| Speakers |
| Cristina Banks PhD Associate Director, California Labor Laboratory University of California, San Francisco Dr. Banks is the Director of the Outreach Core and Associate Director of the California Labor Laboratory. She is also Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Workplaces within the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. She is an I-O Psychologist with 40 years experience founding and leading organizations and teaching organizational behavior and human resource management at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. | |
| Sheri Belafsky MD, MS, FACOEM Director, Physician Medical Surveillance Program Dr. Belafsky is a board-certified occupational and environmental medicine physician and has been with the UC Davis Medical Surveillance Program since 2009. She completed residency training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine and a Master of Science degree in Public Health Science and Policy at UC Irvine, and received her M.D. from Tulane University School of Medicine. As the UC Davis Medical Surveillance Program’s medical director, she works with employers to identify potential workplace health hazards and design medical screening programs to help keep workers safe. She personally reviews each patient’s chart and determines each clearance status. She currently serves as a director on the board for the Western Occupational and Environmental Medical Association (WOEMA), and am active in planning educational content for both WOEMA and UC Davis medical providers. I’m passionate about fitness and enjoy hiking, yoga, and running. | |
| Chen-Nee Chuah PhD Professor University of California, Davis Chen-Nee Chuah is currently the Child Family Professor in Engineering in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California, Davis. She received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include Internet measurements, cybersecurity, and applying data science and machine learning techniques to societal-scale networked systems and applications, including smart health and intelligent transportation domains. She is an Associate Editor for IEEE Internet of Things Journal, and previously served on the Editorial Board for the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking and the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and an ACM Distinguished Scientist. | |
| Ian Davidson PhD Professor University of California, Davis Dr. Ian Davidson is a professor in the computer science department at the University of California, Davis. His research interests include machine learning and data mining algorithm development, with a focus on human in the loop style learning. Dr. Davidson works with collaborators to apply his work to areas of social importance, including in Neuroscience, and demonstrative applications in text, social networks, and images. | |
| Veena Dubal PhD, J.D. Professor of Law University of California College of the Law, San Francisco Professor Veena Dubal’s research focuses on the intersection of law, technology, and precarious work. Within this broad frame, she uses empirical methodologies and critical theory to understand (1) the impact of digital technologies and emerging legal frameworks on the lives of workers, (2) the co-constitutive influences of law and work on identity, and (3) the role of law and lawyers in solidarity movements. | |
| Gozde Goncu-Berk PhD Associate Professor University of California, Davis Dr. Gozde Goncu-Berk is an Associate Professor of Design at the University of California, Davis where she directs her research group under WearLab and teaches studio classes on functional clothing design. Merging backgrounds from Industrial Design and Clothing and Textile Design, Professor Berk’s research focuses on human-centered design of textile-based wearable products for people with special needs, such as those suffering from chronic diseases, the disabled, elderly and children. Her work explores the possibilities of electronic textiles and smart clothing including new material and digital fabrication technologies to facilitate design for variety of body types, environmental and activity-based contexts. Some of Professor Berk’s current research includes the development of reactive clothing that responds to anxiety through tactile actuation and 3D printed e-textile structures. | |
| Philip Harber MD, MPH Adjunct Professor of Public Health University of Arizona Dr. Philip Harber is a pulmonary, occupational-environmental medicine, and internal medicine specialist with extensive experience in research, consulting, and clinical services. His particular interests are in respiratory protection, occupational pulmonary epidemiology, and computer applications. He served as professor and chief of the division of occupational-environmental medicine as well as residency director at UCLA. He then moved to University of Arizona as professor of public health and now serves as an adjunct professor. His recent book, Occupational Health for Higher Education and Research Institutions, includes considerable relevant information. | |
| Carisa Harris PhD, CPE Director, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health University of California, San Francisco Carisa Harris Adamson, PhD, CPE is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). She is the Director of the Northern California Center of Occupational & Environmental Health at the University of California at Berkeley, Associate Director of Research for the California Labor Lab (a NIOSH Total Worker Health Center) and the Director of the UCSF/UCB Ergonomics Research & Graduate Training Program. Dr. Harris and her team performs research in a variety of areas focused on understanding and preventing work related injuries and improving human performance, productivity, and health. Her team applies machine learning to wearable device data for primary and secondary prevention purposes and performs various intervention studies on occupational tasks with high risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Her epidemiological research assesses and adjusts for healthy worker survivor bias in the assessment of physical, personal and work psychosocial factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders and subsequent work disability. She and her team also engage in applied research for high injury sectors such as construction and janitorial work. | |
