Juanita J. Anders, Ph.D. is a Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics and Professor of Neuroscience, at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Professor Anders is an internationally recognized expert in Photobiomodulation (PBM) research and has served as invited Chair and speaker globally. Her specialty is nervous system injury and repair mechanisms, pain modulation using PBM and light/tissue interactions. Dr. Anders received her Ph.D. in Anatomy from the University of Maryland Medical School then joined the National Institutes of Health in the Laboratory of Neuropathology and Neuroanatomical Sciences, NINDS. Currently she is funded by the US Department of Defense to investigate the use PBM Therapy as a non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical alternative for the management of neuropathic pain.

Professor Anders has served and continues to serve as a member of numerous state, national, and international scientific review panels including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, and the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. She also serves on the Executive Councils and Scientific Advisory Boards of numerous international laser conferences. She is the past president of the North American Association of Laser Therapy, a founding member of the International Academy of Laser Medicine and Surgery, Past President of the American Society of Lasers in Medicine and Surgery and Past Co-Director of the Optical Society of America (OPTICA) Photobiomodulation Technical Group. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Optica Photobiomodulation Technical Group. She is a Senior Editor of Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine and Laser Surgery, Associate Editor of Lasers in Medical Science, and Frontiers in Neuroscience (Neurogenesis) and on the editorial board of Physiotherapy Practice and Research and Laser Therapy.

Dr. Rox Anderson graduated from MIT, and then received his MD degree magna cum laude from the joint MIT-Harvard medical program, Health Sciences and Technology. After completing his dermatology residency and an NIH research fellowship at Harvard, he joined the faculty where he is now Harvard Medical School Professor in dermatology, Director of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine; and adjunct Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at MIT. Dr. Anderson conceived and developed many of the non-scarring laser treatments now widely used in medical care. These include treatments for birthmarks, microvascular and pigmented lesions, tattoo and permanent hair removal. He has also contributed to treatment for vocal cords, kidney stones, glaucoma, heart disease, photodynamic therapy for cancer and acne, and optical diagnostics.

Dr. Anderson's research has advanced the basic knowledge of human skin photobiology, drug photosensitization mechanisms, tissue optics, and laser-tissue interactions. In addition to research at the Wellman Center, he practices dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital and teaches at Harvard and MIT. Active research includes diagnostic tissue imaging and spectroscopy, photodynamic therapy, mechanisms of selective laser-tissue interactions, adipose tissue biology and novel therapy for skin disorders. Dr. Anderson has been awarded over 60 national and international patents, and has co-authored over 250 scientific books and papers.

Dr. Lynn Drake is the Director of Business Development for the Wellman Center, on the Dermatology Faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and a Lecturer at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Dr. Drake has degrees in Mathematics (MA) and Chemistry (BA). She received her MD from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and is Board Certified in Dermatology and in Dermatopathology. Dr. Drake was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and Congressional Fellow in Washington, DC, sponsored by the National Academy of Medicine (aka Institute of Medicine), where she served in the Senate Majority Leaders Office of Bob Dole. She is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School (HBS) and spent a sabbatical year studying business and medicine.

Previously Dr. Drake was Professor & Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and was Deputy Chair of the Department of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School where she was also the Founder and Director of the Dermatology Clinical Investigation/Research Unit. Dr. Drake was on the faculty at Emory University Medical School and also served as Chief of the Dermatology Service at the VA Medical Center in Atlanta.

Dr. Drake received U.S. Presidential Appointments as a U.S. Delegate to the World Health Organization and the National Advisory Board for NIAMS at the NIH. She also served on the National Policy Forum Council for Health Care Reform. She was President of the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), President of the Women’s Dermatologic Society (WDS), served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery, and as a Trustee for the Dermatology Foundation. She was a member of the AAD Board of Directors and Chaired the annual national AAD meetings in 1994 and 1996. She recently completed her term as Chair of the FDA Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee and is a longstanding consultant to the FDA, as well as having served on multiple advisory committees. In 2015 she served on the planning committee for the first annual World Medical Innovation Forum (WMIF) at MGH/HMS, which focused on the neurosciences.

