DR.  RICARDO
KOMOTAR
MD, FAANS, FACS

The attacks of September 11, 2001, prompted the creation of a robust and deadly special operations force — Task Force Dagger. Alan C. Mack, Callsign Razor 03, led one of two teams of MH-47E helicopters and armed MH-60s. Their two-fold mission – Personnel Recovery (PR) and Unconventional Warfare(UW) involved flying in terrain and weather previously not thought possible. But, if that wasn’t enough, they pushed the flight envelope of their specially modified Chinooks to the limit and beyond. Alan shares his behind-the-scenes perspective of the Horse Soldier’s infil into Afghanistan. He discusses the hunt for Usama Bin Laden at Tora Bora and describes his shootdown during Operation Anaconda. Years later, he chased Bowe Bergdahl, rescued hostages in Iraq, and the Lone Survivor from the Kunar Valley. CW5 Alan C. Mack is a Master Aviator with more than 6700 hours of flight time, of which over 3200 hours were flown with Night Vision Goggles. Alan C. Mack’s awards include Legion of Merit, 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 3 Bronze Star Medals, 3 Meritorious Service Medals, 10 Air Medals; one with Valor device, Combat Action Badge, and the Army Broken Wing award.

Dr Greer is the Founding Dean of the Roseman University Health Sciences College of Medicine. Previously, Dr. Greer served as Professor of Medicine, Founding Chair of Humanities, Health, and Society; and Associate Dean for Community Engagement at FIU. Dr. Greer spearheaded the nationally recognized Green Family Foundation Neighborhood Health Education Learning Program (NeighborhoodHELP) and is a nationally recognized advocate for health care equity. He has received numerous recognitions, including: one of the 500 Most Influential Business Leaders in Life Sciences, June 2019 AMA Foundation Pride in Profession Award; Bob Graham Center for Public Service 2017 Citizen of the Year; 2014 National Jefferson Award; 2013 Great Floridian Award; the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom; and in 1993, was honored as a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” Fellow.

Nationally and internationally recognized as a leading neurosurgeon and an expert in cerebral revascularization and cerebral aneurysms, Dr. Langer brings more than 22 years of experience to his highly personalized, direct patient care practice. One of the few cerebral bypass surgeons in the country, Dr. Langer has published award-winning work in numerous peer-reviewed publications and has spoken nationally and internationally on vascular disorders, such as aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the brain. A third-generation physician, Dr. Langer attended the University of Pennsylvania to receive  both his undergraduate and medical school degrees, where he also stayed to complete his neurosurgical residency under the direction of Eugene Flamm, MD. He later joined Dr. Flamm at a new neurosurgical institute in New York City in 1998. Dr. Langer also completed a mid-career fellowship at the University at Buffalo in cerebrovascular disease treatment, including aneurysms, AVMs and carotid disease. Dr. Langer has been recognized as a Top Doctor and Best Doctor by numerous publications and has a global reputation in neurosurgical excellence.

Charlton Copeland joined the faculty in 2007. He teaches Civil Procedure I and II, Federal Courts, Administrative Law, and the Regulatory State. In addition, he has served as the Faculty Coordinator of the Florida Supreme Court Internship Program, and the Law School’s Washington, DC Externship Program, where he teaches Federal Policy Making: Legislation, Regulation and Litigation. He is a 2015 recipient of the Richard Hausler Golden Apple Award for the faculty member contributing the most to the student body both academically and through his or her extracurricular activities. His scholarship has focused primarily on the ways in which federalism as a constitutional and political structure is mediated in: the relationship between federal and state courts, the jurisprudence of remedies for state violations of federal law, and the relationship between state and federal implementation of federal policy. In addition, he has written about the intersection between law and theology as they relate to religion’s role in American democracy and the framing of liberationist critiques of same sex marriage. He is a recipient of the 2013 Dukeminier Award and the Michael Cunningham Prize, from the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, for the best law review articles published. Professor Copeland is a graduate of Amherst College, Yale Divinity School, and Yale Law School.

Dr. Mary Beth Wilkas Janke is a former United States Secret Service Agent and current consultant in the fields of forensic and clinical psychology and professor at George Washington University, where she teaches Abnormal Psychology and the Psychology of Crime and Violence. Mary Beth holds a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology, a Master's Degree in Forensic Psychology, and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. She is also the author of the best selling book " The Protector: A Woman's Journey from the Secret Service to Guarding VIPs and Working in Some of the World's Most Dangerous Places" With more than 25 years of psychology, security and investigative work, she has accomplished such varied feats as leading an inquiry during the “Iraqgate” investigation and an investigation for 60 Minutes on the Duke Lacrosse scandal, serving as the only female to ever officially protect a foreign president outside of the United States and creating a Stalking Risk Assessment Prototype for the Stalking Unit of Victim Services in Queens, NY, among others.

Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen is tasked with helping us answer some of humanity’s biggest questions: Where did we come from? Are we alone? How does the universe work? Dr. Zurbuchen is well versed in the practice of asking difficult questions that help us seek interconnected answers leading to real world impacts. He is keenly interested in innovation and how leadership is developed and how the pursuit of excellence can help change the world. Dr. Zurbuchen was a professor of space science and aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He was the founding director of UM’s Center for Entrepreneurship at the College of Engineering and developed and ran several campus wide innovation initiatives, one of which led to the top-ranked undergraduate entrepreneurship program nationally.

Dr. Kateb, is a neuroscientist with more than 20 years of research experience. His research has been focused on the introduction of advanced diagnostics and therapeutics into clinical neuroscience in order to rapidly identify and introduce game-changing technologies to treat neurological disorders such as brain cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease. Babak was Director of Research and Development in the Department of Neurosurgery at City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center where he established collaboration with NASA and published and pioneered a technique for brain cancer immunotherapy. While at City of Hope, he received NASA Tech Brief Award for his pioneering work. In 2010, he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center as a research scientist where he developed a partnership between Cedars-Sinai and NASA and established a clinical trial using NASA technology for brain mapping. He has been recognized by President Biden, Mayor of Los Angeles, and Governor of California for his dedication to science. Babak has been deeply involved in global neuroscience legislation through his close collaboration with the US Congressional Neuroscience Caucus as well as members of Canadian Parliaments. He has chaired 9 Congressional briefings. He has been one of the key players in President Obama’s BRAIN initiative and co-author of the G20 World Brain Mapping Initiative and the African Brain Mapping Initiative.

Ken Paller conducts cognitive neuroscience research at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he also serves as Director of the Training Program in the Neuroscience of Human Cognition. Ken’s collaborative research with his students and colleagues focuses on human memory, consciousness, and related issues. Recent research articles have examined sleep’s role in memory and memory dysfunction, sensory processing during sleep to reinforce prior learning, the neural substrates of conscious memory experiences, and the juxtaposition of those memory experiences with various ways in which memory can influence our behavior in the absence of awareness of memory retrieval, as in intuition. His investigations make use of various behavioral measures of memory, analyses of brain electrical activity from the EEG, patterns of cognitive deficits in neurological patients, and MRI methods. Ken received a PhD in Neurosciences from UC San Diego following undergraduate training at UCLA. He held postdoctoral positions at Yale, Manchester, and Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, journal editor at Neuropsychologia, and program committee chair for the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. He received the Senator Mark Hatfield Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, and research funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies and private foundations.

Deepak is founder of The Chopra Foundation and Chopra Global, as well as Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at UCSD and senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is author of over 90 books translated into 43 languages, including New York Times bestsellers. Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation and personal transformation revolution. TIME magazine has described him as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.” Larry King has described his work as “some of the most important of the decade.” The Wall Street Journal has declared his books “must reads for your career”. His books have been awarded the prestigious Nautilus Award and Quill Award. Two of his books have been recognized on “The Books of The Century Bestsellers List”. He is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and contributes to Oprah.com, Intent.com, and Huffington Post. He has been recognized as one of “The 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness “, the #17 “most influential thinker in the world” and #1 in Medicine. As background, Dr. Chopra is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, and Metabolism. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Dr. Padron is President Emeritus of Miami Dade College, having served as its president for almost twenty-five years. He is credited with elevating MDC, the largest degree-granting institution in America, into a position of national prominence among the best and most recognized U.S. colleges and universities. Dr. Padron’s work at MDC has been hailed as a model of innovation in higher education. In 2018, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, for being a prominent national voice for access and inclusion in higher education. In 2015, he was inducted into the U.S. News & World Report STEM Hall of Fame. In 2012, he received the Citizen Service Award from Voices for National Service, the coveted TIAA Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence, and the Aspen Institute Ascend Fellowship. In 2011, the Washington Post named him one of the eight most influential college presidents in the United States, and he was awarded the prestigious 2011 Carnegie Corporation Centennial Academic Leadership Award. In 2010, Florida Trend magazine placed him on the cover of its inaugural “Floridian of the Year” issue. In 2009, TIME magazine included him on the list of “The 10 Best College Presidents.”

