to the United States in 1998 and has lived in Lynn, MA since 2002. José earned his Associate of Science Degree in Paralegal Studies at North Shore Community College in 2011, which included an internship at Greater Boston Legal Services. Before joining Justice at Work, José was the Political and Organizing Director for Neighbor-To-Neighbor, where he led efforts to combine issue organizing with electoral work. José has also worked with Centro Presente and the Student Immigrant Movement and is the co-founder of the Massachusetts TPS Committee. Image: [jatwork.org](https://jatwork.org/about-us/our-team/ "Jatwork")

Evelina (Ev) Fedorenko is an Associate Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Frederick A. (1971) and Carole J. Middleton Career Development Associate Professor of Neuroscience, and an Investigator in the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. She also holds an appointment in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and is affiliated with the Harvard-MIT Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology.

Dr. Geralde Gabeau, IFSI-USA founder and Executive Director, has extensive experience working in public health initiatives, particularly those addressing women and children’s health both in the United States and in Haiti. Her talent for team-building helps bring people together to address the needs of children and families in local communities. Since 2003, she has played various leadership roles in the Haitian community where she developed and directed various programs, supervised staff, ensured effective partnerships, maintained program and fiscal accountability, and managed many federal grants. Image: [www.ifsi-usa.org](https://www.ifsi-usa.org/about-us-1/staff/ "ifsi-usa")

Pastor Fleurissaint is a vocal advocate for Haitian Americans in Boston (the third largest Haitian community in the US) and beyond, and for the protection of TPS. He is the executive pastor at Mattapan’s Voice of the Tabernacle Church, serving the Haitian Community. Image: [http://voiceofthegospeltabernacle.org](http://voiceofthegospeltabernacle.org/contact/pastor-dieufort-fleurissaint/ "Voice of the Gospel Tabernacle")

Suzi Kaitz serves as Vice Chair, Board of Directors, and Communications Chair of The Lenny Zakim Fund. She has been in counseling and referral for Planned Parenthood for over five years and was the heath, Drug and Alcohol Education Specialist for the Newton Public Schools. Suzi is a communications and marketing professional. She has served as General Manager and Vice president of Kitchen Views/National Lumber. Image: [Linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzikaitzunlimited/ "Linkedin")