KEYNOTE ADDRESS: What We've Learned About the Pandemic

Dr. Messonnier has first-hand insight from the most important chapter in the history of US public health. She led efforts including distribution, administration, education and partner engagement, safety and effectiveness evaluation and access for hard-to-reach populations with the goal of ensuring that a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine would be available to every American who wanted one.  She is now Executive Director for Pandemic Prevention and Health Systems at the Skoll Foundation.  She will discuss the current health care landscape, immunization hesitancy, and the future of public health.

Nancy Messonnier, M.D.
Former Director of the Center for Disease Control's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases & Executive Director for Pandemic Prevention and Health Systems, the Skoll Foundation 

About Dr. Messonnier

Nancy Messonnier, M.D. is a world-class public health leader with deep expertise in tackling and preventing infectious disease by working through government alongside business and civil society. She is currently executive director for Pandemic Prevention and Health Systems at the Skoll Foundation. Dr. Messonnier is the former director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). She was the chief architect of the COVID-19 vaccine implementation program as well as CDC's Vaccinate with Confidence initiative which works with national organizations to strengthen public trust in vaccines and prevent vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks.

In 2019, Dr. Messonnier directed NCIRD to activate a center-based response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was the chief architect of the COVID-19 vaccine implementation program, leading efforts including distribution, administration, education, and partner engagement, safety, and effectiveness evaluation and access for hard-to-reach populations with the goal of ensuring that a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine would be available to every American who wanted one.

In her current role as the executive Director for Pandemic Prevention and Health Systems at the Skoll Foundation she plans to continue effectively addressing the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, and focus on helping build out the global system needed to prevent another COVID-like pandemic in the future.

As a former Director of NCIRD, Nancy Messonnier has been a champion for the prevention of disease, disability, and death through immunization and control of vaccine-preventable diseases. Dr. Messonnier spearheaded CDC's Vaccinate with Confidence initiative which includes activities aimed at reaching communities with low flu vaccination rates or high likelihood of COVID complications such as African American and Hispanic communities.

Dr. Messonnier played a pivotal role in the successful public-private partnership to develop and implement a low cost vaccine to prevent epidemic meningococcal meningitis in Africa. More than 150 million people in the African Meningitis Belt have been vaccinated with MenAfriVac since 2010, with remarkable impact. Dr. Messonnier also has been a leader in CDC's preparedness and response to anthrax, including during the 2001 intentional anthrax release and in evaluating simplified schedules for use of licensed anthrax vaccine.

Her public health career began in 1995 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer and has held a number of leadership posts across CDC. She served as acting director for the Center for Preparedness and Response (CPR), deputy director for NCIRD, acting director of the Division of Global Health Protection in the Center for Global Health and Chief of the Meningitis and Vaccine Preventable Diseases Branch in NCIRD.

Dr. Messonnier has written more than 140 articles and chapters and has received numerous awards. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and MD from the University of Chicago School of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency training at the University of Pennsylvania.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Presenting Go from A to THE^®: Stop Being a Leader. Start Being THE Leader.

Sponsored By: 

Ryan Avery is one of the most profound keynote speakers on strategic communication and leadership, and will bring RISE National attendees motivation and inspiration to be THE product, solution, & leader to follow. In the competitive, innovative, and fast-paced world we live in, it is no longer acceptable to offer A product, A solution, or even be A leader. The Emmy-award winning journalist, two-time best selling author, and world record holder will bring insights into how to become THE product, THE solution, and THE leader to follow.

Ryan Avery
Emmy-award winning journalist, two-time bestselling author and world record holder

About Ryan Avery

Ryan Avery is one of the most profound keynote speakers on strategic communications and leadership. At age 25, Ryan became the youngest World Champion of Public Speaking in history, competing against more than 30,000 contestants from 116 countries to claim the 2012 World Championship for Toastmasters International.

As an Emmy-award winning journalist, two-time best selling author and world record holder, Ryan has delivered more than 500+ keynotes in 33 countries around the globe. Ryan currently lives in the United States with his family and is on the mission to show leaders how to Go From A to THE^® in their industry! Learn more at www.RyanAvery.com.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Changing the Future: Applying Gaming to Health Care

Jane will discuss how we can apply gaming to  health care.  It can be as simple as lessons on user interface, engaging patients, the effective use of rewards, or something more profound.  Jane has worked with the CDC and US Army on using games to heal, and with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on using games to improve medical research.  SuperBetter has just been shown to be successful in using smart-phone interventions to treat depression and anxiety.  Jane has been named one of the 100 most creative people in business, as well as one of the most innovative voices by Business Week and MITTechnology Review.   

All RISE National attendees will receive a complimentary copy of Jane's new book, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready For Anything - Even Things That Seem Impossible Today

Jane McGonigal
Director of Game Research and Development at Institute for the Future
Author of NYT bestsellers, SuperBetter and Reality is Broken

About Jane McGonigal

Jane McGonigal is today's leading innovator in the use of game-based collaboration to improve health care treatment and other real world problems. Her mobile app and web-based game SuperBetter leads the field in helping individuals deal with depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and stress. She has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Army to use games for healing and with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to improve medical research. Jane McGonigal is the Director of Game Research & Development at the Institute For The Future (IFTF) in Palo Alto, California.

SuperBetter. SuperBetter engages one's real-life friends and family as support in dealing with pain and adverse emotional conditions - with proven positive results. A World Psychiatry study found SuperBetter had the number one greatest effect reducing depression symptoms among the 22 apps evaluated. A similar study in the Journal of Affective Disorders also rated SuperBetter #1 among 15 apps. The game is currently under study at Ohio State University Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania with one million players.

Jane McGonigal's book SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient debuted at #7 on the New York Times Advice bestsellers list. In it she shares ten years of scientific research into the ways the SuperBetter game helps people get stronger, happier, and braver in the face of depression, anxiety, illness, and injury.

Her previous book, Reality is Broken: How Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change The World, is a New York Times best seller. In this engaging, forward-thinking book, Jane makes the case that the gamer spirit - an attitude of fun, dedicated, collective problem-solving - is our greatest asset as we face the social, economic, and environmental problems of the 21st century.

Jane's next book, Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready For Anything - Even Things That Seem Impossible Today, draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our brains to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable. It will be published in March 2022 and all RISE National attendees will receive a complimentary copy.

Jane is a specialist in the field of alternate reality games design, in which real-life activities are re-framed as games. She has created games for the World Bank, the Olympic Games, the American Heart Association, the New York Public Library, and many other organizations.