Respiratory Disease and Care

Grishma Desai is multifaceted Scientist and Quality Manager at Grignard Company LLC with experience in Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR), wastewater mineral removal and US EPA Pesticide Testing and Regulations. She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Biotechnology from Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. During her eight years at Grignard Company, she has led multiple R&D efforts in new product development as well as regulatory compliance for products.  In the past two years, Ms. Desai’s work has focused on developing, testing and obtaining regulatory approvals for Grignard Pure® – an airborne antimicrobial effective against MS2 Bacteriophage, a surrogate for the SARS-CoV-2 as well as other bioaerosols. Ms. Desai worked closely with Dr Katherine Ratliff and her team at the US EPA Office of Research and Development to evaluate the efficacy of Grignard Pure® in reducing airborne virus concentrations using a large-scale test chamber and a standardized testing approach. Ms. Desai recently submitted a paper titled “The efficiency of Grignard Pure to inactivate airborne SARS-CoV-2 surrogate” to a peer reviewed journal detailing the testing conducted on Grignard Pure at independent testing labs.

Nightingale Syabbalo is a Pulmonologist, and Clinical Respiratory Physiologist by training, and obtained his postgraduate training at St. George’s Hospital Medical School, University of London, UK. He was trained by one of the international distinguished Respirologists of our times. Nightingale has worked as an academician, Consultant Physician, and Clinical Researcher in several counties, including Canada, Kuwait, Oman, South Africa, and Zambia. He has published extensively in high-impact medical journals, and is an Editorial Board member of twenty-two journals in Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine; and a reviewer of four journals in Thoracic Medicine, Respiratory Research, and Internal Medicine. Prof. Syabbalo’s current area of research focuses on the role of interleukins in the pathophysiology and treatment of severe asthma. He has also interested in the mechanisms of interleukins-1β in the pathogenesis and treatment of pericardial syndromes.

Gediminas “Gedi” Mainelis is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, USA. He has a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Vilnius University, Lithuania, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Health from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. His research focuses on various aspects of bioaerosol science, including sampling and analysis methods, exposure assessment, and airborne microbiomes. Over the past years, his research expanded to investigate exposures to manufactured nanoparticles and explore indoor air issues. Several of his current projects focus on COVID-19 issues. His research efforts have resulted in more than 110 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and several patents. In addition, multiple papers from his group have been included in the most downloaded article lists of various peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Mainelis has served as Chair of the Bioaerosols and Health-Related Aerosol working groups of the American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR). He is currently an editor (associate) of the Aerosol and Air Quality Research journal. Prof. Mainelis is a recipient of the Research Excellence Award from Rutgers University and the Lyman A. Ripperton Environmental Educator Award presented by the A&WMA.

Brian T. Regan serves as Chief Strategy Officer for Grignard Pure, LLC, an innovative science and technology company developing next-generation solutions for eliminating airborne pathogens in all indoor environments from healthcare, to food processing, to workplaces, schools, and homes. He is responsible for shaping and executing Grignard Pure’s go-to-market strategy, integrating science, IP, regulatory, product development and partner engagement into successful implementation. Prior to joining Grignard Pure in January 2021, he spent twenty-five years working with organizations from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, helping position them for optimal competitiveness in the markets they serve. Among those companies he counseled include Virgin, EMC, CA Technologies, Intuit, MongoDB, Docusign, and Philips.

Jack Caravanos, life in the field ranges from jumping onto a motorcycle and navigating the jungles of Madre de Dios in the Peruvian Amazon studying toxic substances to traveling to remotes areas in Zambia, Indonesia, and Bolivia studying lead and other toxic wastes. By cooperating with local governments, his work provides safe, healthy, and evidence-based solutions for pollution problems in low- and middle-income countries. In partnership with Pure Earth, an international non-profit organization, Caravanos is studying the impact of gold extraction with mercury in Peru and Indonesia. Since miners are in danger of mercury poisoning, his research team is planning interventions that teach safer techniques for gold extraction. In Kabwe, Zambia - a mining town with exposure to lead - his research will provide methods to institute safer mining practices and policy recommendations to improve environmental remediation laws. Caravanos teaches Environmental Health for graduate students and Environmental Health in a Global World for undergraduate students. He also provides opportunities for student researchers in his ongoing projects, including in Indonesia (mercury) and Ghana (e-waste).

