Martha Brand, JD, is Executive Director of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA), a nonprofit organization working to protect Minnesota's natural resources, wildlife and the health of its people. Prior to being selected as Executive Director of the MCEA, she completed a Bush Foundation Leadership Fellowship and served as an environmental consultant, after having been a partner at the Minneapolis-based law firm Leonard, Street and Deinard practicing environmental law from 1981 to 1998. Currently, along with her executive directorship of the MCEA, Ms. Brand serves as chair of the Board of Directors of American Rivers in Washington, DC, and is active in the local community as a member of organizations including the Minnesota State Bar Association and the Citizen's League. She earned her J.D. at Boston University.

Amos S. Deinard, Jr., MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School. His long career has focused on aiding underserved communities in the Twin Cities. He has worked as a Pediatric Consultant to the Minnesota Department of Health and Director of the Community University Health Care Clinic (CUHCC). CUHCC serves uninsured or underinsured children in the Phillips neighborhood, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the state, a highly diverse community made up of Native American, Hispanic, Southeast Asian, Somali, and white residents. Dr. Deinard has received numerous awards for his efforts, including the University of Minnesota's Award for Outstanding Community Service, the Minneapolis Award for Contributions to the City of Minneapolis, and the Minnesota Department of Health's Betty Hubbard Maternal and Child Health Leadership Certificate of Recognition.

Brian Dorn, JD, PhD, Merchant & Gould, P.C., practices general Intellectual Property law with an emphasis on patent prosecution and client counseling (U.S. and foreign). His practice is concentrated in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Dr. Dorn has prosecuted patents and worked on opinions regarding stem cells, humanized antibodies, siRNA, small molecule pharmaceuticals and therapeutic uses, pharmaceutical delivery systems, antimicrobials, therapeutic peptides, diagnostic and immuno-assays, phage display systems, microarrays, therapeutic medical device coatings, and transgenic animals. He has also authored multiple, peer reviewed scientific publications relating to his research in microbiology, human and microbial genetics, and cell biology. He received his PhD in Biomedical Sciences with a concentration in Microbiology/Immunology and his JD magna cum laude from the University of Florida.

Mark Ellinger, JD, PhD, is a Principal in the Twin Cities office of Fish & Richardson P.C., one of the country's largest intellectual property law firms. Dr. Ellinger's practice emphasizes patent prosecution, opinions, due diligence investigations, licensing and counseling in the medical biotechnology, agricultural biotechnology, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, and medical science fields. His practice has involved subject matter such as genomics, proteomics, gene therapy, xenotransplantation, transgenic animals, transgenic plants, metabolic engineering, immunoassays, nucleic acid-based assays, antisense technology, nucleic acid analogues, microarrays, vaccines, stem cells, medical devices, food science, and potential treatments for diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, allergy, arthritis, diabetes, and Alzheimer's Disease.

Hubert (Skip) H. Humphrey, III, JD, is a Senior Fellow in Public Health Policy and Law in the Division of Epidemiology at the University's School of Public Health, Senior Vice President at GCI Tunheim, and a former Minnesota Attorney General. As a long time advocate for non-smoking issues, Mr. Humphrey's numerous accomplishments include being the first attorney general in the nation to bring an anti-trust and consumer fraud lawsuit again the tobacco industry, reaching a landmark settlement of the Minnesota litigation; in 1999, he was awarded the Tobacco Free World Prize by the World Health Organization for his efforts. Mr. Humphrey holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School and a bachelor's degree from American University in Washington, DC.

Ryan Johnson, Esq. is a shareholder of Fredrikson & Byron, PA and a member of the firm's Life Sciences, Health Law, and Corporate Groups. Among his clients are medical device companies, health care systems, physician groups, physician management companies, and other health care professionals and businesses. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, financings, joint ventures, strategic alliances, regulatory compliance, and general tax and business planning. He received his JD magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School where he was an articles editor for the Minnesota Law Review. Minnesota Law & Politics has consistently named him a "Rising Star." After Law School he clerked for Judge Frank J. Magill of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Rep. Phyllis Kahn, PhD, MPA, is a member of the Minnesota Legislature serving her 15th term. She is currently a member of Governmental Operations and Veteran Affairs, State Government Finance, Capital Investment, and Regulated Industries Committees. Her legislative interests include issues dealing with pension and investment policy, science and technology (most recently DNA testing and the role of biotechnology in agriculture) information policy, natural resources and women's rights. She has been the chief author of the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act (controlling smoking in public places), the computer crime and computer virus laws, and legislation on nuclear safety, radioactive waste disposal, field tests of genetically modified crops and infectious waste disposal. She also authored laws to require gender equity in athletics and laws prohibiting discrimination based on age or disability. She has been instrumental in obtaining funding for parks, trails, historic preservation, art-enhancement of State buildings, and the expansion of community and urban forests. She has served on many national committees, particularly in the field of Science and Public Policy and has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She received a B.A. in physics from Cornell, a PhD in biophysics from Yale and a MPA from the J.F.K. School of Government at Harvard.