| Joseph Hitt PhD CEO GoX Labs, Inc. Joseph Hitt, PhD, is recognized nationally as an expert in wearable robotic technologies and human systems. As CEO of GoX Studio Inc. and GoX Labs, Hitt concentrates on refining the accuracy of fitness trackers and developing the next generation of fitness wearables to improve health and performance. He is a former DARPA Program Manager for the LS3, Warrior Web, EXACTO, Squad X, and Vulture projects. While he was an Associate Professor at the United States Military Academy’s Aerodynamics and Thermodynamics Group, Hitt led a Mechanical Engineering Program that ranked #2 nationally according to US NEWS & WORLD REPORTS and taught over 500 students annually. Dr. Hitt regularly participates on multiple government, private and academic panels, and boards including the Board on Army Science and Technology and the Army Basic Science Review Panel. | |
| David Hornung MPH, CIH Senior Safety Engineer Cal/OSHA David started work for Cal/OSHA in 2009 as a compliance officer in Oakland. He spent his first summers with Cal/OSHA performing heat inspections in the early days of the heat illness prevention standard. He is currently the Statewide Heat Program Coordinator. David received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2002 and a Master in Public Health in 2007 from UC Berkeley. David is a Certified Industrial Hygienist. | |
| Leslie M Israel DO, MPH Chief Physician City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Dr. Leslie Israel serves as Medical Director for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Prior to joining LADWP, she held faculty positions at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and University of California and San Francisco (UCSF) serving in many roles including Medical Director, Consultant, Clinical Researcher and member of the Pandemic and Infectious Disease Committees. Dr. Israel is Board Certified in Occupational and Environmental Medicine and completed her residencies in Internal Medicine and Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Yale University, receiving her MPH from the Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Israel is a member of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM) Editorial Board, the California Division of Workers’ Compensation Medical Evidence Evaluation Advisory Committee (MEEAC) and the Southern California Educational Research Center (SCERC) Advisory Board. She has served in leadership roles in the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) and the Western Occupational and Environmental Association (WOEMA). | |
| Lisa Kresge MS Lead Researcher UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education Lisa Kresge is a research and policy associate in the Low-Wage Work program at the Labor Center, where she studies the intersection of technological change, low-wage work, and inequality. Her research focuses on data collection and algorithmic technologies in the workplace. Lisa has also conducted research on tax policy as it relates to new technologies and technology companies as well as collective bargaining strategies in response to technological change. Prior to joining the Labor Center, Lisa conducted research on farmworker health, housing, and working conditions at the California Institute for Rural Studies. She has a multidisciplinary background in the social sciences, including a dual undergraduate degree in anthropology and sociology and a master’s degree in community development from UC Davis. Lisa is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in economic geography at UC Davis. | |
| Jeffrey Lotz PhD David S. Bradford M.D. Endowed Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery, Vice-Chair of Research University of California, San Francisco Professor Jeffrey Lotz, Ph.D. is the David S. Bradford M.D. Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery and Vice Chair of Orthopaedic Research at UCSF. He has led the Orthopaedic Tissue Engineering Laboratory at UCSF since 1992, and is principal investigator of one of the three Mechanistic Research Centers funded through the NIH Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Program (under NIH HEAL). BACPAC is a translational, patient-centered effort to address the need for effective and personalized therapies for chronic low back pain. Dr. Lotz is also director of three other research centers, including the NIDCR-funded Center for Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Tissue and Organ Regeneration (C-DOCTOR); the NIH-funded Core Center for Musculoskeletal Biology in Medicine (CCMBM); and the NSF-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (CDMI). Dr. Lotz has expertise in spine biomechanics, intervertebral disc biology, and tissue engineering, and his laboratory work focuses on identifying mechanisms of disc degeneration, developing novel diagnostics and therapies for low back pain, and the biomechanics of spinal instrumentation. Dr. Lotz earned a doctorate degree in Medical Engineering from the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, a Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering Design from Stanford University, and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley. | |
| Scott MacDonald MD, FACP, FAMIA Chief Medical Information Officer University of California, Davis Health Dr. MacDonald is a general internist and informaticist, who improves processes, people, and technology to make experiences better for patients, providers, and organizations. He serves as the Chief Medical Information Officer at UC Davis Health, and has a broad range of responsibilities, including supporting quality, decision support, wellness, compliance, population health, and other operations and research needs. | |
