Joseph Alper has been a science and health care writer for twenty years. During that time, he has served as a contributing correspondent for Science, and as a contributing editor of Nature Biotechnology and Self magazines. He has also written for a variety of publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Health Magazine. During his career, he has won numerous national writing awards, including the American Chemical Society's Grady/Stack Award for career achievements in science writing and two national magazine awards from the American Psychological Association. Mr. Alper has also taught journalism and writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Minnesota, and Colorado State University. In recent years, he has also done strategic planning for the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and several biotechnology companies. He graduated from the University of Illinois-Urbana, and received Master's of Science degrees in both biochemistry and agricultural journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Carolyn Asbury, Ph.D., is a health policy analyst specializing in the delivery and financing of care, biomedical research, health professions training, and pharmaceutical issues. She earned a Masters of Science in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in health systems sciences from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She helped to design the Orphan Drug Law and has written extensively on the subject, including a book entitled Orphan Drugs: Medical vs. Market Value, reviewed in Science and other leading journals. For more than a decade, she worked in two of the nation's largest health philanthropies, as a senior program officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and then as director of the Health and Human Services Program at the Pew Charitable Trusts. In both positions, she was responsible for designing and overseeing programs in a wide range of areas, including disability services, dementia care services, medical malpractice, long term care financing, and training of primary care providers. Currently, Dr. Asbury is a visiting researcher at the University of Pennsylvania's Division of General Internal Medicine and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and also serves as the senior consultant to the Charles A. Dana Foundation in New York. She consults with numerous other foundations, organizations, and government agencies involved in health care, sits on several advisory panels, and has published extensively on health care issues.

Lois Bergeisen is assistant vice president in the Division of Community and Minority Programs of the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC. In addition to serving as deputy director for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Minority Medical Education Program, she is editor of the Foundation-supported Minorities in Medical Education: Facts & Figures--an annual publication detailing the status of minorities in medicine, and director of the AAMC's Health Services Research Institute, an AHCPR-funded program to develop the health services research skills of minority faculty. She was co-principal investigator on the evaluation of the Minority Medical Education Program. Prior to joining the AAMC, Ms. Bergeisen was project director for the University of Minnesota's Adolescent Health Database Project and an Indian Health Service-supported adolescent health survey. She has completed graduate coursework in sociology and health services research at the University of Minnesota.

Paul Brodeur was a staff writer at The New Yorker Magazine for nearly forty years. During that time, he alerted the nation to the massive public health hazard posed by asbestos, to the depletion of the ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbons, and to the harmful effects of microwave radiation and power-frequency electromagnetic fields. His work has been acknowledged with a National Magazine Award and the Journalism Award of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The United Nations Environment Program has named him to its Global 500 Roll of Honour for outstanding environmental achievements.

James C. Butler is president and sole principal of JB Associates Washington, Ltd. His professional background has been with not-for-profit, independent institutions. He has held administrative positions at The Johns Hopkins University, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington. JB Associates Washington is an independent consulting organization in its twenty-fourth year. Mr. Butler is a specialist in strategic planning and communications for not-for-profit organizations and is a writer, editor, and publisher. His emphasis is on the identification and articulation of strategic institutional goals, and the planning, development, and implementation of programs to meet those goals.

Joel C. Cantor, Sc.D., is the director of the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University where he also serves as a professor of public policy. He was co-principal investigator of the evaluation of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Minority Medical Education Program. His recent work includes studies of the effect of health care market competition on access to care, the impact of Medicaid managed care on health care providers, the organization of the health care safety net for the uninsured, and the role of minority physicians in improving access to care of underserved populations. Dr. Cantor has published widely on health policy topics, and serves on the editorial board of the policy journal Inquiry. He received his doctorate in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health and is a Fellow of the Association for Health Services Research.

Nancy J. Cox, M.S.W., is deputy director of Partners in Caregiving: The Dementia Services Program, in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She has been with the National Program Office of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation since 1993, serving first as a project manager and the communications officer. In 1995, she became deputy director, responsible for the day-to-day management of the program. Prior to coming to the National Program Office, Ms. Cox was project director of the Lexington, Kentucky site in the Dementia Care and Respite Services Program (1988-1992), the predecessor to Partners in Caregiving. As executive director of the Alzheimer's Association in Lexington, she was responsible for a dementia-specific adult day program providing day center and in-home services. She has directed local programs, served in state government, and was a lobbyist for the long-term care industry. She holds the position of instructor at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and received a Master of Social Work from the University of Kentucky.

Digby Diehl is writer and television, print, and Internet journalist. Currently the literary correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America and West Coast editor of Modern Maturity, his book credits include Million Dollar Mermaid, the autobiography of MGM star Esther Williams, Tales from the Crypt, the history of the popular comic book, movie, and television series, and A Spy for All Seasons, the autobiography of former CIA officer Duane Clarridge. Previously the Entertainment Editor for KCBS television in Los Angeles, he was a writer for the soap opera Santa Barbara, Book Editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, editor-in-chief of Harry N. Abrams, Inc., publishers of art books, and the founding Book Editor of The Los Angeles Times Book Review. Diehl holds an M.A. in Theatre from UCLA and a B.A. in American Studies from Rutgers University, where he was a Henry Rutgers Scholar.

