Mr. Ramani Ranjan is the Program Head at Samvedna and is currently pursuing his PhD in Social Work at the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) in Mumbai. He has a Master’s in Social Work Practices from TISS. He has been working with the Bedia community since 2016.
Read MoreDr. Trupti Jhaveri Panchal, Chairperson of Samvedna, is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at TISS in Mumbai and is the Chairperson of Centre for Women Centered Social Work. She also serves as the Director of Special Cells for Women.
Read MoreVernon holds a PhD in Marketing. He has been conducting "social marketing" research in the area of human trafficking for over ten years.
Read MoreDr. Debbie Lassiter is a certified Heartmath Coach and Trainer with over 40 years of experience working with the severely traumatized. She is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Convergence Resource Center. Dr Lassiter is a sought-after trainer in the area of building personal resilience and managing stress.
Read MoreArmand King is the co-founder of the non-profit “Paving Great Futures” and author of Raised in Pimp City. He guides others out of criminal activity and domestic human sex trafficking. Armand is the Chair of the San Diego Gang Intervention and Prevention Commission Human Sex Trafficking Subcommittee.
Read MoreHeather Baker leads Public Consulting Group's child welfare and youth services practice, helping state and local agencies invest in programs, people, and technologies that improve the lives of children and families. She has spent the last three years focused on the implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act.
Read MoreMs. Brittany Barrios Hadaway serves as a CalOES research practitioner in the field of human exploitation and trafficking. Her primary task is to assist in the creation of a multi-day awareness courses.
Read MoreMr. Benjamin Thomas Greer serves as an expert in human trafficking, instructing/developing courses for law enforcement and emergency management personnel. He is currently enrolled at Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense/Security Master’s Program and serves as a Research Associate for the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Applied Research in Human Trafficking.
Read MoreDavid Corliss is the founder and Director of Peace-Work, a volunteer cooperative of statisticians and data scientists applying statistical methods to issue-driven advocacy. Human trafficking research is a major initiative at Peace-Work. Dr. Corliss is also a Research Scholar member of Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars (GAHTS).
Read MoreCheryl Csiky is Executive Director of IN OUR BACKYARD. As a child sex-trafficking survivor at ten years old, her experience compels others to see this atrocity and disrupt traffickers’ tactics and profits. Since 2011, she has worked from recovery to restoration. Her expertise leads volunteer and community prevention programs, including over 20,000 convenience stores.
Read MoreCharis Stanek is Sociologist-volunteer at Haiti Now where she contributes to survey design, interview guides, and protocols for addressing potential cases of abuse. She recently graduated with her MA in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago. She has a BA in psychology and sociology from Oberlin College.
Read MoreDr. Navdeep Kang is a psychologist and Chief Clinical Officer for BrightView, where the leads the development, implementation, and research of best-practices in addiction treatment. President and Mrs. Obama selected him for the Obama Foundation’s inaugural fellowship class for his leadership in treating addiction collaboratively across the healthcare system.
Read MoreJeanne Allert has a 14-year history providing long-term restorative care for sex trafficking victims nationally. She created the Institute for Shelter Care which conducts industry research and offers a training/mentorship program for start-up and existing trafficking shelters. Her doctoral dissertation is on familial trafficking in the U.S.
Read MoreGlenn Miles has 25 years’ experience working with children in difficult circumstances in Asia. He has pioneered 3 Non-Profits in Cambodia, and over the past ten years, he has focused on research on sexual exploitation particularly of young men in SE Asia. He is published in Dignity, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, and Journal of Modern Slavery.
Read MoreMaria del Carmen Rosales is an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying Health Promotion and Health Equity, with an interest in public health. Rosales is interested in research using community-engaged approaches to translate research-based findings to actionable solutions. She is looking forward to exploring career paths through research opportunities.
Read MoreNicole Hendry is a senior undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying Psychology and Gender & Women’s Studies. Her research interests include promoting the wellbeing of marginalized individuals, particularly along the lines of gender and intersectional feminism. Nicole anticipates continuing research in a PhD program related to this field.
Read MoreCaro Cruys is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Social Welfare program. Their research interests center on the qualitative experiences of queer and transgender youth and young adults, with particular interest in supporting their sexual and relational well-being and improving their experiences in state systems of care.
Read MoreLara B. Gerassi is an assistant professor at the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research uses an anti-oppressive, intersectional approach to enhance the wellbeing of people who are involved in the sex trade, at risk of sex trafficking, and/or have been sex trafficked.
Read MoreCharles Hounmenou is an Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). His research areas include human trafficking and human rights. His most recent research focused private investigators’ work about human trafficking. In March 2020, Hounmenou received the UIC’s Rising Star Award in Social Sciences Research. In 2018, he received the International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference’s Influential Scholar Award for his work on trafficking.
Read MoreSarah Ladd is the Human Trafficking Child Protection Coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. She works to improve the child welfare response to trafficking. Sarah is an attorney with fifteen years’ experience working with crime victims and is on the steering committee of the National Child Welfare Anti-Trafficking Collaborative.
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