Hope is president of Phoenix Zones Initiative. Over two decades, as a double board-certified internal medicine, preventive medicine, and public health physician, Hope has cared for individuals who have experienced displacement and violence, while she has also worked on policy to address structural inequities and human, animal, and environmental exploitation. Her public health expertise covers climate change, hunger, chronic diseases, emerging infectious diseases, poverty, forced migration, and conflict.

Her work across six continents has included the development of medical, public health, and educational resources for nongovernmental organizations, national governments, and intergovernmental organizations. As a result of her work in these areas, Hope was named a Humanitarian of the Year in the American College of Physicians in 2017.

Hope has authored highly cited publications and has spoken at academic institutions and through media outlets across the globe. Her work has been featured through Scientific American, HuffPost, the Times Literary Supplement, the BBC, Voice of America, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), and other international news outlets.

Many of Hope’s publications, including her book, Phoenix Zones: Where Strength Is Born and Resilience Lives, focus on ethics, global public health, and the links between human, animal, and planetary health and wellbeing. In 2019, she co-founded Phoenix Zones Initiative.

Hope received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Southern California, a doctor of medicine degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, and a master’s degree in public health from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She completed a medical internship at Yale University/Griffin Hospital, a preventive medicine residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and an internal medicine residency at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

She served as faculty at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and Georgetown University School of Medicine, and she now serves as a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

Nik is a board-certified anesthesiologist. He has served on several hospital committees throughout his career and has led anesthesiology teams for Operation Walk, a charitable organization that provides joint replacement surgeries for patients in the United States and abroad. He has staffed free back-to-school clinics for children in the northern Virginia area, and he has also volunteered with a national organization that helps military veterans.

Over the years, Nik has provided philanthropic support to a number of organizations focused on the promotion of human rights, animal protection, and compassionate conservation. As a result, he has become increasingly interested in the combination of grassroots action, systems-level change, and measurable impact.

Nik is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, and the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and he completed his physician anesthesiology training with an advanced clinical track in pediatrics at the State University of New York Downstate Medical School in Brooklyn, New York. He is currently a partner at an independent anesthesiology practice.

Kavita is a board-certified preventive medicine physician. After completing medical school at the University of Florida College of Medicine, she worked in Washington, DC. Kavita later completed a preventive medicine residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and she also practiced occupational medicine for several years at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

After a fellowship in public health practice at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Kavita joined the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment. She works with the Worker Health Protection Program, joining several other Commoner Center physicians in reviewing medical screening results from former and current workers at US Department of Energy nuclear facilities.

Kavita first became aware of the interdependence of human-animal-planetary health as an undergraduate student, and she carried her interest in this area into her medical studies. She has also completed the chef training program at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, which specializes in plant-based, health-supportive cooking.

Sonia is director of International Students and Programs at California State University, Bakersfield, where she is also on the faculty in the Department of Biology. Her responsibilities include international student and scholar services, cultivation of community partnerships, leadership on campus immigration policies and procedures, and coordination with the US Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security; she also collaborates with the university’s Title IX Coordinator. She is chair of the Behavioral Health Board of Kern County.

Prior to her current role, Sonia served as a student programs advisor at the University of Southern California, and as an adult school teacher and substitute teacher for elementary, junior high, and high school students in the Compton Unified School District.

Sonia serves as a member of the Kern County Behavioral Health Board, a founding member and treasurer for the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society Theta Theta Chapter (for international scholars), and as a board member for the California State University, Bakersfield, Center for Global Outreach, and the Alumni Association.

She is a graduate of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, and she received a master’s degree in public administration from California State University, Bakersfield.

John is currently Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico and Faculty Affiliate of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University. 

The roots of his professional path began as a youth concerned about the mentally debilitated lives of older adults and the dearth of useful behavioral and medical interventions available for treatment. In college in the 1960s, he became attracted to the possibilities of scientific advancement promised by a rigorously researched experimental psychology.