Logan is a brain cancer survivor that was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma over 6 years ago. He has been through brain surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, growing through these experiences mentally, physically, and emotionally. The most critical day, however, was the day he began the Ketogenic diet. Although doctors told him nothing would help, the ketogenic diet saved his life and helped him transform physically and internally. His surveillance MRIs are clean and he has been deemed cancer free. Following the ketogenic diet not only helped save his life, but has helped transform lives worldwide. Thousands of people that make the decision to follow his Fusion Lean plan, simply make the decision to change and create the best version of themselves. When you choose his Fusion Lean as your online personal trainer, you're working with someone who knows how to get through the struggle. He has goals to make sure that every client conquers their journey in every way they can.

Dan Radakovich was named the 14th Director of Athletics in University of Miami history, returning to his graduate school alma mater as one of the nation’s most decorated and successful college athletics administrators. Radakovich, who most recently served as Director of Athletics at Clemson for nine years, has experience at seven schools and 30-plus years as a visionary leader in all aspects of college athletics. In his first 6 months in Coral Gables, Radakovich has worked with campus leaders to chart an ambitious course for Miami Athletics with respect to facilities, sport sponsorship, fundraising and staff development. He has worked closely with new football head coach Mario Cristobal to ramp up recruiting, evaluation, sports science and creative resources. Radakovich is the immediate past President of LEAD1, which represents athletic directors at the Division I level. He was also named Athletic Director of the Year, and was on a member of the first College Football Playoff committee. At Clemson, Radakovich oversaw the most successful stretch in Tigers football history as the program won two national championships (2016, 2018), six ACC titles and made six College Football Playoff appearances. Clemson set a school record in the NCAA’s most recent Graduation Success Rate report, posting a 95 percent score.

Dr. Grossman is CEO of NYU Langone Health and Dean of NYU School of Medicine, which was renamed in his honor in 2019. In this role, he oversees more than 45,000 employees, students, and faculty across 6 inpatient locations and over 320 sites throughout the New York region and in Florida. Dr. Grossman increased NYU Langone’s revenue from $2 billion in 2007 to $10.2 billion in 2021, and more than $3.9 billion in philanthropy has also been raised. Also of note, NYU Langone’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2021 research awards totaled $815 million—an increase of more than 532 percent compared to 2007. As dean of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. Grossman led the historic and unprecedented initiative of providing tuition free medical education for all students in its MD degree program. He also curated a new curriculum for the 21st Century, which emphasizes clinical training from the beginning of medical school and includes a revolutionary 3 year MD program for select candidates. Dr. Grossman has been named to Time magazine’s list of the 50 most influential healthcare leaders who changed the state of healthcare in America. Additionally, he was named a “Living Landmark” by the New York Landmarks Conservancy. A prolific and highly respected scientist, Dr. Grossman was awarded the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award by the NIH in 1999. He was a member and chairman of the Diagnostic Radiology Study Section at the NIH, was appointed to the NIH’s National Advisory Council and became the first recipient of the Outstanding Contributions in Research Award.

Marilyn is a partner in Holland & Knight's Miami office. She is a litigation practitioner, with a specific emphasis representing corporate clients in trade secret and covenant-not-to-compete, employment and business litigation, including matters related to breach of fiduciary duty and corporate governance. In her employment litigation practice, she has represented a number of high-profile individuals. Ms. Holifield has received numerous accolades related to her law practice, professionalism and civic engagement. She was named by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of America's top employment lawyers. The Miami-Dade County Bar Association honored Ms. Holifield with its highest award, the Judge David Dyer Award for Professionalism. Within the firm, Ms. Holifield serves on the Steering Committee for the firm's Diversity and Inclusion Engagement Initiative to strengthen partnerships with clients and businesses that share Holland & Knight's values of diversity and inclusion. She also has served on the Directors Committee. In 2000, she was the recipient of the firm's Chesterfield Smith Award, the highest honor bestowed by the firm to lawyers who demonstrate a deep commitment to equal justice, public service and excellent client service.