Vanessa Laird, is currently General Counsel, Enterprise Services, United HealthGroup. She was previously Vice President and Senior Counsel for Medtronic's Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management and Neuromodulation businesses, as well as Senior Legal Counsel, based in Tolochenaz, Switzerland, for Medtronic Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to Medtronic, Ms. Laird practiced U.S. and international law in the Legal Adviser's Office at the U.S. Department of State. Earlier in her career, she taught law at the University of Sheffield in England, and clerked for Judge Stephen S. Trott of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Ms. Laird holds a BA in English and political science from Williams College, magna cum laude with Highest Honors in English; a BA and MA in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University (Worcester College); and a JD from Stanford University.

Kenneth A. Liebman, JD, Faegre & Benson LLP, is chair of Faegre & Benson's Intellectual Property Group. He served as lead counsel for the University of Minnesota in its patent licensing litigation with Glaxo Wellcome over the AIDS drug Ziagen. The case settled with the defendant recognizing the validity of the University's patents and agreeing to pay royalties estimated to be $300 million over the life of the patents. The settlement is reported to be the largest ever obtained by any public university in patent license litigation. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and William Mitchell Law School. He is one of only two Minnesota lawyers listed in the International Who's Who of E-Commerce Lawyers.

Ruth A. Mickelsen, JD, MPH, is Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Allina Health System, a nonprofit health care delivery system that includes a million-member managed care organization, 19 hospitals, 60 medical groups, and 12,000 physicians and other health care providers. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and William Mitchell College of Law. She was appointed the Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at William Mitchell College of Law during the 1999-2000 academic year. She is currently the President of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Minnesota Center for Bioethics. Ms. Mickelsen is co-author of Law and Mental Health Professionals (American Psychological Association, revised 1998) and a writer and lecturer on issues of health law, policy, and ethics. She was awarded a Bush Leadership Fellowship in 1985 and has been named a leading Health Law Lawyer by the Minnesota Business Guidebook: Law and Leading Attorneys.

Winthrop A. Rockwell, JD, Faegre & Benson LLP, concentrates on commercial and product liability litigation. He serves as head of Faegre & Benson's General Litigation Group which concentrates in the areas of agribusiness litigation, appellate practice, data practices litigation, drug and device litigation, the energy industry, environmental litigation, insurance, media/First Amendment litigation and privacy. Mr. Rockwell served for six months in 1979 as associate general counsel of President Carter's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island. He has served on the board of directors of various Minnesota nonprofit organizations. Mr. Rockwell is a Fellow of the British-American Project founded by the Royal Institute of International Affairs and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Before law school, he worked on the Foreign Desk of the New York Times and as an Assistant to the President of Dartmouth College. Mr. Rockwell received his A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1970 and his JD from New York University in 1975.

Mark B. Rotenberg, JD, M.Phil., is currently General Counsel of the University of Minnesota. Prior to becoming General Counsel in 1992, Mr. Rotenberg was a partner in the Labor/Employment Law Department of the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey & Whitney. He has served as an attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in Washington, DC, and was law clerk to Judge Patricia M. Wald on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Mr. Rotenberg received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in history and politics from Brandeis University, and holds M.A., M.Phil. and JD degrees from Columbia University where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and an editor of the Columbia Law Review.