In that context, he earned a PhD in psychology and experimental psychopathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was there he was introduced to psychological research using nonhuman primates as research subjects.

However, as his experience progressed, he became increasingly concerned about the validity of animal research and the soundness of its ethical foundation.

He followed up his concerns with a clinical postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and later, a fellowship in Bioethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the National Institutes of Health.

Since then, his scholarship reveals how research traditions, including animal research, and a narrow conception of health can stagnate progress and harm a scientist’s development of an ethical identity.     

Marsha has been involved with nonprofits for more than two decades, including as a co-founder and board member for several organizations. Her work for nonprofits has included writing and editing, curriculum and resource development, social media and content marketing, program and event development and administration, and education and outreach. Before coming to Phoenix Zones Initiative, Marsha worked for 12 years in a variety of roles for the Institute for Humane Education.

In addition to her nonprofit work, Marsha has extensive experience as an educator, having taught at the PreK-graduate levels and in adult education, including online courses for social-change educators and advocates. She also has been a humane educator for more than 15 years and has more than 20 years’ experience working in school and public libraries.

As well as undergraduate degrees in dance and English and teaching certificates in secondary education and K-12 library media—all from Wichita State University, Marsha has an MLS in library and information management from Emporia State University and a humane education certificate through the Institute for Humane Education.

Michelle Blake has worked for three decades as an advocate, nonprofit consultant, journalist, writer, and editor in the fields of social justice, education, animal protection, and conservation. She has drafted and promoted successful legislation in her home state of Oregon and in multiple western states.

As an advocate for diverse social and environmental issues, Michelle has taught mindfulness meditation for incarcerated men, served on the founding boards of two successful animal protection nonprofits, and served on the board of her local chapter of the NAACP. She currently serves on the board of the Humane Voters Oregon PAC, is VP of a farmed animal sanctuary, and serves on the Racial Justice Coordinating Committee. Coming from a family of two-time gun violence survivors, she’s also an active gun safety advocate. Michelle holds a BA in Communications from California State University at Chico and an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Marylhurst University.

Catherine Broussard is a marketing and communications professional with a diverse background in media relations, marketing research, public relations, and nonprofit communications. Her experience was honed while developing strategies and programs for nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and education organizations.

Catherine graduated from Golden Gate University in San Francisco with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Ensuring disadvantaged young people have an opportunity to graduate from high school and pursue a higher education is a passion, and she worked in this arena for more than 10 years. She is proud of her volunteer work writing a comprehensive communications plan for a nonprofit board so that they could improve the lives of at-risk youth, and developing a successful statewide youth recognition program. In her spare time, she hikes all over Georgia with an Atlanta-based hiking group and travels abroad.

Miguel is an economist from El Salvador, with experience in research applied to social sciences and public health using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. He has assisted research projects working with Tilburg University and his alma mater, Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas.

Miguel has mostly been involved in studies regarding Salvadoran history (especially civil war), memory, and migration. His work has focused on studying rural and vulnerable populations; collecting remembrances, stories, and opinions; and comparing oral histories with history books, newspapers, official documents, and data. He has also worked on analyses of the effectiveness of aid programs paid with international funds in El Salvador, and on collecting, organizing, and preparing financial data from large, medium, and small companies in El Salvador for the Salvadoran General Directorate of Statistics.

Since 2015, Miguel has volunteered at Centro Monseñor Romero, an institution dedicated to the preservation of Salvadoran historical memory. After a couple of years in this role, he began visiting communities to help small development initiatives focused on education and subsistence. He developed further experience in social entrepreneurship during an Erasmus+ exchange at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University in Lithuania in 2017, and in São Paulo, Brazil, during a volunteer exchange program in 2018.

Ignacio is a multimedia artist undergraduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design (Vancouver, Canada) and a teacher. He is passionate about taking complex ideas and data and finding the best way of delivering them to bigger audiences. In El Salvador, Ignacio’s focus has been on making ideas and information of democracy, anti-corruption, gender equality, and social and environmental issues more accessible through various platforms including independent newspapers, drag queen art history talk shows, as well as animation and video work for nonprofits. He has recently become a partner at sandia.work, a platform designed to contribute to the creation of a healthy and sustainable creative industry in El Salvador.

