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Jill Astbury is Research Professor in the School of Psychology at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Before joining Victoria University, Jill was the Deputy Director of the Key Centre for Women's Health in Society, a WHO Collaborating Centre in Women's Health. Her research has focused on identifying the determinants of women's mental health using a gender and human rights perspective. In particular, she is concerned with exploring the relationship between gender based violence including sexual violence and gender disparities in mental health including increased rates of depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder. Her publications include ‘Crazy for You: The making of women's madness' (Oxford University Press, 1996), ‘Women's mental health: an evidence based review' (WHO, 2000) and ‘Gender disparities in Mental Health (WHO, 2001). School of Psychology, Victoria University

Gary Barker, PhD, is Senior Technical Advisor for Gender, Violence and Rights at the International Center for Research on Women, based in Washington, DC, USA.  Prior to joining ICRW in 2009, he was the Executive Director of Instituto Promundo in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, which works locally and globally to promote gender equity and to reduce violence against children, youth and women in Brazil and internationally.  He has more than twenty years of program and research experience in the areas of violence prevention, adolescent and youth health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and sexual and reproductive health.  He is also a leading researcher, advocate, and program development expert in engaging boys and men in gender equality and preventing gender-based violence.  He has held consultancies with the World Bank, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNFPA, numerous international foundations and the World Health Organization on engaging men and boys in violence prevention.  Mr. Barker is currently an “Innovator for the Public” fellow with Ashoka and on the board of Instituto PAPAI in Brazil, Advocates for Youth in the US and Sonke Gender Justice in South Africa.   He holds a PhD in child and adolescent development from Loyola University – Chicago and an MA in public policy from Duke University.   He is also co-coordinator of the MenEngage Alliance, an international network of NGOs and UN partners working to engage men and boys in gender equality and ending violence against women. International Center for Research on Women: www.icrw.org; MenEngage Alliance, www.menengage.org

Alessandra Guedes (MA and MSc) has worked in the public health field for the past twelve years, always involved in cutting edge reproductive health issues that are at the heart of the nexus of reproductive health and human rights, including adolescent reproductive health, safe abortion, gender-based violence and emergency contraception.  She has worked in many different capacities -- providing direct services to both victims and perpetrators of violence, implementing and managing a UN-funded adolescent SRH program in Brazil, researching Brazilian abortion policy and designing, implementing, managing and evaluating a multi-country initiative in gender-based violence in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Venezuela.  During the last 8 years she has worked intensively in the area of gender violence, first as a Senior Program Officer at the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region (NY, EUA) and more recently as a freelance consultant based in Brasília, Brazil.  She holds a MSc degree in Public Health for Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has published widely on the topic of violence, including Improving the Health Sector Response to Gender-Based Violence: A Resource Manual for Health Care Professionals in Developing Countries (Bott, Guedes, Claramunt and Guezmes, 2004).

Dr. Khan is the Regional Associate Director & Senior Program Associate, Asia and Near East Region, FRONTIERS Program, for the Population Council and a Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, Jamia Milia University, Delhi. He is widely published and has many years experience working in operations research in reproductive health, family planning, STD and HIV/ AIDS, gender based violence, adolescent sexuality and male involvement, population and health policy research and Capacity Building. Population Council

Dr. Nduku Kilonzo is the Director of Liverpool VCT, Care & Treatment, a Kenyan NGO that provides HIV counselling to about 200,000 per annum, care & ART treatment to over 16,000 Kenyans, responds to targeted vulnerabilities in HIV – MSM/Prisons, Youth, People with Disabilities and Survivors of Sexual Violence and undertakes operational research to inform HIV service delivery practice and policy formulation in Kenya.  Nduku has experience, knowledge and practical skills in policy, planning and delivery HIV prevention and treatment services with a focus on sexual violence services.  Her areas of research interest include quality assurance in HIV services delivery and HIV vulnerabilities and gender issues.  Her primary research work has been in the area of Sexual Violence and HIV.  Her work has provided evidence for the development of integrated public health facility Post Rape Care services that are currently offered in 16 public health facilities in Kenya, having provided care to 3,000 survivors in the last 4 years.  Nduku has acted in the capacity of Technical Advisor to two WHO Committees; 1) the Development of International Policy & Guidelines on occupational & non-occupational PEP and; 2) on HIV Counselling and Testing and Violence Against Women.  Currently is a member of the Coordinating Group of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI).  She has published on sexual violence and gender issues. LVCT

Mary P. Koss is a Regents' Professor of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She is Principal Investigator of the RESTORE Program, a victim-driven, community collaboration that offers an alternative justice intervention for selected sex crimes. She has worked in the field of sexual assault for more than 25 years, serving on the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Violence Against Women and co-chairing the American Psychological Association Taskforce on Male Violence Against Women. She has testified before the U.S. Senate twice on matters relating to sexual violence. In recognition of her contributions the American Psychological Association honored her with its Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy; and its Committee on Women in Psychology Leadership Award. University of Arizona

Dr. Garcia-Moreno is a physician from Mexico with a masters in community medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has over 25 years of experience in health care delivery, research and policy, working in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Increasingly her work has  focused on sexual and reproductive health, women's health and gender in health.  For the last 15 years she has been leading the World Health Organization's (WHO) work on gender and women's health,  violence against women and HIV/AIDS in women and girls and currently leads the team on Gender, Reproductive Rights, Sexual Health and Adolescence in the Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO. She is coordinator of the WHO Multi-Country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women, a large research initiative involving  now over 15  countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. She is a founder and coordinating group member of the SVRI and on the Steering Committee of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS.

