ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:
KEYNOTE: "Women's Mental Health Across the Lifespan"
PAULINE M. MAKI, PhD
Dr. Maki is Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Obstetrics & Gynecology; Director of the Women’s Mental Health Research Program, and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is nationally and internationally sought-after for her cutting edge research on women’s mental and cognitive health. During the last 25 years Dr. Maki led NIH funded research on the role of sex hormones on cognition, mood, brain function and stress. She has over 200 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals addressing important issues in women’s health, including disparities in the screening and treatment of mental health disorders of pregnant and postpartum women. She has pursued innovative approaches and created a research infrastructure to fill in gaps in depression screening.
Dr. Maki is the Past Chair of the Society for Women’s Health Research Interdisciplinary Network on Alzheimer’s Disease, Past President of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), and Treasurer of the International Menopause Society.
She has won several NIH awards for her research and service. She serves as a research and career mentor to many students and junior faculty as well as serving on executive committees for several women’s health advisory boards.
She won the 2018 Woman in Science Award from the American Medical Women’s Association, the Thomas B. Clarkson Outstanding Clinical and Basic Science Research Award from the NAMS, and the 2023 Health Education Visionary Award from the Society for Women’s Health Research.
Her work on mental health in pregnancy and the postpartum has received accolades from the Kennedy Forum, the news media, and the Office of the Vice President of the United States. Her research is widely cited in the media, including in such outlets as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fox News, National Public Radio, BBC, the Today Show, NBC News, ABC News, and the Guardian.
Recently she was cited in the following interesting NY Times article. It is worth reading, so, we wanted to share with you: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/01/magazine/menopause-hot-flashes-hormone-therapy.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Mental Health in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults”
J. Usha Raj, MD, MHA
Dr. Raj is currently the Anjuli S. Nayak Professor of Pediatrics, and Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Pharmacology and Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Illinois, Chicago. She served as the Head of the Department of Pediatrics from 2008-2015 and established the Children’s Hospital University of Illinois in 2010. She has been an active researcher and scientist since 1980 and is nationally and internationally known for her discoveries related to the cell and molecular mechanisms involved in the development of a lethal disease, pulmonary hypertension.
Her research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 1985 to 2022. She has published over 201 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, reviews and book chapters in high-quality journals. For her research and work as a mentor, she has received numerous awards from International and National Scientific Societies, including the Scientific Recognition and the Distinguished Achievement Awards and election as a Fellow from the American Thoracic Society and the Julius Comroe Jr. Distinguished Lectureship and election as a fellow from the American Physiological Society. She received an honorary doctorate (honoris causa) from the University of Lausanne in June 2016 in recognition of her many contributions in research and mentorship.
She continues to be active in research and in providing service to the scientific Associations that she is a member of. She has just established, with Dr. Chen her collaborator, a start-up company to develop one of their discoveries into a drug for use in patients with Pulmonary Hypertension. In recent years she has increased her Global Health work and in addition to her work in Mongolia and South Africa, has started a project in Cuba.
She is on the Board of WHAM Global, A Safe Haven and WorldChicago. She relaxes by writing creative non-fiction and two of her essays are published in the SmartSet, an on-line magazine. She hopes to put several essays together in a memoir book about her life. She is active in several non-scientific organizations in Chicago; The Economic Club of Chicago, the International Women’s Forum, International Women’s Associates and the Chicago Literary Society.
“How the Simple Things Create Hope and Build Resilience”
Priya Shah
Priya is the Founder & Executive Director of The Simple Good, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with the mission to connect the meaning of good from around the world to empower youth to bring positivity into communities through art and discussion. Through mindfulness and social emotional learning (SEL) based art programming and public art projects students build resilience and spread positivity wherever they are to build a more connected future for all.
Priya Shah is triggering social consciousness to challenge barriers and empower communities from the inside out. As a Chicago creative and entrepreneur, she has built a network of artists and collaborators dedicated to igniting social awareness and change through art and imagination. Shah began volunteering in developing countries at a young age, which inspired her to fill the gap between business and the social sector. She went on to earn degrees in both Accounting & Finance from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, using her studies as an opportunity to deepen her understanding of diverse cultures and perspectives through international travel.
After graduating she went on to work at Big Four Accounting firm, Ernst & Young, and finally Groupon, leading strategic planning in Operations. Shah's passion for art and travel has fueled her purpose to help better communities in Chicago and around the world. Through her experience, Shah has developed a unique perspective on humanity and believes it is her responsibility to engage communities in need. Her purpose took shape when she founded The Simple Good, a non-profit with the mission to connect the meaning of good from around the world, empowering youth to become positive activists through art and discussion.
By uniting communities under a universal truth, Shah hopes to bridge understanding across all walks of life in order to bring down obstacles separating us in working towards improving the lives of our children and in turn, our future. Outside of her work with The Simple Good, she aims to build the next generation of positive leaders as a Strategist for Obama Foundation Scholars in Chicago and continues to lead necessary global dialogue as a Legacy Fellow at the Ariane de Rothschild Foundation. Shah was named Crain’s Business Magazine Most Notable in Community Development, nominated for Forbes 30 Under 30 and is also a speaker with the Peace is Loud Bureau who promotes female changemakers promoting peace around the world. Most recently, Shah also co-founded the South Asian Solidarity Movement - a collective focused on developing a community of social justice oriented South Asians in Chicago engaged in social impact.
In March 2015, Priya was asked to present her journey at TEDx River North where she delivered a passionate talk called “How the Simple Things Create Hope.” She is the co-author of the latest children’s book focused on representative literature called, ‘Sheroes of COVID-19’ and also the producer on the upcoming documentary, Building Hope, documenting the journey of spreading art and resilience from Chicago to East Africa. You may even spot her in a print ad or two as she spends her free time as a model, promoting inclusive and diverse representation, empowering others with each new opportunity. More about Priya at www.iampriyashah.com, and her TEDx River North Speech here.
