Academic Vice-Rector, Dean of the Institute of Psychology and President of the Centre for Child Protection of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome

Michelle A. Williams, SM ’88, ScD ’91, is Dean of the Faculty, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is an internationally renowned epidemiologist and public health scientist, an award-winning educator, and a widely recognized academic leader. Prior to becoming Dean, she was Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard Chan School and Program Leader of the Population Health and Health Disparities Research Programs at Harvard’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Center. Dean Williams previously had a distinguished career at the University of Washington School of Public Health. Her scientific work places special emphasis in the areas of reproductive, perinatal, pediatric, and molecular epidemiology. Dean Williams has published over 450 scientific articles. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2016. The Dean has a master’s in civil engineering from Tufts University and master’s and doctoral degrees in epidemiology from the Harvard Chan School.

Dr. Sharon Cooper is a Developmental and Forensic Pediatrician who has evaluated and treated child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation for more than forty years. She has served as a subject matter expert in the areas of the psychosexual development of children, the victimization associated with abusive images in the digital world and the commercial sexual exploitation of children. She is the senior editor of one of the most cited textbooks on this subject for over a decade.

Dr. Andrea Danese is an academic child psychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK. Dr Danese leads academic and clinical teams working with children and young people who experienced traumatic stress and victimisation, and he has advised the UK government on public health strategies in response to emergencies, such as terrorist attacks and refugee crises. He is the lead on child trauma for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a member of the Research Advisory Board at NSPCC, the leading children's charity in the UK specialising in child protection.