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*Presidential Addresses

Thursday, July 23, 2020

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Presidential Address

Introduction: Guillermo (“Willy”) Prado, PhD, SPR President

Presenter: Mary Woolley, President, Research!America

Guillermo (Willy) Prado, PhD

Guillermo (Willy) Prado, PhD, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Dean of the Graduate School; and Professor of Nursing and Health Studies, Public Health Sciences, and Psychology at the University of Miami

Dr. Guillermo (Willy) Prado is Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Dean of the Graduate School; and Professor of Nursing and Health Studies, Public Health Sciences, and Psychology at the University of Miami. His research broadly focuses on the development, evaluation, and dissemination of parenting interventions for Hispanic youth and their families. Prado’s research has appeared in over 140 peer-reviewed articles and chapters. He has been PI, Co-I, or mentor by over $100 million dollars of NIH. His research has been recognized by numerous organizations, including the National Hispanic Science Network, the Society for Prevention Research, and the Society for Adolescent and has been featured in several domestic and international news outlets, including the Miami Herald and CNN en Español.  Prado has also successfully mentored doctoral and post-doctoral fellow, most of which are currently in faculty positions of their own and leaders in their fields. He is the recipient of awards from the Florida Education Fund and the Society for Prevention Research for his commitment to graduate students of color and early career prevention scientists, respectively.  Prado is currently PI of NIDA/NIH funded study evaluating the effectiveness of an online adaption of Familias Unidas, an evidence-based family intervention, for Hispanic youth in primary care. He is also the Director of the Investigator Development Core of the NIMHD/NIH funded Center for Latino Health Research Opportunities.  Finally, Prado is currently the President of the Society for Prevention Research; a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Prevention and Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States; and a Board Member of Research!America, the country’s largest not-for-profit public education and advocacy alliance committed to making research to improve health a higher national priority.

Mary Woolley

Mary Woolley, president, Research!America

Mary Woolley is the president of Research!America, the nation’s largest not-for-profit, membership supported grassroots public education and advocacy organization committed to making medical and health research a higher national priority. Under her leadership, Research!America has earned the attention and respect of elected and appointed officials, researchers in the public, private and academic sectors, media, and community leaders with its record of innovation in advocacy for research. Research!America’s reports and publications, Web sites, and constituent education initiatives have been honored by leading regional and international communications and advocacy organizations.

Woolley is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) and served two terms on its Governing Council. She is a recipient of the Adam Yarmolinsky Medal for distinguished contributions to the mission of the Academy over a significant period. Woolley has served two terms on the National Academy of Sciences Board on Life Sciences, and currently serves on its Board for Higher Education and Workforce.  She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a founding member of the Board of Associates of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, a member of the board of the Institute of Systems Biology, a member of the visiting committee of the University of Chicago Medical Center and a former member of the National Council for Johns Hopkins Nursing. She has served as president of the Association of Independent Research Institutes (AIRI), as a reviewer for the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation, and as a consultant to several research organizations.

She has a 30-year editorial and publication history on science advocacy and research related topics. Her op-eds and letters to the editor are published in newspapers and magazines from coast to coast including The New York Times and Washington Post. She has been published in Science, Nature, Issues in Science and Technology, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Scientist, Women’s Health Magazine and others. She is a sought-after speaker and is frequently interviewed by science, news and policy journalists and has received recognition by PBS as an “Unsung Heroine.”

Woolley holds two honorary doctoral degrees, from the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) and Wayne State University. For her work on behalf of medical research, she has been honored as a Woman of Vision by the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science and has received the American Hospital Association Silver Touchstone Award for Public Affairs Programming, the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Dean’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Special Award for Science Advocacy, the Friends of the National Institute for Nursing Research Health Advocacy Award, the Awareness and Advocacy Award from the Clinical Research Forum, the Friends of the National Library of Medicine Paul G. Rogers Public Service Award, the National Advocacy Leadership Award from the Lupus Foundation of America, the AcademyHealth Chair Award and the Adam Yarmolinsky Award from the National Academy of Medicine.

A native of Chicago, Woolley received a bachelor of science from Stanford University and a master of arts from San Francisco State University. In her early career, Woolley served as San Francisco project director for the then largest-ever NIH-funded clinical trial, the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT). In 1981, she became administrator of the Medical Research Institute of San Francisco, and in 1986 was named the Institute’s executive director and CEO. Woolley has served as president and CEO of Research!America since 1990.