David Schnabel is a Managing Director at Phoenix Strategy Investments. Prior to joining Phoenix, David was Chief Executive Officer and a Board member of Gold's Gym International, the largest full-service fitness chain in the nation, with over 600 owned or franchised locations in 27 countries. While at Gold's David oversaw all business lines, including owned-club operations, franchising, and product licensing. David led a restructure of the business to upgrade the store portfolio, business processes, revenue management systems, staffing systems, and IT infrastructure, while driving overall company and system growth. Before joining Gold's Gym International, David led acquisition efforts for TRT Holdings, a multibillion dollar, private holding company. While there, David led and asset managed an investment in Waldos, the leading single price-point retailer in Mexico, with over 350 locations. Prior to joining TRT, David worked as an investment banker for Goldman, Sachs & Co., and a management consultant for McKinsey & Company. David holds an AB degree in Economics and Political Science, with distinction, from Stanford University and an MBA, with distinction, from the Harvard Business School.

Dr. Yu is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Assistant Member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute.  He also is the Assistant Fellowship Director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute Oncology/Hematology Program.  Dr. Yu graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine with Honors, and he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society.  He performed his Internal Medicine residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, followed by an Oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Partners Cancer Care, Harvard Medical School.  He has now been on faculty in Seattle for 4 years, where he runs a successful prostate cancer research program, continues to care for patients with genitourinary malignancies, and educates fellows, residents, and medical students alike.

Dr. Gebreyes is the Medical Director for MedStar PromptCare clinics, a division of MedStar Health system aimed at providing convenient medical care for busy health care consumers.  She is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at Georgetown University Medical School and was the Associate Residency Program Director for the Georgetown University/Washington Hospital Center Emergency Medicine Residency Program.  She has completed numerous academic studies and publications with a focus on developing community outreach programs, increasing health literacy, and improving patient safety.  She is currently enrolled as an MBA student at the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins.  She is board certified in Emergency Medicine and is a Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.  She obtained her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed her residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  She also holds a BA degree in Biology from Princeton University where she has a dual certificate in Women’s Studies and Afro-American Studies.

Laurie C. Zephyrin, MD, MBA, MPH - Head, Women's Health

 

Dr. Zephyrin is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology, Clinical Population and Family Health and Clinical Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. In this capacity, Dr. Zephyrin practices Obstetrics and Gynecology, supervises and teaches residents and medical students and has a grant portfolio which includes research focusing on health systems domestically and internationally. Her expertise is in improving health for women through public health, prevention and health communication. She has been a guest on ABC cable news, written for Revolution Health and has had health advice featured in the Washington Post online and other venues on prevention issues related to women. She previously served as a White House Fellow at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In this capacity Dr. Zephyrin was a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs working on issues related to emergency preparedness and women veteran issues.

Dr. Zephyrin was a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Johns Hopkins Medical School and a Physician in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins Medical Institution. Dr. Zephyrin completed her training at Harvard's Integrated Residency Training Program in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Brigham and Women's Hospital-Massachusetts General Hospital. She served as Clinical Fellow in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard Medical School and Chair of the Massachusetts section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Dr. Zephyrin has organized workshops for women on HIV education and general women's health domestically and in South Africa. She currently works on global women's health issues related to obstetric fistula prevention and capacity building in Eritrea. Dr. Zephyrin is a recipient of the 2005 American Medical Association Foundation Leadership Award and is an Emerging Leaders Life Fellow with the South Africa-Duke Center for Leadership and Public Values. She holds a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences, cum laude, from the City College of New York, an MD from the New York University School of Medicine, and an MPH and MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Venkayya is the Director of Global Health Delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  In this capacity, he oversees late-stage development of foundation-funded technologies and public health interventions, and efforts to help expand access to effective health solutions to the most disadvantaged populations in the developing world. He is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Dr. Venkayya was previously the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Biodefense at the White House Homeland Security Council, a position he held until October 1, 2007. Appointed by President Bush in May 2005, he directed the development of policies to prevent, protect and respond to bioterrorism and naturally occurring biological threats such as avian influenza and SARS, as well as the medical consequences of weapons of mass destruction. He oversaw the development of Homeland Security Presidential Directive-18 (HSPD-18), Medical Countermeasures Against Weapons of Mass Destruction, and HSPD-21, Public Health and Medical Preparedness. His office was responsible for coordination U.S. Government preparedness and response activities for pandemic influenza, including the development of the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza and the subsequent Implementation Plan.

Dr. Venkayya was a Director for Biodefense and Health at the White House Homeland Security Council from October 2003 to May 2005, and played a significant role in the development of U.S. Government policies in biosecurity, biosurveillance, public health and medical preparedness, and the National Biodefense Strategy. He served as a Special Advisor to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while at the White House.

Prior to his positions at the Homeland Security Council, Dr. Venkayya was one of thirteen individuals appointed by President Bush to the non-partisan White House Fellowship program from 2002-03. As a White House Fellow, he worked with Secretary Spencer Abraham at the Department of Energy as an advisor on science and technology, and interacted with leaders across government and the public and private sectors.

Prior to his arrival in Washington, Dr. Venkayya was an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UCSF. He held his primary appointment at San Francisco General Hospital, where he was Co-Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, Founder and Director of the High-Risk Asthma Clinic, and the principal investigator for a five-year research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the immunologic mechanisms leading to asthma.

Dr. Venkayya founded two companies while at UCSF: Sapient Medical Group, Inc., a physician services corporation, and Neomedicus, LLC, a medical technology consulting and design firm. Through Neomedicus, he created “What’s Asthma All About?” an award-winning animated movie that has been used for asthma education by millions of people around the globe.

Dr. Venkayya completed his fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UCSF. He was a resident and Chief Medical Resident in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical Center. He completed his undergraduate and medical school education in the 6 year B.S./M.D. program at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, where he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honorary medical society. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.