Allison Conti
Allison Watkins-Conti is an award winning mentor and serial entrepreneur with a background in marketing & advertising, construction trades and real estate. In 2015, Allison conceived a solution for an issue that affects an estimated 1 in 3 women, worldwide. She designed, patented, engineered and manufactured a solution that is entering the FDA approval process. Allison has global intellectual property protection for multiple products, has developed a quality management system, a contract manufacturing facility, conducted studies validating safety and efficacy, and employs some of the top industry leaders in the U.S. Today, Allison develops products to address taboo issues facing women across the globe.
Elizabeth Garner
Tenesha Duncan
Barbara Dehn
Barb Dehn is a practicing Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner in Silicon Valley and a television health expert, who’s known as Nurse Barb on NBC’s California Live. An award winning author, active in Social Media and YouTube, Barb earned a masters degree from UCSF and a BS from Boston College. She is certified by the North American Menopause Society and is a Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She works on Global Health Initiatives at FAME Hospital in Karatu, Tanzania, where she serves on their board and as a volunteer.
Jannine Versi
Andrea S. Lukes, MD, MHSc, FACOG
Dr. Andrea S. Lukes is a board-certified OB/GYN, a Fellow of The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and an expert on clinical development of women’s health products across a wide range of indications across the female lifecycle. Her areas of expertise include but are not limited to endometrial ablation, endometriosis, hysteroscopy, minimally invasive gynecology, bleeding disorders, uterine fibroids, contraception, menopause and vasomotor symptoms, hereditary cancer screening and prenatal counseling. Dr. Lukes advises Health Decisions and our clients on development and implementation of research protocols as well as communications and presentations to the FDA.
An experienced principal investigator in industry-sponsored, NIH and CDC clinical trials, Dr. Lukes has conducted or overseen more than 90 clinical trials of investigational women’s health products, including both drugs and devices. Recent experience includes studies of sedation during hysteroscopic tissue removal, treatment of anemia associated with uterine leiomyomas, treatment of vulvovaginal atrophy, transcervical ablation of uterine fibroids, combination drug therapy for management of menstrual bleeding associated with uterine fibroids in premenopausal women, a vapor treatment for excessive uterine bleeding, analgesia for endometriosis-associated pain, pain management during endometrial biopsy, and migraine.
Dr. Lukes’ articles have appeared in journals including Obstetrics and Gynecology, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fertility and Sterility, the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology, Women’s Health, Women’s Healthcare, Contemporary OB/GYN, the International Journal of Women’s Health, Cancer, the British Journal of Hematology, the Journal of Medicine, Current Medical Research & Opinion and Drug Safety. She has served on advisory committees for FDA meetings on topics including a clinician’s perspective on thromboembolism, heavy menstrual bleeding and alkaline hematin assessment, and clinical trial design for treatment of vaginal laxity and female sexual dysfunction.
Dr. Lukes founded the Carolina Women’s Research and Wellness Center (CWRWC), a leading private gynecologic practice and clinical research center. She also co-founded and served as the Director of Gynecology for the Women’s Hemostasis and Thrombosis Clinic at the Duke University Medical Center and founded and chaired the OB/GYN Alliance, an online network of 8,000 OB/GYN physicians in the United States.
Dr. Lukes received a bachelor’s degree and a combined medical degree and master’s degree in statistics from Duke University. She completed her residency at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Marsha B. Henderson
Marsha B. Henderson is a nationally recognized innovative leader and change agent for the health of women and their families. As the former Associate Commissioner for Women’s Health at the Food and Drug Administration, for a decade, she progressed and managed cutting-edge policy, research and educational outreach initiatives. The Office of Women’s Health advanced its scientific efforts, under her direction, to produce more than 350 research papers and journal articles to facilitate FDA’s regulatory decision-making and promote a better understanding of sex differences and health conditions unique to women. Her tenure produced the first FDA Women’s’ Health Research Roadmap, outlining seven priority areas for new or enhanced research including biomarkers, nanotechnology, cardiovascular disease, and postmarket surveillance as well as a framework to assess its impact. Her colleagues applaud her ability to set a vision and guide the concept to reality. One FDA Commissioner stated, “She is elegant…not just in style but in character, confidence and compassion.”