Ayanna has committed her career to addressing the needs of underserved communities. Trained in preventive medicine, public health, and internal medicine, Ayanna’s professional time is divided between working in an outpatient clinic and serving as the principal of Community Health Cooperative, a consulting firm that assists organizations with program design, implementation, evaluation, and other activities associated with community-based health programming.

Ayanna previously served as chair of the Gulf Region Health Outreach Program Coordinating Committee, which coordinated a five-year, $105 million initiative developed as part of the Deepwater Horizon Medical Settlement and designed to strengthen primary and behavioral healthcare services in oil spill-impacted communities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle.

Ayanna received a bachelor of science degree from Xavier University of Louisiana and a doctor of medicine degree from Meharry Medical College. She completed a combined residency program in internal medicine and preventive medicine at Griffin Hospital in Connecticut, during which time she received a master’s degree in public health, with an emphasis in health management, from Yale University. Ayanna is a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine and she was a Marshall Memorial Fellow.

Elena is a veterinarian with a focus in animal welfare, shelter animal populations, veterinary ethics, and animal behavior. She is a faculty member at Long Island University College of Veterinary Medicine where she is an assistant professor of animal welfare and behavior. She also serves on the university’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Elena also assists in teaching veterinary ethics to second year veterinary students at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

In 2007, Elena made a career change into veterinary medicine, and specifically shelter medicine. She received a doctor of veterinary medicine degree in 2013 from Ross University in Saint Kitts, where she received Ross University’s Eliza Anna Grier full tuition diversity scholarship. She was also one of the inaugural recipients to earn Maddie’s Professional Certificate in Shelter Medicine from the University of Florida’s online certification program in 2013.

After vet school, Elena completed a Small Animal Shelter Medicine and Surgery Internship and a Shelter Research Fellowship at Colorado State University (CSU). Elena then received her PhD in Veterinary Clinical Sciences from CSU in 2019. Elena is also the 2017 recipient of the first Winn Feline Foundation (now EveryCat Health Foundation) and Miller Trust New Feline Investigator Award, which supported her grant to assess novel non-invasive methods of measuring chronic stress in cats. While Elena resided in Colorado, she was the medical director and veterinarian at a feline nonprofit organization that focused on trap-neuter-return (TNR), the care and sterilization of community cats, and the provision of feline veterinary services to low-income communities.

Prior to veterinary school, Elena worked and volunteered with nonprofit, conservation, and healthcare organizations for marginalized populations. With a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in art photography, she worked at various inpatient and other psychiatric facilities in New York City. After moving to Colorado, she switched gears and worked for a large international conservation organization and subsequently obtained a master of science degree in ecology from CSU where she studied the effects of rural development on grassland bird populations.

Elena has authored and co-authored numerous publications in the veterinary and psychology fields. She has also received multiple scholarships and awards to support her shelter medicine work, including the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) scholarship in 2013 and a Michael Lopez Ferlin Memorial Scholarship from Best Friends Animal Society in 2012.

She is currently pursuing board certification in the American College of Animal Welfare (ACAW). Elena has spent many hours, days, and weeks volunteering at shelters, at spay and neuter clinics—including feral cat clinics—and at low-cost or no-cost veterinary clinics in Mexico, Montana, and Colorado.

Kevin is an attorney and entrepreneur and serves as Chief Executive Officer of multiple companies. He is involved with several nonprofit organizations, including Phoenix Zones Initiative, as a legal and financial advisor. Kevin graduated with honors from Duke University and Oklahoma City University School of Law, Formerly a mathematics and physics teacher, Kevin is passionate about education, improving the environment, prison reform, and advocacy for people and animals. Kevin enjoys golf, writing, singing, songwriting, running, and spending time with his family.