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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

Mary Anne Burke, Health Analyst/Statistician, Global Forum for Health Research, Geneva, with responsibility for Resource Flows for Research for Health and Equity portfolios, and Assistant Professor Department of Sociology & Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (OISE/UT). Career positions include:
Director of Research, The Roeher Institute, York University, Toronto; Coordinator of the Gender-based Analysis (GBA) Initiative and Senior Policy Analyst, Health Canada;  Senior Analyst, Statistics Canada; Founding team member and editor of Canadian Social Trends, Statistics Canada; Policy Analyst, Status of Women Canada; Social Statistician, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, Italy.
Published widely in the areas of public policy, social conditions and human rights. Developed Gender-based Analysis (GBA) tools and processes for the Government of Canada, and tools for studying the inclusiveness of public policies programmes and services. Recently developed the "BIAS FREE Framework", an analytical tool for examining and eliminating biases in health research that derive from social hierarchies based on gender, ability, race, age, class, caste, etc., with Margrit Eichler, Sociology & Equity Studies in Education OISE/UT.
Current work in this area, with the support of the Global Forum for Health Research, includes the development of publications and training curricula to encourage applications of the BIAS FREE Framework to enhance equity in health research. Also undertaking work focused on the tracking of global expenditures on research for health, aimed at promoting a more adequate allocation of resources to research for the health needs of low- and middle- income countries and to neglected populations and areas of research on health and how it is created and sustained. Global Forum for Health Research

Dr. Nata Duvvury is Director, Gender Violence and Rights at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) based in Washington, DC. She works extensively on domestic violence, HIV /AIDS and violence, women's property and inheritance rights and issues of gender equity and peacebuilding. Her current work also includes developing a framework for estimation of costs of violence. She led a multi-site research on links between women's property and inheritance rights and domestic violence including physical and sexual violence within the marital relationship. She has also developed a methodological framework for estimating cost of intimate partner violence and is currently implementing a multi-country study estimating costs of intimate partner violence at household and community levels. International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)

Mary Ellsberg is a Senior Advisor on Gender, Violence, and Human Rights at PATH, based in Washington, D.C. as well as Director of PATH’s Nicaragua office.  She coordinates the Inter-American Alliance for Gender Violence Prevention and Health, InterCambios, housed at PATH (www.alianzaintercambios.org). Dr. Ellsberg is a member of the Core Research Team of the WHO Multi-Country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence, and has co-authored numerous articles on the prevalence and impact of domestic violence on the health of women and children in Nicaragua, Ethiopia, and Indonesia, as well as ethical and methodological aspects of violence research. Together with Lori Heise, she authored the recent publication by PATH and WHO entitled Researching Violence Against Women: A Practical Guide for Researchers and Advocates. (www.path.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

Nduku is the Director Liverpool VCT, Care & Treatment (LVCT) Kenya. She has extensive experience, knowledge and practical skills in policy, planning and delivery of Sexual Violence Care services particularly in the context of HIV.  Her research work in the area of Sexual Violence provided evidence for the development of public health facility Post Rape Care services that are currently offered in 13 public health facilities in Kenya, having provided care to 1,400 survivors in the last 2 years.  Nduku has published on sexual violence issues and also 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.  Her areas of interest include operations research for HIV counselling, testing, treatment and care services in the health sector, with a focus on gender issues.  She has expertise in design and management of qualitative research programmes and currently provides leadership to a team of 10 involved in 4 different operational studies. 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 20 years of experience in health care delivery, research and policy. Her experience spans Africa, Latin America and some parts of Asia. For the last 10 years her work has increasingly focused on reproductive health, women's health and gender in health. She has been responsible for gender and women's health work in WHO since 1994 in different capacities and developed the Organization's work on violence against women. She is coordinator of the WHO Multi-Country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence Against Women, a multi-million dollar initiative involving research in 8 countries in Asia, Latin American and Africa. WHO Department of Gender, Women and Health

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.