Speakers
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Kim BrooksKim Brooks is the author of Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear, described by the National Book Review as “an impassioned, smart work of social criticism and a call for support and empathy,” and by Publishers Weekly as, “A disturbingly, ultimately affirming look at why parenting in the contemporary United States is defined by fear.” A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and recipient of numerous fellowships, her writing has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Chicago Magazine, Salon, Buzzfeed, and other publications. She has spoken as a guest on CBS This Morning, PBS Newshour, 20/20, NPR’s All Things Considered, Good Morning America, the Brian Lehr Show, and many other radio shows and podcasts such as Note to Self, Mom and Dad Are Fighting, Femsplainer, and Matt Lewis’ The News. Her novel, The Houseguest, was published in 2016. She lives in Chicago. |
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Rebekah CharlestonRebekah Charleston’s story is one that is unfortunately too common. At the age of 17, after running away from home, she found herself trapped in the world of human trafficking, as a victim. After ten years and no way to escape from multiple traffickers on her own, it was the federal authorities that ultimately provided her a path to freedom and safety. Given a new lease on life, she hasn’t shied away from her experiences, instead she has used it as a source of inspiration and a way to educate others on the prevalent world of human trafficking in America. Through her work as a consultant with the National Justice Training Center and Executive Director of Valiant Hearts, Rebekah has dedicated her life to preventing others from having to experience what she did. In the years that have passed, Rebekah has won numerous awards for her work, including 2016’s Survivor Leader Award, has been featured by numerous news outlets such as Deadline Crimes and TEDx, received a master’s degree in criminal justice and has given birth to her loving son. Rebekah Charleston has a story to tell — a story of desperation, a story of hope, a story of triumph and a story of survival. |
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Dr. Crystal T. ClarkDr. Crystal T. Clark is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She is board-certified in adult psychiatry. Dr. Clark’s expertise includes the treatment of mood, anxiety, and psychotic mental health disorders. She subspecializes in the treatment of women across the reproductive life span. She is a recognized international expert in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders affected by hormonal changes such as those associated with pregnancy, postpartum, and peri-menopause. Dr. Clark is passionate about improving care for women with mental illness which is demonstrated not only through her clinical practice but also her research. Dr. Clark has received research funding from Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) award, a grant funded by a branch of the National Institutes of Health, the PhRMA foundation, and the National Institutes of Health Career Development Award to study the optimization of pharmacotherapy during the perinatal period. Dr. Clark has served as an expert on mental health topics such as suicide, medication, substance use, and new drug therapies for several media outlets including National Public Radio (NPR), New York Times, ABC 7, and Chicago Tonight. |
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Maya DusenberyMaya Dusenbery is a journalist, editor, and author of the book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne). A New York Times Editors’ Choice pick, Doing Harm was named one of the best books of 2018 by NPR and Library Journal. Weaving together hard-hitting studies and stats, interviews with doctors and researchers, and moving personal stories from women across the country, Doing Harm provides a comprehensive, accessible look at how sexism in medicine harms women today. Dusenbery explores the deep, systemic problems that underlie women’s experiences of feeling dismissed by the medical system. An eye-opening read for patients and health care providers alike, Doing Harm shows how women suffer because the medical community knows relatively less about their diseases and bodies and too often doesn’t trust their reports of their symptoms. Offering a clear-eyed explanation of the root causes of this insidious and entrenched bias and laying out its sometimes catastrophic consequences, Doing Harm is a rallying wake-up call that will change the way we look at health care for women. Dusenbery has been interviewed about gender bias in medicine on NPR’s Fresh Air, Good Morning America, and countless radio shows and podcasts. She has given informative and thought-provoking talks on the subject to diverse audiences, including students, health care providers, patient advocates, researchers, and biomedical industry employees. Dusenbery is editorial director of the trailblazing site Feministing.com, where she has covered a range of feminist topics—including abortion stigma, rape culture, masculinity, economic justice, and pop culture—since 2009. Formerly a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard, she has written for outlets like Slate, Cosmopolitan, HuffPost, The Atlantic, and Teen Vogue, among others, and contributed to the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before becoming a full-time writer, Dusenbery worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. She received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. A Minnesota native, she is currently based in Portland, Oregon. |
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Dr. Tyriesa Howard HowellDr. Tyriesa Howard Howell is an Assistant Professor in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Howell’s research focuses on examining and understanding social and cultural determinants of sexual and reproductive health among adolescents and women. She is particularly interested in the development of mHealth technology as an innovative approach to promoting sexuality health education for youth. Some of her research engagement has included socio-behavioral interventions using mixed-methods to examine the use of interactive video game and life simulation technology to encourage HIV treatment adherence and routinized HIV testing among adolescents living with and affected by HIV, respectively. Her emerging research also seeks to address maternal health disparities disproportionately experienced by Black women living in the U.S. to eliminate incidents of severe maternal morbidity and mortality. Prior to joining the Brown School, Dr. Howell completed post-doctoral training at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and earned her PhD in social work with a concentration in health and mental health from Howard University. |
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Doyin RichardsDoyin (pronounced “doe-ween”) Richards is a daddy, husband, author, and keynote speaker inspiring new mothers and fathers to think, laugh, and learn while evolving as parents and as people. Since creating his Daddy Doin' Work brand in June 2012, Doyin has been a go-to guy for companies, colleges, and conferences in the realm of modern fatherhood. |
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Erica Wymore, MD MPHErica Wymore, MD MPH, earned her medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 2002 and continued her Pediatrics Residency and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship also at the University of Colorado/Children’s Hospital Colorado. She completed her Masters of Public Health from the Colorado School of Public Health, conducting clinical research in a variety of neonatal populations. She has a national reputation and expertise in perinatal marijuana exposure and breastfeeding, and is a steering member of the Colorado Hospitals Substance Exposed Newborn Quality Improvement Collaborative (CHoSEN QIC), which focuses on improving and standardizing care for opioid and substance exposed newborns across Colorado. Dr. Wymore specifically studies quantification of marijuana during pregnancy and in human breast milk, and the neonatal effects of perinatal marijuana use. At Children’s Hospital Colorado, she is the director of the Neonatal Metabolic Disorders Working Group and the NICU Wellness Team, and steering member of The Reach Team, the inpatient pediatric palliative care program. Dr. Wymore has a passion for working together on multidisciplinary teams, with a focus on improving the health and wellbeing of infants, and their families as well. |