Dr. Jeffrey Gelfand is a Physician at MGH and Professor of Medicine, Part Time at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Gelfand has conducted laboratory and clinical research in immunology, inflammation and infection for over 40 years. Dr. Gelfand has focused on vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer. He initiated the programs on the ovarian cancer fusion- vaccine, self-assembling vaccine, and laser adjuvant that continue at the VIC. He has recently initiated funded studies on the uses of light energy as antimicrobial therapy and a strategy for overcoming antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics.

Before coming to MGH, he served as Dean for Research at Tufts University School of Medicine and Senior Vice President for Research and Technology at Tufts- New England Medical Center. From 1994 to 1998, Dr. Gelfand was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine of Tufts University School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at Tufts- New England Medical Center. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers and over 50 chapters in leading textbooks of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, and holds over a dozen US and international patents for medical advances. In 2008 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) “for distinguished contributions to clinical immunology and vaccine development.”

COL(RET) Melissa "Missy" Givens MD, MPH is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) where she is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Military and Emergency Medicine. She is board certified in Emergency Medicine, Clinical Toxicology, and Sports Medicine. She has held various academic and operational assignments and completed several combat tours and deployments with both conventional and Special Operations Forces. She has proven success as a former small business owner in the health and wellness industry. She has three wonderful daughters and one happy dog.

Dr. Shailly Jariwala received her BS Degree in Biomedical Engineering from University of Mumbai, India in 2006. She joined the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering at Syracuse University, receiving her M.S. in 2009 and Ph.D. in 2013. In her graduate research, she led efforts in development and characterization of novel acrylic two-solution bone cements for treatment of spinal compression fractures. As a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, she gained vast expertise in design, development, and characterization of orthopaedic biomaterials (bone grafts) and translational research models (osseointegrated implants, mechanical loading of implants). Dr. Jariwala is a past recipient of the prestigious Entrepreneur Fellowship at The Center for the Translation of Rehabilitation Engineering Advances and Technology (TREAT), offered jointly by NIH and Dartmouth Biomedical Engineering Center (DBEC) for Orthopedics. Here, Dr. Jariwala was the project lead for design, development, manufacturing, and non-clinical regulatory testing of an intraosseous infusion needle placement guide (TibFinderTM, Class I medical device). She also delivered expert consultation to accelerate commercialization of rehabilitation and assistive technologies, including guidance of FDA regulatory & reimbursement strategies for new medical devices. Dr. Jariwala is currently an Assistant Professor under the Regenerative Rehabilitation Medical Research Program at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and is responsible for leading, planning, and conducting biomedical research and development in support of a portfolio of projects in regenerative medicine that includes neuro-regeneration, orthopedic tissue repair, biomaterials design, 3D printing and 3D bioprinting.

Dr. Robert Redmond is an Associate Professor of Dermatology and an Associate Chemist in the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Redmond received his BSc (Hons,) and PhD in Chemistry from Paisley College of Technology in Scotland before postdoctoral research fellowships at the Max-Planck Institut für Strahlenchemie (Radiation Chemistry) and the National Research Council of Canada. Dr. Redmond's focus of study spans the fields of photochemistry, photobiology and photomedicine.

At the Wellman Center, his research interests focus on basic understanding and utilization of photochemical reactions in biological environments, such as cells or tissue. Particular interest was focused on how the biological microenvironment impacts on photochemical reaction pathways and the way this can be harnessed for therapeutic purposes. Dr. Redmond's group has studied reaction pathways on a more encompassing temporal and spatial scale using methods like transient absorption spectroscopy and time-lapse microscopy that allows reaction processes to be followed from nanoseconds to days in duration. Photo-oxidation process and propagation of oxidative stress in cells have been of particular interest with the combination of spectroscopy and microscopy providing novel insights on oxidative stress mechanisms. Primary reactive species and their targets lead to secondary reactive species and the relationship between inherent reactivity and spatial range of influence of these different reactive oxygen species has been explored. More recent work had focused on cell-cell signaling and the impact of bystander effects in oxidative stress caused by photosensitization and by ultraviolet light.

