Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE, FAAP is a board-certified pediatrician, executive, keynote speaker, Chief Medical Officer, author, TV contributor, and mother to two. She is focused on building solutions in prevention, advising start-ups, and innovating health care. Swanson's work in health translation and innovation began in 2009 when she started Seattle Mama Doc and later founded Digital Health in 2013 at Seattle Children's Hospital to bring patient and family co-designed solutions to health care delivery. She led a team building innovation and digital tools in health care communication from 2013 to 2019. She is now leading and advising start-ups, global companies, and health care organizations interested in scaling digital health solutions.
Dr. Swanson is a prominent advocate of evidence-based medicine and prevention. She pioneered new ways to revolutionize health communications by using social and digital media to bridge the gap between parents and doctors. As CMO for SpoonfulOne, Dr. Swanson is leading efforts to foster conversations around the importance of early and consistent inclusion of potential allergens in the diet.
Dr. Ching-Ling (Ellen) Lien (she/her) is an associate professor at the Department of Surgery, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine of University of Southern California.
Her laboratory is part of the Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine Program of the Saban Research Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). She graduated from National Taiwan University with a major in Zoology. Dr. Lien received her Ph.D. at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas under the mentorship of Dr. Eric Olson and did her postdoctoral training at Children’s Hospital, Boston and Harvard Medical School.
At the Saban Research Institute of CHLA, Dr. Lien’s research interest is to understand the molecular mechanisms of heart regeneration in animals such as zebrafish that can regenerate naturally. She will apply the knowledge from studying zebrafish heart regeneration to design therapeutic strategies for adult and pediatric human heart diseases. A more recent research direction is to use induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to model human diseases. She has published 50 papers in many high impact journals and has been continuously funded for her research on zebrafish heart development and regeneration by NIH (NHLBI).
Dr. Amanda Little-Richardson is an OB/GYN frightening to improve maternal health and reduce racial disparities in obstetric care. Her life story and passions were featured on the Netflix documentary, Lenox Hill. She earned her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine and a master of public health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She currently works with Kaiser in San Jose.
Current resident physician Madalyn Nguyen (@themadmusings, she/her) is seeking to demystify the medical field, one post at a time. Studying to become a dermatologist, Madalyn has created a loyal following focusing on beauty, skincare health, and taking a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to become a medical professional.
Frequently posting vlogs on the life of a medical resident and what the day-to-day of working in a hospital is like, Madalyn has created a dedicated fanbase focused on the education and betterment of health systems in America.