Christine Tang (CT) is a PhD Student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and works part-time as a Research Scientist for the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (NM WRRI) on the Transboundary Groundwater Resilience Network of Networks (TGR NoN) project. CT focuses on dynamic computer simulation modeling and uses other Operations Research (OR) methods as needed to model and mitigate health problems. CT has worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and UMass Medical School. When CT is not working with a health system, CT focuses on methodology and applications to aid modelers. CT lives in the Houston, Texas area and occasionally travels back to Worcester, Massachusetts. Event planning is one of CT’s hobbies and is part of CT’s work with WPI and TGR! As a member of the SDS Student Chapter, Student-Organized Colloquium (SOC) team, and Diversity Committee, CT is committed to aiding all learners, especially students and early career researchers.

Celia is a third year PhD student at Harvard Business School focused in Health Policy Management. Her goal is to address persistent problems in healthcare – ones that have been frequently addressed and to poor effect. In particular, she is interested in using System Dynamics methods (a methodological framework to understand, and manage change by modeling the relationships between all parts of a system to see how those relationships influence the behavior of the system over time) to address tech burden and clinician burnout.

Martha studied mechanical engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada before entering the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program, University of Guelph, Canada.  Upon graduation she spent a year in mixed animal practice in rural Alberta, then moved to Calgary where she worked as an emergency companion animal veterinarian for 29 years, initially in private practice and later at the Western Veterinary Specialist Centre.  Since retiring from clinical practice she maintains her interest in the role of the human-animal bond and the ever growing human awareness of animal sentience in the context of Interconnected Health.  Martha is an enthusiastic system dynamics learner and has been volunteering with the System Dynamics Society for the past two years.  Martha wishes to support the emerging synergies between systems thinking, system dynamics, mixed methods modeling and the data sciences to further integrate the unique holistic benefits of system dynamics thinking and communication skills for all life forms and their urban, rural and wild habitats.