Posts in 2023
Preeti Panda, MD

Dr. Preeti Panda is a pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Stanford University and a GAHTS Research Scholar. She has worked with trafficked and at-risk youth for over 11-years, with involvement in clinical care, research, advocacy, and education. She earned her BS from Cornell University and MD from Albany Medical College.

Read More
Rose Kalemba

Rose Kalemba is a writer and advocate with lived experience of trafficking. As an advocate and educator, she highlights individual and community- level approaches to violence prevention. She has worked with organizations as a consultant and collaborator and has been trained on healthcare practices for trauma survivors.

Read More
Kylee Gregg, LSW

Kylee Gregg is a lived experience expert, educator, and community organizer for anti-trafficking, mental health, harm reduction, LGBTQ+, and feminist initiatives. Kylee has developed anti-trafficking curriculums and assessments for healthcare providers, K-12 schools, higher- education institutions, and community resources. Kylee is a crisis mental health professional with the Zepf Center.

Read More
2023Anna SchrammKylee Gregg
Rita O'Brien, LLMSW

Rita O'Brien is a survivor and educator with a passion for justice to educate in the communities that she was trafficked from. Rita got her Bachelors at Eastern Michigan University and went on to Western Michigan University to her Masters with a Trauma focus.

Read More
A. Carli Richie-Zavaleta, DrPH, MAIPS, MASP

Dr. A. Carli Richie-Zavaleta is a research fellow at the Center for Justice and an adjunct faculty for the Sociology department at the Point Loma Nazarene University. She graduated from the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University with a doctoral degree in public health. Her academic and professional background also encompasses sociological practices and human rights.

Read More
Anastasia Lynge, MSW

Anastasia Lynge (they/she) is a mental health clinician and research consultant working within to build tangible solutions to the problem of human trafficking. As a lived experience expert, they combine their first-hand knowledge of the issue with 7 years of professional experience as a direct service provider and anti- violence advocate.

Read More
Matthew Rosenberg, LMSW

Matthew Rosenberg is a psychotherapist with 28 years of clinical experience assessing and treating victims of sexual abuse, adolescent and adult sexual abusers, paraphiliacs, sex addicts, and sexually reactive children. He is the author of “Understanding, Assessing, and Treating Sexual Offenders: Tools for the therapist”. He is also an expert witness.

Read More
James Prager, MSW

James Prager is a member of Northern Ohio REACH. He was convicted of a sex offense in 1991. Today, he utilizes his skills and experiences to mentor and pursue restorative justice principles. He has had many conversations to create the opportunity for a comprehensive view of promoting healing.

Read More
Elda Nduka Okolo-Obasi, MSc

Mr. Elda Nduka Okolo-Obasi holds a BSc in Agricultural Economics from Federal University of Technology Owerri and an MSc in Development Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Enugu Campuses. His current research interests include economic and social impact evaluation of policies and projects of the public and private sectors in developing countries.

Read More
Joseph Ikechukwu Uduji, PhD

Professor Joseph Ikechukwu Uduji holds a PhD in Marketing and Public Administration and master’s degrees in Marketing, Public Relations, Business Administration, and Public Administration. He is currently the Head of the Department of Marketing at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His current research interests include social justice, social responsibility, and inequality nexus in developing countries.

Read More
Cristian Eduardo

Cristian Eduardo is an advocate, speaker, and educator for anti- trafficking initiatives and for immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights. He is a survivor of international and domestic sex and labor trafficking, a Mexican immigrant, HIV+, member of the LGBTQ+ community, and speaks openly about mental health challenges he has faced that result from trauma.

Read More
Shobana Powell, DSW, LCSW

Dr. Shobana Powell (she/her/hers) is the CEO & Founder of Shobana Powell Consulting. She is a bilingual Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an expert in the anti-trafficking and gender-based violence field with a focus on the intersectionality of gender-based violence, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ rights.

Read More
Gail Dines, PhD

Dr. Gail Dines, Professor Emerita of Sociology and president of the non- profit Culture Reframed, has been researching and writing about the porn industry for three decades. Dr. Dines is author of numerous books and articles including Pornland: How Porn Has Hijacked Our Sexuality, which has been translated into five languages.

Read More
2023Anna SchrammGail Dines
Sara Woldehanna

Sara Woldehanna is a director of research and evaluation at Polaris, a national anti‐trafficking organization. Sara is a social science researcher and evaluator, with more than 20 years of experience. Sara has a Masters in Applied Anthropology, a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, and a Bachelors in Physics.

Read More
Michael Chen

After working to connect survivors with local resources on the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Michael Chan now works with Polaris's Learning, Innovation, and Data Systems team as a Systems and Data Analyst. He currently assists on various projects including the National Survivor Study, monitoring and evaluation, and the survivor consultant database.

Read More
Ashley Wade, BA

Ashley Wade worked as a survivor support worker and completed her Honors Thesis at the University of North Carolina analyzing the United Kingdom’s fulfillment of survivor healthcare needs. She was awarded Best Thesis in Global Studies and will attend medical school at Mount Sinai to continue abolitionist work in healthcare.

Read More
2023Anna SchrammAshley Wade
Claudine O'Leary, BA

Claudine O'Leary is an independent consultant providing training on youth and the sex trades. She draws on her own life experience and over 30 years of youth advocacy to inform her work. Claudine is the co-creator of the “Building a Strong Team Response” and “Finding Your Strengths” engagement tools.

Read More
Rebekah Dettmann, MSW, APSW

Rebekah Dettmann serves as the Anti- Human Trafficking Coordinator at the Milwaukee Child Advocacy Center. She has facilitated over 180 multi- disciplinary team staffings, addressing the complex needs of high risk and trafficked youth. Rebekah is the co- creator of the “Building a Strong Team Response” and “Finding Your Strengths” engagement tools.

Read More
Amanda Noble, PhD

Dr. Amanda Noble is the Manager of the Research & Evaluation department at Covenant House Toronto and an Assistant-Professor, Status Only at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. Dr. Noble is also a Community Scholar at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Read More
Danielle Thomas, EdD, MA

Danielle Thomas has her doctorate degree in Traumatology and has extensively researched child trafficking in nonmetropolitan communities. She currently works as the Child Sex Trafficking Regional Navigator for Maryland’s Eastern Shore where she provides long term case management to suspected and identified victims of trafficking.

Read More