Dr. Maria Simbra is an Emmy award-winning medical journalist, who brings a unique set of skills to her position as medical reporter on KDKA-TV. A member of the KDKA news team since 2002, this physician and formally trained journalism professional provides expert and informative reports on the health care issues that affect our hometown residents the most. Dr. Simbra has reported on a variety of timely health care topics – from new medical technology, to trends in health care, to diseases that touch our community — with both insight and empathy. She has been recognized numerous times for her work including an Emmy award in 2008 and was named on Pittsburgh Magazine’s “40 under 40″ list. Dr. Simbra has been a clinical assistant professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and was in private practice neurology prior to that. She also teaches medical journalism to both journalism and medical students at Pittsburgh area universities.
cityLIVE! panelist
Dr. Vonda Wright
Dr. Vonda Wright has gained national prominence as an expert in active aging and dramatically changes the lives of patients and athletes over 40 everyday. Her approach to living vital, active and thriving lives is praised by medical experts, fitness gurus and adult onset exercisers alike. One of only a few female Orthopaedic surgeons in the country, Dr. Wright specializes in sports medicine for athletes over 40 and is a rising star in academia and popular media. She is the creator and director of the Performance and Research Initiative for Masters Athletes (PRIMA); a one of a kind program for maximizing the performance and minimizing injury in recreational exercisers over 40 and elite masters athletes alike. Dr. Wright’s first book, “Fitness After 40: How to stay strong at any age” was enthusiastically received and sold into its third printing before reaching book store shelves.
Hugh Herr
Hugh Herr is Associate Professor within MIT’s Program of Media Arts and Sciences, and The Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. His primary research objective is to apply principles of biomechanics and neural control to guide the designs of wearable robotic systems for human rehabilitation and physical augmentation. In the area of human augmentation, Prof. Herr has employed cross bridge models of skeletal muscle to the design and optimization of a new class of human-powered mechanisms that amplify endurance for cyclic anaerobic activities. He has also built elastic shoes that increase metabolic economy for running, and leg exoskeletons for walking load-carrying augmentation. In the area of assistive technology, Prof. Herr’s group has developed powered orthotic and prosthetic mechanisms for use as assistive interventions in the treatment of leg disabilities caused by amputation, stroke, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis. Prof. Herr received the Heinz Award for Technology in 2007.
Dr. Alan J. Russell
Dr. Alan J. Russell, Ph.D. is a Distinguished University Professor of Surgery and the Founding Director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Further, he holds positions as Professor in the departments of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering and Rehabilitation Science and Technology. In addition to his appointments at the University, Dr. Russell is the Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative, as well as a consultant for UPMC’s International and Commercial Services Division. He has founded three biotechnology companies; ICX Agentase LLC, NanoSembly LLC, and O2Cyte LLC. For the last 15 years, Dr. Russell’s work has impacted fields as diverse as chemical and polymer synthesis to tissue engineering and homeland defense. In a series of discoveries Dr. Russell’s laboratory has found how to meld the synthetic and biological worlds. Dr. Russell has given more than 250 national and international invited lecture and holds 14 patents, with 23 additional pending patents.
Jim Russell
Jim Russell, co-founder and chief strategist of the Pittsburgh Expatriate Network (PEN) is a talent migration analyst tracing how Rust Belt refugees are responsible for economic development around the world. He archives his journey at his blog, Burgh Diaspora. Jim’s interest in the move to improve stems from a nomadic lost decade spent hitchhiking around the United States and Canada. Among his itinerant jobs was a position as a set dresser on the film “Ethan Frome”, starring Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette. With the proceeds from that experience, he bought a one-way ticket to Athens, Greece. How he managed to return to the States is another story for another time.
regina koetters
Regina Koetters is driven to unleash the unrealized potential of the country’s riverfront Rust Belt cities through transportation oriented and strategic redevelopment, and chose Pittsburgh over every other city in the nation to begin her work. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, she logged ten years of active duty between her studies in naval architecture at the United States Naval Academy and progressive real estate development and business at the University of Michigan.
During her naval career, she managed operations of the largest air base in Iraq; led airborne maritime patrol and reconnaissance missions throughout the western hemisphere, and facilitated maritime security and economic development projects in western Africa. Since relocating to Pittsburgh, she has championed several initiatives for sustainable development projects in downtown Pittsburgh and joined a public-private team endeavoring to bring passenger rail service to the Allegheny Riverfront.