Sylvie Olifson-Houriet is Health Economist at the Global Forum for Health Research, an independent international foundation promoting more health research to combat the neglected diseases and conditions that are major sources of ill health in developing countries (www.globalforumhealth.org ). Her work focuses on poverty and health, health care financing, occupational safety and health, and research on mental health in low- and middle-income countries. She holds a BA in Business Administration (1990) and three MSc: Development Studies (1996; emphasis on macroeconomics and health), International Project Management (2001; psychosocial projects) and Health Economics (2005; equity-efficiency trade-off). She worked as a Consultant for the Task Force on Health Economics at the World Health Organization; as a Street Children Project Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Manila, Philippines; as a Desk Officer for Asia at Terre des Hommes Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland; and as a Research Officer at the Department of Public Health of Geneva.

Physician (specialized in  maternal and child healthcare and family planning) , senior trainer and social researcher working in development for the past 16 years with extensive experience in providing technical assistance to governmental and non-governmental organizations, community needs assessment, project design, monitoring and evaluation. Dr Samir has a thorough understanding of the socio- economic factors affecting health in the Arab region, and is a strong advocate for te provision of high quality services for women in the health sector. She has many years experience in reproductive health and sexuality education and counseling techniques for children, with a particular focus on the issue of female genital mutilation in Egypt. She is a social entrepreneur (Ashoka fellow), with excellent communication, analytical, networking and team working skills.  She has expertise in the areas of: training-of-trainer, coaching and counseling techniques, and has worked in different Arab countries  (Yemen, Lebanon and Jordan). Centre for Development Services, Near East Foundation:  http://www.neareast.org/main/cds/default.aspx

MD, Professor Iatamze Verulashvili  is director of the Women's Center, Georgia. She works to advance and promote sexual and reproductive health and rights  by bridging the gaps between women's issues, health  and human rights issues. She is the founding member of the Federation of European Menopause Society (FEMS), European Cervical Cancer Association (ECCA), and Central and Eastern European Women's Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ASTRA). She was the first person in Georgia to highlight the problem of trafficking and to establish a network of women's rights groups in the region for prevention of trafficking.  She was also instrumental in the creation of HIV/AIDS prevention programmes among youth and the development of youth friendly services in Georgia.  Prof Verulashvili  also works in the area of the prevention of trafficking and domestic violence and the protection of, and assistance to victims of trafficking and domestic violence.  She also developed and implemented a new curriculum in Post-Graduate Medicine, for programs for licensing and re-certification for health care providers. In 2006 she established the Euromedcenter (www.euromedcenter) which provides health services for sexual assault and trafficking victims.  Services provided include counseling, education, routine HIV testing, hot-line, face to face consultation, and gynecological examination. In addition, Prof. Verulashvili works on Human Trafficking legislation and Domestic Violence Legislation. Recent publications include the following  books, entitled, "Domestic Violence: The Health Sector Response", "Medical Aspects of Domestic Violence", "Reproductive  Rights and Health", "Impact of Trafficking on Reproductive Health”.  (www.womancenter.org.ge)

Rachel Jewkes is the Director of the MRC Gender & Health Research Unit in Pretoria and currently SVRI, secretary. She is a public health physician who has a background in epidemiology and medical anthropology. She has spent the last decade researching gender and sexuality in South Africa, contributing to the literature of epidemiology, medical anthropology, and health systems research. She is best known for her research on gender-based violence. In recent years she has been trying to understand the nature and dynamics of the intersections between gender inequality, gender-based violence and HIV. This involves both an understanding of and demonstrating how gender inequality increases risk of HIV infection, and investigating whether it is possible to prevent HIV infections through improving gender dimensions of relationships. Her major project at present is evaluating Stepping Stones and HIV prevention intervention which seeks to prevent HIV through reducing gender inequality. Gender and Health Research Unit, MRC South Africa.

Liz is a health specialist with over 12 years research, public policy and project management experience. She has worked for the Department's of Health in Western Australia and South Africa, has worked as a researcher at the Center for Health Policy, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; and was Senior Programme Manager for AMREF South Africa. Liz has a Post-graduate Degree in Psychology from Curtin University in Australia and a Masters in Science (Medicine) from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is currently the SVRI Programme Officer.