Dr. George is an Associate Professor on the Tenure Track in the Division of Gynecological Oncology within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and a full member of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Sophia’s lab studies the pathogenesis of sporadic and hereditary breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancers using molecular genetics, epigenetics and transcriptomics to study the disease pathogenesis and overall outcomes of women diagnosed with these diseases. Given that Black women with breast and ovarian cancers have inferior outcomes when compared to women of other racial groups, and understanding that there is a void in the research when it comes to studying Black women’s cancers, one of the main goals of her research has been to understand why Black women are prone to getting more aggressive cancer sub-types and how/why their responses to treatment differs from those of non-Black women. She is currently part of a multi-disciplinary team who studies the incidence of HBOC mutations in Afro-Caribbean nationals. She is a co-Leader of the women’s cancer working group in the African Caribbean Cancer Consortium and co-Principal Investigator of the Transatlantic Gynecologic Cancer Consortium.

Dr. Lorenzo Cohen is the Richard E. Haynes Distinguished Professor in Clinical Cancer Prevention and Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) and Distinguished Clinical Professor, Fudan University Cancer Hospital, Shanghai, China. Dr. Cohen is a founding member and past president of the international Society for Integrative Oncology. Dr. Cohen is passionate about educating others on how to prevent cancer and maintain optimal health across the lifespan. As the majority of cancers are preventable, Dr. Cohen is conducting research to demonstrate that lifestyle factors can influence cancer outcomes. Dr. Cohen leads a team conducting NIH-funded research and delivering clinical care of integrative medicine practices such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, massage, diet, exercise, acupuncture and other strategies such as stress management, music therapy, emotional writing and more aimed at reducing the negative aspects of cancer treatment and improving quality of life and clinical outcomes.

Miguel “Mike” B. Fernandez currently serves as Chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, L.P., a private investment firm located in Coral Gables, Florida. The firm focuses on investing in healthcare service companies nationwide. He has been the Founder and/or majority shareholder of over 20 healthcare related companies. Most of these companies have been acquired by publicly traded companies. Among these enterprises are Physicians Healthcare Plans, CAC Medical Centers, Prescribit Rx, CarePlus Health Plans, Navarro Pharmacies, Hospitalists of America, Simply Healthcare Plans, and Nutri-Force Nutrition. Mr. Fernandez’s best-selling autobiography titled ”Humbled by the Journey" details his rags to riches story, from a dirt-road Cuban town to the pinnacles of U.S. business success.

Jeffrey A. Engel is founding director of the Center for Presidential History at SMU and Professor in the Department of History. A Senior Fellow of the Norwegian Nobel Institute and of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, he graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University. He additionally studied at St. Catherine's College, Oxford University, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, before holding a John M. Olin Postdoctoral Fellow in International Security Studies at Yale University. In 2012 the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations named him their Bernath Prize lecturer, while at SMU the students voted him their Professor of the Year. Engel has authored or edited twelve books on American foreign policy. A frequent media contributor on international and political affairs on venues including MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, National Public Radio, and the BBC, his scholarly and popular articles have appeared in such journals as Diplomatic History; Diplomacy & Statecraft; American Interest; USAToday; The Los Angeles Times; International Journal; The Dallas Morning News; The Houston Chronicle; Air & Space Magazine; and The Washington Post.

Mark knows the true meaning of sacrifice, perseverance, and resilience. Mark served as a Navy SEAL Special Warfare Operator 1st Class with SEAL Team 5A. As a Navy SEAL, Mark did combat deployments to Iraq. On his last deployment, Mark sustained a gunshot wound to the head from a bullet that went over his rifle through his right eye and out the back of his head a few inches behind his right ear. The injury left him blind in his right eye. Even though Mark was gravely wounded, he refused to be carried to the medivac helicopter. He walked himself through a ‘hot zone’ to be transported to a medical facility. Against all odds, Mark worked through his critical injury and recovered. During his first few years of recovery, mobility, endurance, awareness, and memory were significantly affected, but Mark was determined to enter a new career path in law enforcement. After leaving the Navy, Mark began working at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and shortly thereafter completed the Police Academy. Since beginning employment, he has been to several law enforcement/investigations-related qualification courses. Mark is continuing his career at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office as a Detective in the Criminal Investigations Division. He is assigned to the Sheriff’s Office Tactical Response Team as an Assistant Team Leader and is a member of the community safety team.