To learn more about Caravanos and his work, visit his website: https://wp.nyu.edu/jackcaravanos/

Mitch Simpler joined JB&B, a global consulting engineering firm, in 1977 and currently serves as a partner after having served as Managing Partner from 2012- 2018. He has acted as project manager and partner-in-charge on life/health science institutions, health care facilities, high-rise office buildings, museums, residential and mixed-use buildings, as well as hotels. Simpler’s list of notable projects in the life science sector spans the past 45 years, including premier laboratory facilities and research centers in New York City, such as the Jerome L. Greene Science Center at the Columbia University Manhattanville campus, The East River Science Park in New York, the New York Genome Center, Mount Sinai’s Hess Center for Science and Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College’s Belfer Research Building, MSK’s David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care and Rockefeller Research Laboratories, Cornell University’s Biotechnology Building, and NYU Langone Health’s Smilow Research Building and Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine. His experience extends around the world to China, with the Innovation Center at Duke Kunshan University in Kunshan and the Rohm & Haas Research Center in Shanghai. Mr. Simpler is a fellow of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) and recently served as the National Chairman of ACEC. He is also a founding member and Co-Founder of NYC Builds Bio+.

Rivkees is a Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy, and Practice in the School of Public Health. He served as Florida's State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health from 2019 to 2021. Before moving to Florida, he served as a professor of pediatrics with tenure at Yale University. Dr. Rivkees has had more than 35 years of continuous research funding from the National Institutes of Health. He was responsible for the safety alert on liver toxicity caused by the antithyroid drug propylthiouracil. This led to major international treatment practice changes.

Emanuel Goldman graduated with honors from the Bronx High School of Science in 1962, received a B.A. cum laude from Brandeis University in 1966, where he was a chemistry major, and he completed his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at M.I.T. in 1972. He did postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School and at the University of California, Irvine, before joining the faculty of New Jersey Medical School in 1979, where he rose through the ranks to Professor in 1993. Among his awards and honors, he was a Damon Runyon Fellow, A Lievre Senior Fellow of the California Division- American Cancer Society, and a recipient of a Research Career Development Award from the National Cancer Institute. Among his service activities, he was an officer and organizer of the NY-NJ Molecular Biology Club, served as a full member of an American Cancer Society Study Section, and continues to serve on the editorial boards of "Protein Expression and Purification", and "Applied and Environmental Microbiology". He was also twice elected by his colleagues to serve as President of the university chapter of the American Association of University Professors, and he was elected to serve as Vice President and subsequently President of the Faculty Organization of NJMS. He published a Comment in the Lancet in July 2020 that began the process of reversing the mistaken belief that COVID-19 was transmitted from surfaces.

M Lavae-Mokhtari is a consultant in the Respiratory Intensive Care Unit in General Hospital Ibbenburen in Germany since 2013. He has seven publications, 17 national and international poster publications, one book publication, and three scientific international and one national oral presentation. He has 152 citations and a 17.48 RG Score by research gate. He is a member of the German Respiratory Society, Section Intensive-Care and Ventilation Medicine, European Respiratory Society, Section Intensive-Care and Ventilation Medicine, and Section Thorax oncology and German Interdisciplinary Society of Outpatient Ventilation.

Martha is a registered EHP with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. She is a holder of a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Health. She also have an MBA in Environmental and Energy Management from Twente University. She completed an Honors in Leadership at the University of Johannesburg. She is currently registered for a PhD in Public Health at Witwatersrand University focusing on Occupational Health injuries. She was involved in the creation and content development on the online Master of Public Health at the University of Johannesburg. Currently she is an Online Facilitator on the Sample Abstract Template Master of Public Health at the University of Johannesburg. She has been an Adjunct lecturer at the Witwatersrand University and MANCOSA for more than three years. She has published papers on occupational and environmental health in internationally accredited journals. She has supervised more than 16 Masters Students to completion in her career. Her niche area of research is occupational and environmental health. She also involved with research that is focusing on how artificial intelligence is impacting occupational and environmental health. She was recently recognized as one of the top fifty influential women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in South Africa for her contribution in the subject matter.