Ms. Henderson’s expertise in the development of public-private partnerships and culturally appropriate consumer engagement strategies led to the Women’s Health Take Time To Care Program, which has reached over 120 million people with FDA consumer information in 18 languages, and received awards from more than 96 national organizations. Her easy to read, science-based materials have been chronicled in Dear Abby, Parade Magazine, Hints from Heloise, and the IRS, as well as sponsored by external groups including the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, American Diabetes Association, Ford Motor Company, American Medical Association, and even Las Vegas casinos. Her novel efforts supported a one-stop Pregnancy Exposure Registries website to gather information about how prescription drugs or vaccines affect a pregnant woman and her fetus. In addition, she recently instructed her staff to expand the Science of Sex and Gender on-line accredited courses with the NIH/Office of Research on Women’s Health and to conduct FDA’s first “Scientific Conference: Opioid and Nicotine Use, Dependence, and Recovery: Influences of Sex and Gender” to address this national epidemic.
She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Dr. Estelle Ramey Award for Women’s Health Leadership from Society for Women’s Health Research; “HerMANA” Award for innovative outreach to Hispanic women, and Pinnacle Award for exceptional leadership in medication use for patients and caregivers. The first non-pharmacist to receive the prestigious Jacob Miller Award from the American Pharmacists Association Foundation, she was also one of five Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal (Sammies) finalists from throughout the U.S. federal government. And as Chair of the national board of the YWCA USA, she led the U.S. delegation at the YWCA World Council quadrennial meeting in Bangkok, Thailand to focus on women’s issues.
Prior to her FDA career, Ms. Henderson served as the Director of Evaluation for the Interagency Council on the Homeless; Director of Placement for the National Health Service Corps; Chief of Analysis and Information for the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health; and Senior Advisor to the Director of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor. Ms. Henderson earned a master’s degree from Rutgers University in health and hospital planning. She is married to Wade Henderson, an internationally renowned civil and human rights lawyer.
Angie Kalousek Ebrahimi
Angie Kalousek Ebrahimi oversees the sales and marketing of clinically proven lifestyle medicine programs for Blue Shield of California’s members. Angie and her team work to drive both enrollment and engagement in the lifestyle medicine interventions under the Wellvolution brand. Angie strongly believes that lifestyle medicine can transform the current health care model by introducing clinically effective, cost effective and non-invasive lifestyle approaches into the care continuum. She, herself, has incorporated lifestyle medicine into her own life to prevent disease and live in optimal health. Angie is strategically working to forward Blue Shield of California’s philosophy that lifestyle is medicine.
Prior to joining Blue Shield in 2010, Angie worked as the Wellness Program Manager at Visa, Inc. where she created and implemented a new suite of global wellness programs for Visa employees. Part of her role at Visa was to incorporate Visa wellness programming with health plan offerings so that employees had a seamless experience. Prior to her time at Visa, Angie served as the Fitness Director at the Sports Club LA in San Francisco where she oversaw a staff of 60 trainers, nutritionists, and sports coordinators. In her role there, she also managed new member fitness programs, trainer education and direct private training sales. Angie has also worked in marketing, business planning and accounting.
Angie holds an MBA from Golden Gate University, a BS in Business from the University of California, Haas School of Business, Berkeley, and is a Certified Holistic Lifestyle Coach.
David Portman
Founder, CEO and Medical Director of Sermonix Pharmaceuticals.
Director Emeritus of a Clinical Research Center with research interests in menopause, sexual dysfunction, hormone replacement therapy, SERMs, osteoporosis, contraception and gynecologic endocrinology. Conducted over 140 clinical trials in women’s health.
Lectures nationally, internationally and consults widely on women’s health issues, and is on numerous advisory boards. Board-certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist.