Dr. Allen Sills is the NFL's Chief Medical Officer, a full-time position dedicated to advancing the health and safety of the sport of football. He became the NFL's first CMO in March 2017, joining the league from Vanderbilt University. As a neurosurgeon specializing in the treatment of athletes, Dr. Sills continues to serve at Vanderbilt as a Professor of Neurological Surgery and the Founder and Co-Director of the Vanderbilt Sports Concussion Center. Dr. Sills has published over 170 scientific articles and presentations, including over 40 in the last five years on the topic of sports concussion. He is a member of the Concussion in Sport Group, American Board of Neurological Surgery, and the American College of Surgeons. Before joining the NFL, Dr. Sills served as a consulting neurosurgeon for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, the NHL's Nashville Predators, the US Equestrian Foundation, and the athletic programs at Vanderbilt University, Belmont University and Mississippi State University. He also served as an Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant on the NFL sidelines, and as a neurological consultant to the NCAA and the International Equestrian Foundation (FEI). Dr. Sills graduated from Mississippi State University and received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University, where he also went on to complete his internship in General Surgery, his residency training in Neurological Surgery and an NIH-funded Neuro-Oncology Fellowship.

As an undergraduate at The University of Miami, Andrés majored in Exercise Physiology and minored in Psychology. He took a rigorous course load that included nutrition, anatomy, physiology, musculoskeletal biochemistry, evolution and biodiversity, genetics, biomechanics, chronic disease prevention, neuroscience, psychobiology, and psychology of drugs. Having received a Bachelor of Science Degree, Andrés is now both a UMiami alumni and student as he tackles an Accelerated Master’s Degree through a fully funded research scholarship studying Applied Physiology with a concentration in Nutrition for Health and Human Performance. He also serves as a Graduate Assistant for the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Sciences. Andrés has developed lifestyle medicine and longevity programs, co-authored books, and has led multiple online webinars in English and Spanish to discuss key topics such as Intermittent Fasting, Longevity, and Exercise Physiology to live audiences in the tens of thousands.

Dr. Omalu was the first to identify, describe, and name Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy as a disease entity. Dr. Omalu has testified twice before the United States Congress and has provided hundreds of testimonies as an expert witness in federal courts across the country. Dr. Omalu is a member of the College of American Pathologists, American Society of Clinical Pathology, American College of Physician Executives, American College of Epidemiologists, American Association of Neuropathologists, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, National Association of Medical Examiners, International Academy of Pathology, and the American Medical Association. Dr. Omalu has eight degrees in the medical sciences and business management, including his MB/BS/MD from the University of Nigeria, his MPH from the University of Pittsburgh, and his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. His work and life have been featured extensively, including a major Hollywood film by Sony Motion Pictures, “Concussion”, and several New York Times best-selling books including “The League of Denial” and “Concussion”.

Charlie Morley is a bestselling author and teacher of lucid dreaming, shadow integration and Mindfulness of Dream & Sleep. He has been lucid dreaming for over 20 years and was “authorized to teach” within the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism by Lama Yeshe in 2008. Since then he has written four books which have been translated into 15 languages and has run workshops & retreats in more than 20 countries. He’s spoken at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the Ministry of Defence Mindfulness Symposium, The Houses of Parliament (on Buddhism & youth culture) and the Mindfulness Association Annual conferences.In 2018 he was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship grant to research PTSD treatment in Military Veterans and continues to teach people with trauma affected sleep a set of practices. His 2021 book Wake Up to Sleep is a practical guide to these practices. Charlie has been the lead consultant on scientific studies into lucid dreaming at both Swansea University and the Institute of Noetic Science.In 2019 he created the first Lucid Dreaming for Therapists course which trained a group of hypnotherapists, meditation teachers and therapists to use lucid dreaming with their clients. Charlie formally became a Buddhist at the age of 19. In his past life he trained and worked as an actor & scriptwriter before running a hip hop collective and touring Europe with them throughout his 20’s.

Dr. Dominic D’Agostino is a tenured Professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. He runs the website KetoNutrition and has been on over 200 podcasts talking about metabolic health. He is also a Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. His laboratory develops and tests metabolic-based strategies for targeting CNS oxygen toxicity, epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, brain cancer, and metastatic cancer. The main focus of his lab over the last 12 years has investigating the anticonvulsant and neuroprotective mechanism of the ketogenic diet and ketone metabolite supplementation. This approach can be used to treat a wide variety of pathologies linked pathophysiologically to metabolic dysregulation. Other areas of interest include researching metabolic-based drugs for cancer. He was a research investigator and crew member on NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operation and has a personal interest in environmental medicine and methods to enhance safety and physiological resilience in extreme environments. His research is supported by the Office of Naval Research, Department of Defense, private organizations and foundations.