Sandra Fluke

Sandra Fluke has devoted her career to public interest advocacy. In February, 2012, she testified before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on the need to provide access to contraception. She has since spoken about this and other issues of concern to women and young people across news outlets including The New York Times, Washington Post, TIME Magazine, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, and CBS television.

Sandra recently graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center as a Public Interest Law Scholar with a Certificate in Refugee and Humanitarian Emergencies.  She was awarded the 2012 National Association of Women Lawyers Award and a Dean’s Certificate, and was recognized for her extensive pro bono representation of victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. During law school, she also engaged in human rights advocacy in Kenya.

Prior to attending Georgetown, Sandra created and led the Program Evaluation Initiative for Sanctuary for Families in New York City, ensuring high quality services to victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. She also served on the Manhattan Borough President’s Taskforce on Domestic Violence and co-founded the New York Statewide Coalition for Fair Access to Family Court, which successfully lobbied for legislation allowing LGBTQ, teen, and other victims of intimate partner violence to access civil orders of protection.

In 2003, Sandra received a BS from Cornell University in Policy Analysis and Management, as well as Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California with her fiancé, Adam, and their dog, Mr. President.

Chuck Phelps

Charles E. Phelps came to the University of Rochester in 1984 as a professor and director of the Public Policy Analysis Program, a graduate program offered by the Department of Political Science, in conjunction with the Department of Economics. In 1989 he became chair of the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine and Dentistry. He became Provost in July 1, 1994 and served until July 31, 2007. As Provost, he was responsible for overseeing the academic activity of the University, including teaching, research, and supporting services (e.g., libraries, information technology, and technology transfer) in each of the University's six schools. He currently holds the titles of University Professor and Provost Emeritus.

Phelps has achieved national and international recognition for his scholarly research. In 1991 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and to the National Bureau for Economic Research.  He served for six years on the Report Review Committee of the National Academies. His textbook, Health Economics, is now entering its fifth edition (Addison Wesley Pearson) and has been translated into French, Chinese, and Arabic.  Click here to learn more.

Phelps was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (academic year 2008-2009). 

Provost Emeritus Phelps participated from 1997-2007 in the Association of American Universities’ Committee on Digital Technology and Intellectual Property Rights, and was an active participant in the AAU's work in areas involving related topics. He testified before Congress in June 1998 on issues pertaining to the implementation of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty and has spoken on related matters in conferences on these issues sponsored by, among others, the Department of Commerce. He also testified in July, 2005, on Patent Reform for the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Intellectual Property.

Provost Emeritus Phelps earned his baccalaureate degree from Pomona College in Claremont, California. He then earned both an M.B.A. in hospital administration and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. Before coming to Rochester, Phelps worked at the RAND Corporation from 1971 through 1984.

Phelps served from 1998–2006 on the Board of Trustees for the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in Washington, DC, the last two years as Chair. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Center for Research Libraries in Chicago, IL, until May, 2010 and is currently on the Board of Directors of VirtualScopics, Inc., a diagnostic imaging technology company located in Rochester, NY.  He also serves as an advisor to CVT, a pharmaceutical company in Palo Alto, CA.

Phelps is married to Dale L. Phelps, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Neonatology at the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University.  Provost Emeritus Phelps has retired to Mendocino County in Northern California, where he writes and consults regularly.

Theodore Brown

Theodore M. Brown is Professor of History and of Community and Preventive Medicine and Medical Humanities at the University of Rochester. His research falls into several areas: the history of U.S. and international public health; the history of U.S. health policy and politics; and the history of psychosomatic medicine, “stress” research, and biopsychosocial approaches to clinical practice. He is a Contributing Editor (History) of the American Journal of Public Health and Editor of Rochester Studies in Medical History, a book series of the University of Rochester Press. He co-edited and substantially co-authored Making Medical History: The Life and Times of Henry E. Sigerist (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997) and, with Anne-Emanuelle Birn, recently completed an edited collection of essays, Comrades in Health: American Health Internationalists, Abroad and at Home, which will be published in 2013 by Rutgers University Press. He is also a co-author of The Quest for Health Reform: A Satirical History, a history of health reform in the United States as seen in political cartoons, which is to be published by the American Public Health Association later this fall, 2012.