#reinventingschool

Tista Ghosh, MD, MPH. Senior Director of Impact Evaluation. Dr. Tista Ghosh is a physician trained in both internal medicine and preventive medicine, with her MD from Indiana University and her master’s degree in public health from Yale University. She also has had specialized training in applied epidemiology and public health practice through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She has served our country as a Lieutenant-Commander in the United States Public Health Service. Dr. Ghosh has broad experience in population health at the local, state, federal, and international levels. She was the chief medical epidemiologist for Colorado’s largest local health department and has served as Chief Medical Officer of the State of Colorado. She is also an assistant adjunct professor at the University of Colorado. Dr. Ghosh has served in a consulting role to a variety of international organizations, including the World Health Organization and UNICEF. From 2017-2019, she was appointed by the director of the CDC to serve on the United States Community Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of experts who review the evidence and make recommendations to guide population health efforts across the country. Currently, she is the Senior Director of Impact Evaluation/Regional Medical Director for Grand Rounds. Her role is to help maximize and quantify Grand Rounds’ population health impact.

 

Glenn Rall, Ph.D. is a Professor with Temple University and Chief Academic Officer at Fox Chase Cancer Center. His research interests include viral infection, immunity, and disease in the brain: Elucidating how neurotropic viruses spread to, and across, synaptic junctions; Defining principles that govern unique aspects of the host immune response within the brain; Developing mouse models to study immunity to multiple pathogenic encounters; Evaluating long-term neuropathological consequences of viral infections. His laboratory studies viral infections of the brain and the immune responses to those infections, with the goal of defining how viruses contribute to disease in humans, including cancer. Over the past decade, we have developed mouse models that have enabled mechanistic insights into viral replication and spread within neurons, and the roles played by soluble immune mediators, such as chemokines and cytokines, in viral clearance.

 

Steven Mark Taffet, Ph.D.: Recognized as a dedicated educator and an expert in his field, Dr. Steven Taffet has been an indispensable resource at Upstate for 35 years in diverse roles, encompassing the entire spectrum of education, research, and leadership. He has led a research laboratory, authored 79 peer-reviewed publications, and obtained external funding for more than three decades.  Since 1985, he has taught Immunology to the medical students’ class, summer students in and graduate students. In addition, Dr. Taffet has been a member of numerous thesis committees for Ph.D. student research and has successfully guided two students to their MS degrees and 11 students to their PhDs. He is one of the national leaders for teaching an innovative active-learning method to Immunology. His research originally focused on the cell biology of immune function however during a 20-year collaboration he ventured into cardiovascular research making fundamental discoveries into the regulation of the cardiac gap junction protein. Dr. Taffet has chaired the College of Graduate Studies Curriculum Committee and College of Medicine Faculty Appointment and Promotions Committee served as interim chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and as assistant dean for Faculty Development, among many others. He has given 20 years of exemplary service to the American Heart Association (AHA) in his various roles in research, including service on the National Research Committee, a highly competitive committee where members are selected for being outstanding scholars. When not teaching medical students Dr. Taffet is an instructor for the National Ski Patrol teaching first aid skills to patrollers. He is one of the leaders in the local ski patrol educational programs.

 

Howard Blumenthal created and produced the PBS television series, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? He is currently a Senior Scholar at The University of Pennsylvania, studying learning and the lives of 21st-century children and teenagers. He travels the world, visiting K-12 schools, lecturing at universities, and interviewing young people for Kids on Earth, a global platform containing nearly 1,000 interview segments from Kentucky, Brazil, Sweden, India, and many other countries. Previously, he was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist for The New York Times Syndicate, and United Features. He is the author of 24 books and several hundred articles about technology, learning, business, and human progress. As an executive, Howard was the CEO of a public television operation and several television production companies, and a state government official. Previously, he was a Senior Vice President for divisions of two large media companies, Hearst and Bertelsmann, and a consultant or project lead for Energizer, General Electric, American Express, CompuServe, Warner Communications, Merriam-Webster, Atari, and other companies.