| Ray Meister MD, MPH Executive Medical Director California Division of Workers' Compensation Dr. Ray Meister has served as executive medical director for DWC since June, 2016 and was an associate medical director since 2014. Prior to joining DWC, Dr. Meister served as public health medical officer at the California Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Branch, from 2000 to 2014. Dr. Meister is boarded in Occupational Medicine, having done his residency at UCSF. He earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Southern California School of Medicine. He has been a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco since 1998, where he is a clinical professor. | |
| Jennifer Pierre PhD Senior User Experience Researcher Jennifer Pierre, PhD, is a user experience and human-computer interaction researcher with expertise in social media, games, critical data studies, and social informatics. Her research explores how people, especially underrepresented and minoritized groups, use various forms of media and data to form and maintain communities. She received her doctorate from the Department of Information Studies at UCLA, and holds an MLIS from the same department. Jennifer is currently working as a User Experience Researcher at YouTube. Her work can be found in several top journals and conferences, including CHI, HICSS, PACMHCI CSCW, and Big Data & Society, and has been recognized by ACM SIGCHI, the Ford Foundation, and the Bouchet Honor Society. In addition to and intersected with her research and industry work, Jennifer has fueled her passion for inclusion in STEM, higher education, and tech as a member and leader of several diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. | |
| Christian Sandrock MD Professor of Medicine University of California, Davis Dr. Sandrock has clinical interests in respiratory infections, community-acquired and viral pneumonia, and ICU-acquired infections. His research interests include emerging infectious diseases at the animal and human interface, particularly respiratory infections such as avian influenza, SARS, and other diseases acquired by humans. | |
| Mark C. Schall, Jr. PhD, CPE Daniel F. & Josephine Breeden Associate Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering Auburn University Mark C. Schall, Jr. is the Daniel F. and Josephine Breeden Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering at Auburn University. Dr. Schall is a Certified Professional Ergonomist and directs the Center for Occupational Safety, Ergonomics, and Injury Prevention at Auburn University. His research focuses on developing direct measurement techniques to enhance objective exposure assessment in ergonomics and applying those techniques to improve working people's health, safety, and well-being through improved decision-making. Ongoing or recently completed extramurally funded research projects include a field-based study exploring the use of wearable inertial sensors in the manufacturing industry and a laboratory-based investigation of novel surface electromyography and inertial sensor signal processing techniques to classify and predict worker kinematics. | |
| Marc Schenker MD, MPH Distinguished Professor Emeritus UC Davis Marc Schenker is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Health Sciences and Medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine. He has over 35 years of experience in medicine and public health research, teaching and public service. Dr. Schenker is the founding director of the Davis Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, the Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety, and the Migration and Health Research Center. His specialty is occupational and environmental disease, with a focus on respiratory and reproductive health. Dr. Schenker also conducts epidemiologic research and public policy advocacy on the health of global migrant populations with a particular focus on farmworkers and occupational disease. He has published over 225 scientific manuscripts and six textbooks and has received numerous awards for his work. | |
| Michelle Stewart MPH, CIH Lead Occupational Hygienist Chevron Michelle Stewart, MPH, CIH, is a passionate health, environment and safety certified professional focused on providing innovative and creative solutions to support industries critical to the advancement of social progress. She has over 16 years of experience working in Health, Safety and Environment, and is focused on the wellbeing and nurturing of a diverse and inclusive workforce, and the members of the community in which these industries operate. | |
| 0 | Caitlin Vega JD General Counsel California Labor Federation |
| Sarah Waldman MD Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases University of California, Davis Sarah Waldman is an Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UC Davis. She attended UCSF for medical school and completed her Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Disease fellowship at UC Davis. She specializes in general infectious diseases, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV care and outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy. Her research interests include HIV therapeutics and pre-exposure prophylaxis. She is a hospital epidemiologist at UC Davis Health who oversees nosocomial outbreak investigation working both with Infection Prevention and Employee Health at UC Davis Health. | |
| Edward Yelin PhD Edward A Dickson Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Health Policy University of California, San Francisco Dr. Yelin is the Principal Investigator of the California Labor Laboratory, a NIOSH-funded Total Worker Health Center of Excellence. He has been researching the impact of changes in the nature of work for more than four decades, with a focus on workers who are vulnerable to the changes, including members of racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, older workers, women, and persons with disabilities. Dr. Yelin has more than 400 publications, half dealing with the relationship between work and health. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and has received numerous awards for his research. | |