LTC Schroeder is a board-certified family medicine physician currently serving as Chief of the Sports Medicine Clinic at Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA., Clinical Instructor in the Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Uniformed Services University. LTC Schroeder completed his undergraduate education at Southern Utah University, earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Midwestern University- Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine followed by Family Medicine Residency at Martin Army Community Hospital and a Sports Medicine Fellowship with Fort Belvoir Community Hospital/Uniformed Services University. He has previously served as Senior Fellow, National Capital Sports Medicine Consortium, Uniformed Services University/Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, Deputy Commander for Clinical Services at Dunham U.S. Army Health Clinic, Team Leader-Family Physician at Wiesbaden Army Health Clinic, and Battalion Surgeon, 2-16 Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. He has multiple publications and has presented educational workshops and lectures in a variety of forums.

Dr. Tina Stankovic is a board-certified ear and skull base surgeon and a PhD-trained auditory neuroscientist. She has received numerous awards, including the Association of MIT Alumnae award for academic excellence, the Henry Asbury Christian Award for outstanding performance in research and scholarly activities at Harvard Medical School, the Burt Evans young investigator award from the National Organization for Hearing Research, the Thomas A. McMahon Mentoring Award from Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, and the Benjamins Prize from the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amictiae Sacrum. The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery honored her by Howard House, MD Lectureship for Advances in Otology in 2015. She serves on the editorial board of Otology and Neurotology. She is a fellow of the American Neurotology Society, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and past president of the American Auditory Society.

Her clinical and research work drives and reinforces one another. Her involvement in cutting-edge research gives her patients the opportunity to participate in clinical trials that could lead to breakthroughs in addressing the problems of participating patients while advancing the knowledge frontier of the auditory field.

Dr. Josh Tam is an Instructor at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. His research is directed towards bringing novel technologies into clinical use. His work with wound healing was recognized with the 2016 Wound Healing Foundation 3M Fellowship award, and he was a co-founder of a startup company that successfully commercialized the technology. Prior to joining the Wellman Center, Dr. Tam received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Dr. Guillermo Tearney is Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Mike and Sue Hazard Family MGH Research Scholar, an Affiliated Faculty member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), Fellow of the American College of Cardiologists (FACC), Fellow of the College of American Pathologists (FCAP) and heads his lab www.tearneylab.org at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Tearney received his MD magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School and received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Tearney's research interests are focused on the development and clinical validation of non-invasive, high-resolution optical imaging methods for disease diagnosis. Dr. Tearney's lab was the first to perform human imaging in the coronary arteries and gastrointestinal tract in vivo with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), which provides cross-sectional images of tissue architectural microstructure at a resolution of 10 μm. He has also conducted many of the seminal studies validating OCT and is considered an expert on OCT image interpretation. Recently, Dr. Tearney's lab has invented a next generation OCT technology, termed μOCT, which has a resolution of 1 μm and is capable of imaging cells and sub cellular structures in the coronary wall. Dr. Tearney has also developed several other technologies, including a confocal endomicroscope capable of imaging the entire esophagus, an ultraminiature three-dimensional endoscope, a highly efficient form of near field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), and novel fluorescence spectroscopy and multimodality imaging techniques. Dr. Tearney is co-editor of The Handbook of Optical Coherence Tomography and has written over 200 peer-reviewed publications, including papers that have been highlighted on the covers of Science, Nature Medicine, Circulation, Gastroenterology, and Journal of American College of Cardiology.

Dr. Adam Tenforde is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. He is a sports medicine physician at the Spaulding National Running Center – one of the only centers in the United States exclusively dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of running-related injuries. Dr. Tenforde has the unique perspective of being both a doctor and a former professional runner who was an All-American at Stanford University where he contributed to three NCAA National Team Championships and later qualified for the Olympic trials. Dr. Tenforde’s research has focused on the evaluation of biological and biomechanical risk factors for stress fractures, tendinopathy and other running injuries. He is also investigating how to prevent injuries in athletes.

