Rachele Berria is Vice President and Medical Head of US Biopharmaceuticals at AstraZeneca, where she leads the US Medical Team to ensure scientific leadership and a patient-centered approach throughout the Organization. Rachele has extensive experience in biopharmaceuticals, clinical research, and academic medicine. Prior to her current role, she worked at Sanofi as Global Vice President and Medical Head of Diabetes. She also worked at Genentech, Roche Pharmaceuticals, and as an Assistant Professor of reproductive biology at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Berria has been a key player in over 15 mechanisms of action-based therapies in both academic and industry settings. She is seen as a forerunner of randomized, pragmatic trials that mirror real world clinical decision making, draw cost-effectiveness measures, and foster collaboration with payers and large healthcare echo-systems. Throughout her career, she has also been heavily involved in discovery, clinical development, and medical differentiation up to patient fruition. She views diabetes and other chronic diseases as conditions to be managed, cured, and prevented through significant change in a populations’ behavior, evidence-based algorithms, and innovative therapies. Dr. Berria received her Medical Degree and Ob-Gyn Board Certification from the University of Cagliari School of Medicine in Italy, and completed a Fellowship in Diabetes and Metabolism at the University of Texas Health Science Center. She earned a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation from the University of Texas Health Science Center and her PhD in Medical Pathophysiology and Pharmacology at the University of Pisa School of Medicine in Italy.

 

 

Jane DeMeis retired in 2018 as the Director of Education and Organizational Development for UR Medicine Home Care. She is a certified public-school teacher in communications and has her Masters in Curriculum Development, Instructional Technology. Jane now serves her community in many capacities. She sits on the Executive Board of the Perinton Historical Society and serves as the Communication Director. Jane sits on the Board of Directors of the Perinton Food Shelf and works with clients who need assistance. She sings with the Perinton Senior Chorus. She is also a member of the Village of Fairport Tree Board. Because Jane lives with chronic kidney disease, she volunteers her time in many ways for the advancement and research of CKD. She is a certified Kidney Coach and is completing her certification to be an instructor for the National Kidney Foundation.  She serves as a Peer Mentor and Ambassador for the National Kidney Foundation and American Association of Kidney Patients. Jane also is a National Ambassador for The American Heart Association and The American Diabetes Associations’ program “Know Diabetes By Heart.” She has been a patient advocate at several international workshops for providers and pharmaceutical companies and has been a guest spokesperson at multiple workshops on chronic kidney disease. Jane resides with her husband Joe and their two dogs and cat in the Village of Fairport, a suburb of Rochester, NY.

 

James R. Gavin III MD PhD, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine

 

James R. Gavin III is clinical professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and is Principal, J.R. Gavin & Associates, LLC. He also serves as Chief Medical Officer of Healing Our Village, Inc. He served as President and CEO of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. He was a senior scientific officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Before joining HHMI, he was chief of the Diabetes Section, and William K. Warren Professor for Diabetes Studies at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.  Dr. Gavin is a past president of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and belongs to many organizations, including the National Academy of Medicine, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American Association of Physicians. He is a Trustee Emeritus for Emory University, a Trustee Emeritus of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), serves on the Trustee board at Livingstone College, and is Chairman Emeritus of the Board for the Partnership for a Healthier America. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (ADCES). He is past national program director of the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program of the RWJF (1993-2013). He was named a “Living Legend in Diabetes” by ADCES in 2009, received a Lifetime Achievement Award for Diabetes Research from ADA in 2015, and a lifetime Meritorious Achievement Award from the National Medical Association. He is the 2021 recipient of the Laureate Mentor of the Year Award from the Endocrine Society.  He has published more than 250 articles and abstracts and three books. He received a BS in Chemistry from Livingstone College, a PhD in Biochemistry from Emory University, and his MD from Duke University.

 

 

Nephrologist Joseph A. Vassalotti, MD, is the Chief Medical Officer of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY. He received his medical degree with Distinction in Research from the SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine and completed an Internal Medicine Residency and Nephrology Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. At NKF, his major focus is implementation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in chronic kidney disease (CKD), including the NKF’s Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI), particularly through guidance of the NKF’s primary care initiative, called CKDintercept. He has served as co-principal investigator for the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), demonstration project “CKD Health Evaluation and Risk Information Sharing” (CHERISH), which aimed to identify individuals at high risk for kidney disease in the U.S. and as an investigator for the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored clustered practice randomized trial entitled, “Evidenced-Based Primary Care for Kidney Disease.” Dr. Vassalotti has held multiple roles over the last decade with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Fistula First National Quality Improvement Initiative for Hemodialysis, including as lead physician consultant from 2013 through 2015. He has served on numerous committees that shape innovation and health policy in kidney disease for the CDC, the NIH and CMS. Currently, he serves as principal investigator for the Kidney Score Platform, an NKF educational project funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for Innovation to improve awareness and education among veterans with and at risk for kidney disease. Dr. Vassalotti has published more than 80 times in peer-reviewed journals and has been featured in Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America.

David Lee Strasberg serves as Creative Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institutes in West Hollywood and New York. The world-famous Institutes were founded in 1969 by his parents, Lee and Anna Strasberg, and the institutes serve as international centers for training Method actors. Mr. Strasberg and his son, Sawyer, both have type 1 diabetes. Mr. Strasberg has presented at the D-series conferences, ADA Scientific Sessions, and industry seminars exploring advocacy, patient perspectives, and how to create transformational change. He received a bachelor’s in international relations and affairs from Brown University and an MBA from the University of California in Los Angeles.