CLARENCE PEARSON
Clarence Pearson is a Global Health Leadership and Management Consultant and former Senior Advisor to the World Health Organization Office at the United Nations. He was Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Center for Health Education (NCHE), the outcome of a Presidential Commission. With funds from the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, NCHE developed a comprehensive K-8 school health education curriculum-the most widely used health curriculum in US public schools.
Pearson also served as Vice President of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management (now Leader to Leader Institute), and Vice President and Director of Health and Safety Education for Metropolitan Life. He directed a nationally recognized corporate health education and safety program that pioneered in the development of school health, patient education and worksite programs. He conducted a comprehensive feasibility study that established the MetLife Foundation, which has encouraged innovative funding in health, education, and human services.
Pearson was a loaned executive for a two-year White House assignment as Associate Director of a US Presidential Health Commission; a Consultant-in-Residence in Moscow for the US Department of State, directing a management training program, New Leaders of Russia; and a public health consultant in the former Yugoslavia and in Central America for US government agencies and NGOs.
Among his numerous volunteer activities and board service, Clarence Pearson served on the Board of Overseers of the Dartmouth Medical School and the C. Everett Koop Institute at Dartmouth and as Adjunct Professor of Education at Columbia University and Adjunct Professor of Community Health at the New Jersey College of Medicine, Rutgers University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Federation for Aging Research, Senior Scholar at Jefferson Medical College, Member of the Ad Council Advisory Board on Public Service, and former member of the AARP Board of Directors and vice chair of the AARP Foundation Board. For President Eisenhower's People to People Ambassador program, he led a delegation to study public health and medical care in the People's Republic of China.
Pearson conceived and serves as Executive Editor for a series of books on global health, published by Jossey-Bass/John Wiley &Sons: Critical Issues in Global Health, with C. Everett Koop, former US Surgeon General, as Principal Editor, a collection of essays written by 75 international health leaders from government, business and the social sector; Global Health Leadership and Management, with William Foege, Senior Advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as Principal Editor; and Global Health and Global Aging, with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland as Principal Editor. The current book in the series, Urban Health: A Global Perspective, sponsored by the New York Academy of Medicine, is scheduled for publication in 2009.
Pearson's awards include the International Health Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Public Health Association; the Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and the Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to Education from Columbia University.
GEORGIA CHAN DOWNARD
Combining extensive experience in the fields of national media, broadcast production, lifestyle publishing and other culinary activities, Georgia is a veteran television producer, author, food stylist and consultant. She is currently a partner in Reel Cooking Productions, a full-service independent production company that creates DVDs, broadcast and web videos for food companies and professionals.
As part of the Food Network's original team, she designed the first studio kitchen, set up its staffing and operations, helped develop show concepts and content, and created the template for the cooking scripts that have become the Network standard. Georgia served in senior positions for more than 12 years with the Food Network, including Culinary Director, Food Editor and Senior Producer on numerous shows.
Georgia was an Associate Food Editor for five years at Gourmet Magazine. As a food stylist, writer and menu developer, Georgia has also worked with Conde Nast, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Self, Cottage Living, New York Magazine, Vogue and Prevention. She has authored or co-authored seven cookbooks. In acknowledgment of her extensive culinary contributions in both television and print, Georgia was named 2003 James Beard Food Editor of the Year.