Dr. J. Kent Werner, Jr., is a physician-scientist in the Navy Medical Corps serving as Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology and in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the Uniformed Science University (USU) in Bethesda, MD. He is a neuroscientist who is bored certified in Sleep Medicine and Neurology. Clinically, he treats patients with sleep and related neurological disorders at Walter Reed National Military Medicine Center (WRNMMC) and National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) while also serving as Director of Research at WRNMMC Sleep Disorders Center. His research focuses on the impact of traumatic brain injury on sleep physiology and cognitive performance. After graduating from the US Naval Academy, he deployed as a Surface Warfare Officer onboard the USS MANHAN (DDG-72), earning his Surface Warfare qualification. Upon entering the Medical Corps, he completed his medical degree, cellular and molecular neuroscience doctorate, and Neurology residency at Johns Hopkins University, where he serves currently as Adjunct Assistant Professor. He previously served as Chief of Neurology at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital (FBCH) before completing his fellowship in Sleep Medicine at WRNMMC. Dr. Werner is the Principal Investigator for Photomedicine Project 16, which is investigating the effectiveness of applying PBMT prior to sleep in a randomized, sham controlled cross over trial.

Dr. Jonathan Winograd attended Harvard College and graduated Magna Cum Laude in Biology in 1988, and Harvard Medical School, earning his medical degree in 1992. He then entered a combined general surgery/plastic surgery residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland/Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, Maryland. During that time, he was a research fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Manson and Dr. Craig Vander Kolk, both internationally renowned craniofacial surgeons, and Dr. Gregg Semenza, a molecular biologist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019. Dr. Winograd then completed a fellowship in Hand and Microsurgery at Washington University in Saint Louis led by Dr. Susan Mackinnon, an internationally recognized expert in Peripheral Nerve Surgery.

Dr. Winograd joined the staff of the MGH and Shriners Hospital for Children in 2001. He has an active clinical practice which encompasses the whole spectrum of plastic and reconstructive surgery, including patients with surgical problems of the breast and body, the hand and upper and lower extremities, and cosmetic procedures. He has developed a particular focus on reconstructive problems of the peripheral nervous system, such as brachial plexus injuries, thoracic outlet syndrome, and nerve compressions including carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel syndromes. These also include microsurgical nerve reconstruction after nerve injuries of the extremities and other regions of the body as well as the surgical treatment of chronically painful conditions such as neuropathy or nerve injuries known as neuromas. He is the Director of an active basic science translational research program as well as a clinical research program aimed at improving outcomes after peripheral nerve injuries, and he is the recipient of multiple grant awards from the Consortium for Improving Medicine with Innovation and Technology (a consortium comprised of leading academic scientists and clinicians from MIT, MGH and other Boston area institutions), the DOD, and the NIH. He is the current President of the Massachusetts Society of Plastic Surgeons and is the Secretary and an Executive Board member of the American Society of Peripheral Nerve.

Dr. Mei Wu received her Ph.D. from Utah State University in 1992, after which she was trained as a post-doctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and then at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School (HMS). She was promoted to Instructor in 1995 at HMS and Assistant Professor in 1999 at Baylor College of Medicine.

In 2003, Dr. Wu moved to Boston and currently works at Wellman Center for Photomedicine within Massachusetts General Hospital/HMS. Her laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms in association with autoimmune diseases, protective immune responses, and immune-suppression by taking advantage of various newly-developed internal technologies. These studies include monitoring lymphocyte egress of lymph nodes by intravital confocal microscopy and in vivo flow cytometry; novel technologies for needle-free and pain-less delivery of drugs and vaccines; lesion-free cutaneous vaccination by micro-fractional delivery, in combination with nanoparticles; and therapeutic potentials of low level light (LLL).