Our Board
Celine Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA
Founder/CEO/President
Dr. Celine Gounder is a practicing HIV/infectious diseases specialist and internist, epidemiologist (aka disease detective), journalist and filmmaker.
Dr. Gounder is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. She cares for patients on the wards at Bellevue Hospital Center and at Indian Health Service and tribal health facilities across the country.
Dr. Gounder is the CEO/President/Founder of Just Human Productions, a non-profit multimedia organization. She’s also the host and producer of American Diagnosis, a podcast on health and social justice, and Epidemic, a podcast about the SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 / coronavirus epidemic, which she co-hosts with former U. S. Ebola czar Ron Klain.
She’s a CNN Medical Analyst, and prior to that, was a frequent expert guest on CNN, MSNBC, HLN, Al Jazeera America, CBS, BBC, MTV, Dr. Oz, and Oprah Prime. She's written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Guardian US, The Washington Post, Reuters, Quartz, Sports Illustrated, and Bloomberg View. She’s best known for her coverage of the Ebola, Zika, COVID-19, opioid overdose, and gun violence epidemics.
In early 2015, Dr. Gounder spent two months volunteering as an Ebola aid worker in Guinea. In her free time, she interviewed locals to understand how the crisis was affecting them. She is currently making Dying to Talk, a feature-length documentary about the Ebola epidemic in Guinea.
Dr. Gounder is a consultant for TEDMED and on TEDMED’s Editorial Advisory Board. And she serves on the Executive Committee of the New York City COVID-19 Rapid Response Coalition, which seeks to extend treatment and services to high-risk, chronically ill and underserved New Yorkers in need of at-home care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between 1998 and 2012, she studied TB and HIV in South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Ethiopia and Brazil. While on faculty at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Gounder was the Director for Delivery for the Gates Foundation-funded Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic. She later served as Assistant Commissioner and Director of the Bureau of Tuberculosis Control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
She received her BA in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, her Master of Science in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her MD from the University of Washington. Dr. Gounder was an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital, and a post-doctoral fellow in Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University. She was elected a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in 2016 and featured in the IDSA’s 2017 Annual Report. In 2017, People Magazine named her one of 25 Women Changing the World.
Dr. Gounder lives with her husband in New York City.
Celine Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA
Founder / CEO / President
Nadja Oertelt
Treasurer
Nadja Oertelt is the Chief Content Officer of Science Friday. She manages the overall content strategy, distribution, and audience engagement plans across digital, radio, podcasts and news. Nadja co-founded and built a science media company called Massive Science, bringing together the minds of thousands of scientists with media and editorial expertise to translate breaking science news for the public. She has a degree in Neuroscience from MIT and has worked in labs as a researcher. She has also worked behind a camera as a documentary filmmaker and has worked as a media producer for over a decade on animated series, educational projects and interactive initiatives.
Nadja Oertelt
Treasurer
Victoria Sharp, MD
Secretary
Dr. Victoria Sharp, a native Californian, is a graduate of UC Berkeley and The University of Brussels Medical School. She trained in Internal Medicine at Albany Medical Center where she served as Chief Resident. She has over thirty years of experience leading and creating programs for patients with HIV infection. Initially, at Albany Medical Center, later at St. Clare’s and then, for eighteen years, at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, she has worked with socially marginalized populations, with a particular emphasis on the incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated populations. She has been the PI on over $30 million in state and federal grants and co-authored over fifty publications. She has served on numerous government advisory bodies, including the Presidential Advisory Council under President Clinton. She was Chair of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee, NYS AIDS Advisory Council and Chair of the AIDS Taskforce, Hospital Association of NYS. She is a board member and chairman of the Global Arts Corps, an organization using theater arts to explore conflict and resolution in troubled areas throughout the world. She recently stepped down from HealthRight, International, a human rights-based organization dedicated to creating sustainable health programs in the US and abroad. She was a member of HealthRight’s board for over 20 years and served as its chair from 1995 to 2002. Dr. Sharp joined the board of Just Human Productions in the Fall, 2019.
