Kasey Brennan, MS
Kasey Brennan is the Assistant Director of the Laboratory of Environmental Precision Biosciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She graduated from Sacred Heart Academy, received her Bachelor of Science in biology from Tufts University, and obtained her Master of Science in epidemiology from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. With a background in molecular biology and epidemiology, her expertise is in applying wet lab molecular techniques to large-scale studies. She currently oversees numerous projects related to molecular epidemiology, epigenetics, mitochondriomics, cell-free DNA, and non-coding RNA.
Pilar Calva
Pilar Calva is an acclaimed international speaker, professor of bioethics, and physician with expertise in genetics, end-of-life coaching, and fertility/infertility.
Dr. Calva trained under Prof. Jerome Lejeune at the Hopital des Enfants Malades in Paris, France and received her certification in cytogenetics from Sorbonne University in 1987. She teaches at the Pontifical University of Mexico and the Catholic University of Dallas. Dr. Calva has served as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life (2002-2012), the Bioethics Council of the Mexican Bishops’ Commission for the Family (2004), the Pan-American Society of Bioethics, and several others societies. She has four children and a granddaughter.
drapilarcalva@gmail.com | +52155 9107 9720
Sr. Kathleen Mary Coonan, MA, ASCJ
Sr. Kathleen Mary Coonan, MA, ASCJ, is the principal of Sacred Heart Academy, a nationally recognized Catholic college preparatory school for young women in Hamden, Connecticut. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Duquesne University and a Master of Arts in administration and supervision from Manhattan College. Sr. Kathleen Mary has extensive experience as both a teacher and administrator at the elementary and secondary levels of education. She entered the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus after graduating from Sacred Heart Academy.
Radoslawa Jasik
Radosława Jasik is an internationally acclaimed pianist and performer. She began her musical education at the age of seven and then studied under Prof. Anna Górecka at the Karol Szymanowski State Music High School in Katowice, Poland. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Music from the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, Poland and a Master of Music and a Professional Studies Diploma both from the Mannes College-The New School for Music, New York. In 2018, she received the outstanding performer Steinway Award, the most recent recognition of a rich list of awards from North America, Asia, and Europe. At the 2018 MedConferece, Ms. Jasik will present a piano concert featuring pieces by Scarlatti, Schubert, Szymanowski, and Gershwin.
Melissa Moschella
Melissa Moschella is Assistant Professor of Medical Ethics at Columbia University and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received her Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Princeton University. Her book, To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education and Children’s Autonomy was published in 2016 by Cambridge University Press. Dr. Moschella speaks and writes on a variety of contemporary moral issues, including brain death, end-of-life ethics, parental rights, reproductive technologies, and conscience rights. Her articles have been published in scholarly journals as well as popular media outlets, including Bioethics, The Journal of Medical Ethics, The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, The American Journal of Jurisprudence, The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Daily News, and The Public Discourse.
Yvonne Parent, LPN
Yvonne Parent is a Registered Nurse at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She obtained her nursing diploma from Sprott Shaw College in Victoria. Her work includes medical and surgical acute care, palliative care, and rehab medical nursing. She is Corresponding Secretary and Founding Board Member of the Canadian National Association of Catholic Nurses. She is also a member of the CICIAMS Committee of Nurses and Medico-Social Assistants. She has participated in lectures and panel discussions by contributing her insights as a nurse into the experience of suffering.
Antonella Rastelli, MD
Antonella Rastelli, MD, is Associate Professor in the Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Rastelli obtained her MD at the University of Verona, Italy, in 1991, and shortly thereafter moved to Washington University for her residency in Internal Medicine, followed by a fellowship in Women’s Health in the Divisions of Bone and Mineral Diseases and Oncology. She focuses on bone health in women with breast cancer, and on post-transplant osteoporosis. At the 2018 MedConference, Dr. Rastelli will offer her presentation of her father, Dr. Giancarlo Rastelli, (1933–1970) a pioneer cardiac surgeon, scientist, and innovator who developed a novel surgical procedure that revolutionized the management of children with congenital heart disease.
Sibani Sengupta, PhD
Sibani Sengupta, Ph.D., is the Dean of Academic Affairs at Sacred Heart Academy, a nationally recognized Catholic college preparatory school for young women in Hamden, Connecticut. Dr. Sengupta earned BS and MS degrees from the University of Calcutta, India and a Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemistry from the University of Connecticut. In addition to her administrative responsibilities, she teaches Advanced Placement Biology, Human Gene discovery, and Microbiology. Dr. Sengupta previously served as chair of the science department at Sacred Heart Academy and has received numerous teaching awards.
John M. Stulak, MD
John M. Stulak, MD, is a Professor of Surgery in the Department of Cardiovascular surgery. His clinical focus includes management of coronary artery disease, especially multiple arterial revascularization and redo coronary artery bypass surgery, valvular heart disease, mechanical circulatory assistance, heart transplantation, surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation, and pericardiectomy.
Dr. Stulak currently serves as Surgical Core Clerkship Director in the Mayo Medical School, Program Director of the Advanced Cardiovascular Surgery Fellowship, Program Director of the Fellowship in Mechanical Circulatory Assistance and Heart Transplantation, Associate Program Director of the Thoracic Surgery Residency, and Program Director of the General Surgery Residency.
Sarah L. Timmapuri, MD, FACC
Dr. Sarah Timmapuri is a board-certified cardiologist and partner at Bergen Invasive Cardiovascular Consultants. She has been a full-time attending physician at the Hackensack University Medical Center (UMC) since 1997. She is the Chief Quality Informatics Officer for Hackensack UMC and Chief Clinical Information Officer at Hackensack Meridian Health. In this position, she has brought a clinical lens to information technology with a focus on quality.
Dr. Timmapuri is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Life is Great Global Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing medical and non-medical volunteers to underserved populations around the world. She is happily married to her husband of more than twenty-five years and enjoys her precious time with her eighteen-year-old daughter. Although she loves cooking, reading and photography, her passion lies with on-going charitable medical work and the delivery of high-quality patient-centered medical care.
Dr. Patrick Vinay
Dr. Patrick Vinay holds a B.A and an M.D. from the Université de Montréal. After two years of post-doctoral training at Oxford University under Professor Hans Krebs, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, he began a career in research at l'Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal. He is Pprofessor Emeritus of Medicine at the Université de Montréal. Throughout his 40-year career, Dr. Vinay has published more than 200 articles, mostly related to nephrology and kidney metabolism. Since 2004, he has focused his academic and clinical activities on palliative care. A talented administrator, he was President of the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec, Chief of the Department of Medicine at Notre-Dame Hospital and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at l'Université de Montréal for two terms. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and a knight of l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques de France.