Brooke Borel is an independent science journalist and author. She's a contributing editor at Popular Science and has also written for BuzzFeed News, the Guardian, the Atlantic, Undark, PBS's Nova Next, Quartz, Aeon, and Slate, among others. She also occasionally drops in at the Last Word On Nothing and Science Friday. Borel is the 2016 Cissy Patterson fellow at the Alicia Patterson Foundation, where she has been writing about pesticides and agriculture. Her books include Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World, published by the University of Chicago Press with additional support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking.

She'll probably always be remembered as "that bed bug lady" but she's okay with that.

Lydia X. Z. Brown (Autistic Hoya) is a gender/queer and transracially/transnationally adopted east asian autistic activist, writer, and speaker whose work has largely focused on violence against multiply-marginalized disabled people, especially institutionalization, incarceration, and policing. They have worked to advance transformative change through organizing in the streets, writing legislation, conducting anti-ableism workshops, testifying at regulatory and policy hearings, and disrupting institutional complacency everywhere from the academy to state agencies and the nonprofit-industrial complex. At present, Lydia is co-president of TASH New England, chairperson of the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council, and a board member of the Autism Women's Network. In collaboration with E. Ashkenazy and Morénike Giwa-Onaiwu, Lydia is the lead editor and visionary behind All the Weight of Our Dreams, an anthology of writings and artwork by autistic people of color. Previously, Lydia worked for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s national public policy team. Lydia has been honored by the White House, the Washington Peace Center, Pacific Standard, and Mic. Lydia’s work has been featured in various anthologies, including Criptiques, Torture in Healthcare Settings, and QDA: A Queer Disability Anthology, and periodicals including Films for the Feminist Classroom, Tikkun, Disability Intersections, Black Girl Dangerous, hardboiled magazine, POOR magazine, and the Washington Post.

Dr. Cap is a hematologist conducting basic and translational research on coagulation system function and cellular therapy products for use in trauma and burn care. His mission is to lead the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Coagulation and Blood Research Group. He also serves as a staff Hematologist-Oncologist at the San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC), as a core faculty member its Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program, as Program Director for the Clinical Investigation Fellowship Program and as an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University. He is a board certified internist and hematologist-oncologist and serves as hematology and blood products subject matter expert advisor to the Joint Trauma System (JTS), US Pacific Command, and the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM).

His overall research goals are to decrease battlefield mortality, with emphasis on providing diagnostic and therapeutic interventions to treat hemorrhage and the coagulopathy of trauma. The mission of the Blood and Coagulation program has been focused on defining the pathophysiologic effects of trauma on the coagulation system. Specifically, they are analyzing new diagnostics and interventions to understand the role of platelets, cell-derived microparticles, and transfusion strategies in prevention or creation of clots that occur in trauma and burned soldiers. Their goal is to improve storage, preparation, and efficacy of blood products delivered to the far-forward battlefield.

Paleontologist Julia Clarke's research focuses on using phylogenetic methods and diverse data types to gain insight into the evolution of birds and avian flight. She is particularly interested in understanding shared patterns and potential causal factors in the evolution of living bird lineages. Through international and cross-disciplinary collaboration, she seeks new data to inform how bird distributions and diversity, shape, and form have changed across their deep histories. Clarke earned her PhD from Yale University and is a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. She served on the faculty of NC State University for four years before joining UT. She serves as co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Anatomy and is an associate editor of Paleobiology. She has published widely and been recognized for excellence in research, undergraduate teaching and outreach.

Dr. Davey is interested in understanding how viruses like Ebola virus penetrate the cell membrane and establish infection. In addition, the Davey laboratory has developed safe, efficient, high-throughput screening techniques for Ebola virus and performs contract work on testing drugs and compounds against Ebola virus infection in the BSL-4 maximum containment laboratory. This work has resulted in exciting findings towards potential drug candidates to combat Ebola virus. Dr. Davey has been working with:

• Filoviruses: Ebola virus, Marburg virus
• Lassa fever virus
• Bunyaviruses: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus

Dr. Davey contributes more than 25 years of expertise in virology and has been studying Ebola virus since 2006; his recent work has been published in high-impact journals that include PLoS Pathogens, PNAS and a cover feature in Science.

Julie Devaney is a patient activist living in Toronto. She is the author of My Leaky Body (Goose Lane Editions: 2012) and co-editor of MESS: The Hospital Anthology (Tightrope Books: 2014). Her forthcoming book, Fired Up about Healthcare, will be published by Between the Lines in Spring 2017. My Leaky Body was one of Quill and Quire’s Top Five Non-fiction Books of 2012. Julie was named a Woman Health Hero by Best Health magazine in 2011 and has been profiled on CBC Radio’s White Coat, Black Art and The Current, in Chatelaine and the Toronto Star. Her writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life and numerous anthologies. Julie has presented at medical schools, nursing conferences and theaters throughout Canada and in the U.S. and the U.K. using participatory techniques with patients and professionals to formulate strategies for change and innovation in healthcare. Her work at the University Health Network in Toronto has transformed real patient stories into staff training.