Victoria Sharp, MD
Secretary
Stella Safo, MD, MPH
Member
Dr. Stella Safo is the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for Premier Applied Sciences, the research and analytics division of Premier, and is a practicing HIV physician. Using clinical insights and population health management experience, Safo informs design and implementation of Premier’s prospective research projects. Her own research centers around HIV/AIDS, specifically pre-exposure prophylaxis and practice improvement. She a respected author with peer-reviewed publications including: Safo, Stella A., et al. "Pain is Associated with Missed Clinic Visits Among HIV-Positive Women." AIDS and Behavior (2016); Safo, Stella, et al. “A place at the table: A qualitative analysis of community board members’ experiences with academic HIV/AIDS research." BMC Medical Research Methodology (2016); and Safo, S. A., Batchelder, A., Peyser, D., & Litwin, A. “The common sense model applied to Hepatitis C: A qualitative analysis of the impact of disease comparison.” Harm Reduction Journal (2015). Previously, Safo served as senior clinical medical director overseeing ambulatory practice transformation at Mount Sinai Health System in NYC. Honors include the 2018 Award for Community Advocacy in HIV Medicine from the New York Department of Health and the Women’s Advisory Board, and induction as a Fellow in the prestigious New York Academy of Medicine. In 2020, Modern Healthcare listed Safo as a “Top 25 Minority Leader to Watch.” She has served as lead for the Minority in Medicine special interest group for the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) and is an active member of the Health Equity Committee (HEC) at SGIM. Safo earned her B.A. from Harvard College, M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Stella Safo, MD, MPH
Otis B. Jennings, PhD
Member
Otis B. Jennings, PhD is a mathematician, operations consultant, educator, and entrepreneur. He spent over 12 years in academia, serving as a professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and visiting MIT, Columbia University, and Cornell University. In 2013, Otis turned his attention to putting business theory to practice, working as an internal operations management consultant at Washington County Regional Medical Center; as a Principal Solutions Manager within AT&T's Big Data group; and finally as VP of Engineering at IvySys Technologies, a defense and intelligence software and data science firm. In 2019, Otis turned his full attention to his entrepreneurial and consulting pursuits. Since then he has established Objective Data Partners, a boutique data science and operations management firm that serves private equity firms and small business owners alike; Peaceful Pets DFW, which provides an "aquamation" alternative to cremation for pets; and HeirShares, a software start-up that facilitates heirs property ownership resolution and communal decision-making. Otis also sits on the trustee board of his alma mater, St. Mark's School of Texas. In his spare time, Otis enjoys cooking, playing with his sons, and coordinating free online math tutoring sessions for kids.
Otis Jennings, PhD
Jessica Federer, MPH
Member
Recognized as one of the top 100 global CDOs, a "Power-Lady" of the German economy, and a leading Health Tech Influencer, Jessica Federer is adept at translating digital developments into meaningful advancements for both business and society. Federer is a board member, advisor, and investor for technology and health companies, and a Venture Affiliate Partner at Boston Millennia Partners. Federer was the Chief Digital Officer at Bayer A.G., leading the global digital transformation for the life sciences leader across consumer health, pharmaceuticals, animal health, and agriculture. While at Bayer, she held positions in Global Regulatory Affairs, Market Access, Communications and Public Affairs. Federer served on the United Nations m-Powering Development Advisory Board for the Agency for Information and Communications Technology (ITU). Federer began her public health career as an analyst at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Federer earned a Bachelor of Science from the George Washington University, and a Master of Public Health from Yale. She and her husband live in New York City.
Jessica Federer, MPH
Benji Jasik
Udaya Patnaik
Member
Udaya Patnaik has been an adviser to senior leaders in government, corporations, non-profits and philanthropy and currently leads digital innovation for the State of California. He has counseled executives on growth strategy, how to invent and commercialize new ventures, create new businesses, products and services, manage innovation and reimagine organizations. Udaya has worked across a variety of sectors including digital services, technology, healthcare and retail. He co-founded Jump Associates, a consultancy recognized by The Wall Street Journal as one of the Top Small Workplaces in America. Prior to Jump he worked in rural community and economic development. Udaya holds a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.
Udaya Patnaik
Howard Gertler
Member
Howard Gertler (Producer): Credits include Nicole Newnham & Jim LeBrecht’s Crip Camp, executive-produced with President Barack Obama & Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions & Netflix (Sundance 2020 Audience Award Winner), David France’s How to Survive a Plague, which premiered in competition at Sundance 2012 and was released by IFC Films/Sundance Selects; in addition to an Academy Award nomination, the film collected New York Film Critics’ Circle, Peabody, IFP Gotham, IDA and GLAAD Media Awards. He’s both an IFP/Gotham and Film Independent Spirit Award winner, the latter of which he won for producing John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus, which premiered in the official selection in Cannes. With See-Saw Films, he produced Mitchell’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties, released by A24. Recent projects include Rhys Ernst’s Sundance ’19 debut feature Adam, produced with James Schamus, and John Cameron Mitchell and Bryan Weller’s critically-acclaimed scripted musical podcast Anthem.
Howard Gertler
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