Ann L. Russell, JD, MSW, is a lawyer with twenty years of experience in advising health care entities. Currently an Associate Counsel for Catholic Health Initiatives, a national organization with over a hundred hospitals, clinics, and skilled nursing facilities, she has also represented the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic and Hennepin County Medical Center and Community Health Department. Ms. Russell has extensive experience in teaching and advising health care providers who are dealing with operational, regulatory, patient care, and ethical dilemmas. She is currently a member of the Ethics Committees of Fairview University Health Center and Hennepin County Medical Center. She also serves on the Advisory Board to the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics. Ms. Russell is a frequent speaker on ethical issues and teaches biomedical ethics at William Mitchell College of Law. Prior to practicing law, Ms. Russell was a psychiatric social worker in the Hennepin County Mental Health Center for 10 years.

Paul Savereide, JD, PhD, is Of Counsel at Patterson, Thuente, Skaar, and Christensen, a Minneapolis law firm specializing in intellectual property law. Previously, he was a Senior Attorney at Cargill, Inc. and Corporate Patent Counsel for Chiron Corporation in Emeryville, California. He also worked as an associate with the Minneapolis office of the Dorsey and Whitney law firm. Mr. Savereide earned his PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of Minnesota and his JD from the University of Minnesota in December, 1991. He is a member of the Minnesota Bar and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a Patent Attorney.

Debra A. Shetka, JD, is a frequent speaker on biotechnology patent issues and has lectured on patent interference law at Stanford University, Santa Clara University, and the University of Washington. Her practice focuses on life science patent law with a special emphasis on patent interferences and appeals to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Ms. Shetka was involved in two especially important Federal Circuit appeals addressing the patentability of DNA sequences as principal author in an appeal on behalf of Chiron Corporation and as amicus curiae on behalf of the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Bay Area Bioscience Center.

Byron E. Starns, JD, is shareholder and partner at the firm of Leonard, Street and Deinard, P.A., practicing in the areas of Environmental & Public Law, Energy, and Regulated Industries. To his areas of practice, as well as to his current position as chair of Leonard, Street & Deinard's Litigation Division, he brings his past experience as Minnesota chief deputy attorney general (1974-1979) and deputy attorney general for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (1973-1974). Mr. Starns is admitted to practice in the State of Minnesota, the State of Illinois, before the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and before the U.S. Supreme Court. He earned his J.D. at the University of Chicago.

Martin J. Stillman, MD, JD practices internal medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center and is Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He serves on the Core Curriculum Seminar Steering Committee for the Graduate Medical Education Office at the University of Minnesota as well as the Advisory Committee for the monthly publication, Minnesota Medicine. He is a Fellow in the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM), President of the Minnesota Medical Alumni Society, and co-chairs the Health and Safety Committee for the Herzl Camp Board of Directors. Dr. Stillman graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1993 and the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1997. He completed his training in internal medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2000. During his residency, he was recognized as an outstanding teacher, winning a Minnesota Medical Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award.

Margo S. Struthers, JD, Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP, is chair of the Health Law Practice Group. She represents a variety of health care clients, including hospitals and other health care providers, provider associations, third-party payors and other managed care entities, medical manufacturers, and integrated delivery systems. Her practice involves organizational structure and other issues affecting nonprofit, professional, and business organizations in health care. She also has substantial experience related to health care contracts, institutional and professional licensure, HMO and insurance regulation, fraud and abuse, director and officer liability, conflict of interest and tax exemption issues, medical staff bylaws and credentialing, bioethical issues, and medical records and other confidentiality issues. In addition to being an active member of the Minnesota State Bar Association Health Law Section (past chair), she also is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and is a past President of the Minnesota chapter of the former American Academy of Healthcare Attorneys. Ms. Struthers has also written and lectured extensively on a variety of health care, third-party payment, tax exemption, and other nonprofit organization issues.

Judith Walker is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Chief Compliance and Ethics Officer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. Ms. Walker is accountable for providing leadership on regulatory compliance issues and for maintaining the company's compliance and ethics program. She has held several positions at Blue Cross since joining the company in 1988, most recently serving as Deputy General Counsel. Prior to joining Blue Cross, Ms. Walker worked for the Minnesota Department of Health in HMO regulation and taught undergraduate students at the University of St. Thomas. Ms. Walker serves on the advisory board of the Health Law Institute of Hamline University School of Law and is a member of the Health Law Governing Council of the Minnesota State Bar Association. She has participated in the mentoring programs of the University of St. Thomas Law School and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Ms. Walker is currently board chair of the Minnesota Literacy Council, a statewide nonprofit organization committed to improving lives by improving literacy. Ms. Walker received her undergraduate degree from St. Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota and her law degree from Hamline University School of Law.