Karyn L. Feiden is an independent editorial consultant specializing in public health and medicine. Recent assignments include writing and editing for Yale University School of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, the Food and Drug Administration, United Hospital Fund, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. She is co-author of several books, including Against the Odds: The Story of AIDS Drug Development, Politics & Profits, and Hope and Help for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She earned her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.

Susan G. Fowler is an information specialist who provides professional information services--information management, research and report writing--to nonprofit, philanthropic organizations. She is also a doctoral student in the library science program at Emporia State University's School of Library and Information Management. Her doctoral research focuses on the relationship between information use and learning organizations.

Howard H. Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of psychiatry and director of mental health policy studies at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. From 1986-1993 he directed the evaluation of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation--Department of Housing and Urban Development Program on Chronic Mental Illness. Prior to that he served as assistant director of the National Institute of Mental Health and as a member of the faculty at the University of California at San Francisco. Currently, Dr. Goldman serves as the senior scientific editor of the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health. Dr. Goldman serves on numerous editorial boards and has contributed over 200 publications to the professional literature. Trained in medicine and public health at Harvard, he received a doctorate in social welfare research at the Heller School at Brandeis University.

Rona Smyth Henry, M.B.A, M.P.H., currently serves as senior financial officer at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She also serves as program officer--External Leadership Initiative for the Foundation's national programs. Before coming to the Foundation, over an eight year period, she was associate director of the Foundation's Partners in Caregiving: The Dementia Services Program and deputy director of The Dementia Care and Respite Services Program, while holding the position of instructor at the Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine. Working in those Foundation Programs, Ms. Henry provided technical assistance to nearly 75 adult day programs. While at Wake Forest University, she also served for two years as business manager for the Department of Psychiatry. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986, earning a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Public Health, and did a postgraduate fellowship at Duke University Hospital in hospital administration.

Marguerite Y. Holloway is a freelance science writer and a contributing editor at Scientific American magazine. Her work has appeared in various publications, including Natural History, Business Week, Wired, and The Village Voice. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, where she received her master's degree and where she teaches courses on environmental and science and health reporting. She has edited and written medical and health stories for Scientific American since she joined the magazine's staff in 1990; before then, she covered similar topics as a reporter for the Medical Tribune.

Nancy J. Kaufman, R.N., M.S., serves as a vice president of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In this position, she develops and oversees grant programs in the areas of substance abuse (including tobacco control), health care reform, primary care, the health professions, health and behavior, and public health. She holds a graduate degree in Administrative and Preventative Medicine from the University of Wisconsin Medical School, and Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Wisconsin. As a registered nurse specializing in public health and preventive medicine, Ms. Kaufman has over 25 years experience in the health care field. She was previously deputy director of public health in the state of Wisconsin. Ms. Kaufman is a member of the National Advisory Council for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Department of Health and Human Services' Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health, and the Center for Disease Control's National Center for Infectious Diseases Board of Scientific Counselors. In 1998, she received a Leadership Award in alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs from the American Public Health Association.

Burton V. Reifler, M.D., M.P.H., is professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, a position he has held since 1987. Prior to that, Dr. Reifler was an associate professor with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington where he directed its Division on Aging. Dr. Reifler has served on numerous national task forces and committees and is a past chairperson of the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Aging. He has published approximately 100 journal articles and book chapters and has served on numerous editorial boards, including his current position as an associate editor of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. He is director of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national demonstration program on adult day services, Partners in Caregiving. Dr. Reifler received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Emory University in Atlanta and did his internship at Grady Hospital and his psychiatry residency at the University of Washington. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar from 1976-1978 and received a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington in 1978.

Steven A. Schroeder, M.D., is president and CEO of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Schroeder trained in internal medicine at the Harvard Medical Service of the Boston City Hospital, in epidemiology as a member of the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Communicable Diseases Center, and in public health at the Harvard Center for Community Health and Medical Care. He served as an instructor in medicine at Harvard, assistant and associate professor of medicine and health care sciences at George Washington University, and associate professor and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). At both George Washington University and UCSF he was founding medical director of a university-sponsored health maintenance organization, and at UCSF he founded its Division of General Internal Medicine. Schroeder continues to practice general internal medicine on a part-time basis at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Medical School. He has more than two hundred publications to his credit and has served on a number of editorial boards, including--at present--the New England Journal of Medicine. He received honorary doctorates from Rush University, Boston University, and the University of Massachusetts.

Irene M. Wielawski is a health care journalist, with twenty years experience on daily newspapers, among them the Providence Journal-Bulletin and the Los Angeles Times, where she was a member of the investigations team. She has written extensively on problems of access to care among the poor and uninsured, and other socioeconomic issues in American medicine. Ms. Wielawski currently is evaluating The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's program, Reach Out: Physicians' Initiative to Expand Care to Underserved Americans. In connection with that work, she is writing a book about how the medically uninsured have fared since the demise of President Clinton's health reform plan. Ms. Wielawski is a founding director of the Association of Health Care Journalists and a graduate of Vassar College.