Daniel Huesman is an experienced mental health clinician in the Toledo, Ohio community. Dan has utilized his years of connection with the community health system to coordinate the mental health exhibits for the IHTSJ Conference for the past 7 years.
Read MoreDr. Arvindhan Natarajan has published and presented on the use of art as method. He is a self-trained sketch artist who uses art as a way to investigate empathy, grief, and social work engagement. This is Dr. Natarajan's ninth year of bringing art and arts-based research to the IHTSJ Conference.
Read MoreWhile attending undergrad at The University of Toledo, Hanna Palmer-Tesema shared mutual friends with the late Sierah Joughin, a fellow student who was kidnapped and murdered in 2016. Her story has led to legal changes and reform, preventing cases like hers from happening to others. As this year’s IHTSJC coordinator of art exhibits, Hanna hopes that every attendee finds a story that resonates with them that can assist them in their journey toward justice and healing.
Read MoreKelly Amend is currently the Preventing and Addressing Child Trafficking (PACT) Project Central Valley Regional Coordinator at the Child and Family Policy Institute of California. She has held various administrative positions within the anti-trafficking field working with law enforcement and service providers since 2014.
Read MoreEvelyn Gonzalez has a BS in criminology from California State University Fresno. She is currently the Outreach Coordinator for Fresno EOC Central Valley Against Human Trafficking program. She has been working with victims of human trafficking since 2013.
Read MoreAmy Ashcraft is a social worker with the Department of Veterans Affairs and co-leader of the human trafficking prevention and education committee. She is pursuing her PhD in Social Work and Criminal Justice at Walden University. Her research is focused on human trafficking identification in the community and healthcare setting.
Read MoreKatie Papke is a social worker with the Department of Veteran Affairs and leader of the human trafficking prevention and education committee. Katie is a Social Work Program Professor at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Katie has her own private practice and works with survivors of human trafficking.
Read MoreJustine Duyst currently works as a post-doctoral fellow at VA San Diego Healthcare System following her graduation from Fuller Graduate School of Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy in June. Her dissertation project involved utilizing projective assessment to identify strengths and resiliency factors in adolescent survivors of commercial sex trafficking.
Read MoreKimberly Hogan is an Assistant Professor at The University of Southern Mississippi School of Social Work and a Co-Director of the Southern Miss Center for Human Trafficking Research and Training. Her research work spans the prevention, detection, identification, and treatment of minor and adult sex trafficking victims.
Read MoreDr. Donna Sabella is the Executive Director of Delaware’s Anti-Trafficking Action Council and a board-certified psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner who worked in corrections and saw firsthand how some of those who were incarcerated were being trafficked. She is a member of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, the American Correctional Association, and the Global Association of Human Trafficking Scholars.
Read MoreDr. Kirsten Havig is a visiting research specialist at the Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work at University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Her research interests include trauma and posttraumatic growth; social welfare policy and practice, with an emphasis on child welfare; and social work education.
Read MoreDr. Neely Mahapatra is an Associate Professor in the Division of Social Work at University of Wyoming, Laramie. Her research interests are to collaborate and develop best practices and address the needs of victims/survivors of human trafficking in frontier Wyoming and in the U.S.
Read MoreAmy Joy, founder of Human Trafficking Education Seminars, has spent the past decade helping survivors of sex trafficking. She has developed educational programs on childhood trauma, dissociative identity disorder, and its impact on the developing person. Amy is the author of Human Trafficking 101, Write Your Story, and Him, Me, and V.
Read MoreCrystal Bennett is the CEO and founder of THRYVE LLC. She is an educator, advocate, survivor, and self- proclaimed thriver! For the past 25 years, she has been driven by her personal experiences of familial trafficking to raise awareness of the disparities experienced by minoritized and marginalized communities to promote healing and opportunities to move from surviving to thriving.
Read MoreDani Mills is the Senior Manager of Outreach Services with Our Place Peel. Dani oversees operations of, nCourage – Peel’s Anti-Human Trafficking Integrated Service Hub. Dani develops and coordinates partnerships and pathways to increase access to dedicated services and supports for victims/survivors and individuals at- risk of human sex trafficking.
Read MoreDaniela Peterka-Benton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Justice Studies at Montclair State University. She is also the Academic Director of Montclair State's Global Center on Human Trafficking. Dr. Peterka- Benton's research interests center around transnational crimes including human trafficking and human smuggling, right-wing terrorism and extremism, and misinformation.
Read MoreAnne Russ is a Human Factors graduate student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She is actively involved with a recovery center for sexual abuse and sex trafficking victims local to Miami, Florida. Her interest in human trafficking research is motivated by her experience as a former flight attendant.
Read MoreDr. Alex Rister is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Her research and community leadership focus on human trafficking awareness. Alex is a prior University of Central Florida Francis Bok Human Trafficking Awareness Fellow and serves on the Junior League of Greater Orlando’s Human Trafficking Awareness Committee.
Read MoreJohn Pizzuro is the CEO of Raven, a 501c4 whose mission is transforming the nation's Response to Child Exploitation. John is a former Internet Crimes Against Children Commander and he has created framework for other countries and consulted with governments and organizations on child exploitation and how to protect children.
Read MoreRhonelle Bruder is a Research Trainee at Women's College Research Institute, Women's College Hospital and a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Her research focuses on lived experiences of adolescent and adult women who have been sex trafficked in Canada.
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