National Advisory Board

NANCY CHONG
Development Associate, Visual AIDS

Nancy Chong is the Development Associate at Visual AIDS, the only arts organization fully committed to raising AIDS awareness and creating dialogue around HIV issues today, by preserving and honoring the work of artists with HIV/AIDS and artistic contributions of the AIDS movement. She is also a New York State Department of Health-certified emergency department advocate of the Mount Sinai Hospital's Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program. Previously, Nancy served as a Global Health Corps fellow at the Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia. She led partnership efforts for the organization's HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health programs, working closely with sex workers, the LGBTQIA+ community, and youth to link them to comprehensive care. She also held positions at D.C. Central Kitchen, Human Rights Watch, Global Health Corps, and the Wilson Center. Nancy holds a BA in International Studies and a minor in Public Health from American University. She is currently pursuing a MS in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University.

JENNIFER FARMER
Health Educator, Texas A&M University

Jennifer is currently a PhD candidate in Health Education at Texas A&M University. Her research specifically explores the school-based sexual health education needs and interest of middle and high school-age youth. Her previous experience includes supporting and enabling innovative, systems-level approaches to improving adolescent sexual health and reducing unintended pregnancy. She is a passionate advocate for youth voice and strongly believes in the power of youth-adult partnerships to improve sexual health education. In her free time she loves biking, hiking, camping, and pretty much anything to do with animals and nature. She lives in Houston, TX with her family.

MADDY HILL-GLOVER
Junior Associate, M Booth Health

Maddy Hill-Glover is a Junior Public Affairs Associate at M Booth Health, an integrated health communications agency that inspires innovative and equitable progress in public health and medicine. She is also a former writer for Sex, Etc., a sexual health magazine written by youth editorial staff for teenage audiences. Before joining M Booth Health, Maddy served as a Communications Assistant at the Center for Community Engagement (CCE) and an Advocacy and Community Engagement Intern at Villa of Hope, a community health organization in Rochester, NY. At CCE, Maddy helped to execute impactful community engagement social media campaigns that connected the University of Rochester students to the greater Rochester community. At the Villa, Maddy advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives through extensive legislative research, creating DEI resource libraries, and establishing an internal advocacy group. Maddy holds a BS in Environmental Health and a minor in Social Psychology from the University of Rochester and currently resides in Colorado.   

CYNTHIA LAM 
Board Chair
Attorney, Skadden, Arps 

Cynthia Lam is a corporate attorney at Skadden, Arps, a global law firm headquartered in New York. Outside of work, she serves as Co-Chair of the Young Lawyers Committee for the Asian American Bar Assocation of New York and an elementary school volunteer for Apex for Youth. Cynthia is passionate about empowering young people through education, and she attributes many of her experiences to her time as a Sex, Etc. Teen Editor from 2008-2011. A Levy Scholar and Wharton Fellow, Cynthia graduated from the three-year JD/MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and The Wharton School in 2018. She received her BA in English and BS in Business Administration from Washington and Lee University as a Johnson Scholar in 2015.

MAI RATAKONDA
Legal Department Manager, States United Democracy Center

Mai Ratakonda is a staff attorney at Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Public Policy Litigation and Law Department. While at PPFA, Ms. Ratakonda has been involved in numerous cases that have an impact women’s access to reproductive health services across the country, including challenging an admitting privileges requirement for abortion providers in Alabama, Texas’s attempt to terminate Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, and a contracted physician requirement for medication abortion providers in Arkansas. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, dog and cat.

VANESSA RIOS
Learning and Evaluation Officer, Open Society Foundations (OSF)

Vanessa is an experienced evaluator passionate about using data and evidence to inform programs and policies that advance health and human rights. As a Learning and Evaluation Officer at OSF, Vanessa works closely with colleagues across program areas to ensure that strategy, grant making practices, and learning are mutually reinforcing. Prior to joining OSF, Vanessa worked for the learning and evaluation teams at the International Women's Health Coalition, the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Regional Office. Vanessa also serves a data co-manager on the NY Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF) board of directors and mentors first-generation college students through Ascend Educational Fund (AEF). She holds a BS in Human Development from Cornell University, and an MPH in Global Health from Emory University. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her partner and their Boston Terrier, Luna.

LYDIA A. SHRIER, MD, MPH
Research Director, Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine

Lydia A. Shrier, MD, MPH is Research Director for the Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine and Co-Director of the Center for Adolescent Behavioral Health Research at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shrier leads a program of adolescent health research using electronic devices for frequent momentary assessment of and intervention on emotional states, social contexts, and risk behaviors in vivo. She has developed interventions to reduce cannabis use in youth and to reduce sexual risk behavior in young women with depression, both of which couple brief, clinic-based, motivational counseling with momentary assessment and intervention. Dr. Shrier also developed the Safer Sex Intervention to reduce sexual risk behavior among high-risk female adolescents and young adults, which has been replicated in sites across the U.S. She maintains an active clinical practice in primary and specialty adolescent care.