Guest Host Biographies

OVC Web Forum Guest Host sessions offer an impressive roster of experts discussing best practices for a wide variety of victim issues. You can read about the guest hosts here. For more information, questions, or comments about the sessions, send an e-mail to OVCproviderforum@ncjrs.gov.

To view a biography, click on the guest host's name below. To learn more about previous years’ guest hosts, visit the Guest Host Biographies Archive.

Current Guest Hosts

Timothy Woods
05/14/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Responding to Victims of Crime

Timothy Woods is Director of the Research, Development, and Grants Division at the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) in Alexandria, Virginia. He also is Project Director for all the association’s grants from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), including the Victim Services in Rural Law Enforcement demonstration project, in partnership with Justice Solutions, Inc. NSA, which has provided law enforcement training since 1940 and currently has more than 20,000 members, represents the 3,087 sheriffs in the United States and other public safety professionals. Mr. Woods is the author of First Response to Victims of Crime 2001, an NSA handbook for law enforcement officers that OVC’s Director, John Gillis, once recognized as the agency’s “most requested publication.” Mr. Woods also wrote the OVC-funded First Response to Victims of Crime Who Have a Disability handbook and the recently released First Response to Victims of Crime guidebook, for which a companion roll-call video was produced by Video/Action.

Mr. Woods earned bachelor’s degrees in sociology, political science, history, and Germanic languages and literature from Washington University, and a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Virginia. He earned his juris doctorate from the St. Louis University School of Law, and has a master of laws degree in international law from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Past Guest Hosts

Dianne Barker-Harrold
7/12/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Identity Theft in Indian Country

Dianne Barker-Harrold is a Program Manager for Unified Solutions Tribal Community Development Group, Inc., which provides training and technical assistance for tribal victim programs across the nation. She also is an adjunct instructor of Native American studies at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma; Associate Tribal Judge for the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; and advisor to the chief of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees in Oklahoma, where she formerly served as Attorney General. Previously, she was an elected district attorney for four counties that included the jurisdiction of the United Keetoowah Band mentioned above and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Recently, Unified Solutions' Training and Technical Assistance Newsletter featured her article "Fraud and Exploitation," in which she outlined the problem of identity theft and how it affects tribal members. Ms. Barker-Harrold also is an independent consultant with a focus in Indian Country in the areas of crime victims, law enforcement, needs assessment, program development, domestic violence, juvenile law, elder abuse, and methamphetamine crimes. She has worked on numerous drug-related cases that involved elder abuse and identity theft in Indian Country.

Ms. Barker-Harrold's past experience includes teaching criminal law, business law, and social work and the law for 10 years as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. She also worked in private practice for 18 years, during which time she served as tribal court judge for 13 Indian tribes in Oklahoma. She has a bachelor's degree in social work and psychology with a minor in criminal justice and humanities. She obtained her juris doctor at the University of Tulsa, College of Law. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Laurie V. Caldwell
5/23/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Addressing Cases With Missing or Unidentified Victims

Laurie V. Caldwell, MSW, is a Senior Agent with the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and Director of the Nathan M. Wolfe Law Enforcement Cadet Academy. She joined SLED in 1986 and was assigned to the Missing Person Information Center, then transferred to criminal investigations in the Midlands Region in 1992. When asked by law enforcement or the Department of Social Services, Agent Caldwell conducts forensic interviews of children. Since 1986, her work has been devoted to the safety and recovery of abused children, and to educating others in this field. She has provided training to law enforcement, social services, and school personnel throughout South Carolina. She also has been a guest instructor at the North Carolina Justice Academy; the Metropolitan Police Institute in Miami, Florida; and the Royal Bahamas Police Department.

Agent Caldwell has pursued advanced educational opportunities for herself as well—at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville, and the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. She has received specialized training in the areas of physical and sexual abuse and has investigated these cases statewide. Agent Caldwell holds a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies and a master's degree in social work, all from the University of South Carolina. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Olegario Cantos VII
02/21/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Serving Crime Victims With Disabilities

Blind since birth, Olegario “Ollie” Cantos VII is Associate Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Executive Office of the President. The highest placed person with a disability in the Federal Government today, one of his chief responsibilities involves coordinating the formation and implementation of national policy across federal agencies regarding people with disabilities. Working on numerous fronts to advance disability rights enforcement, Mr. Cantos has served on several committees such as the Attorney General's Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities. In this and other prominent roles, he fostered closer ties between the U.S. Department of Justice and disability rights leaders. Mr. Cantos was the first and only person ever to serve as General Counsel and Director of Programs for the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). Prior to joining AAPD in June 2002, he was a Staff Attorney and Director of Outreach and Education at the Disability Rights Legal Center (formerly the Western Law Center for Disability Rights) in Los Angeles.

Mr. Cantos has written several articles and other publications and given presentations nationwide to disability rights activists, civil rights leaders, attorneys and other legal professionals, government officials, and more. Among other publications, he wrote a California primer for crime victims with disabilities and their families and a widely circulated lead article for the National Center for Victims of Crime entitled “We Can Do Better: Serving Crime Victims With Disabilities.” He has received numerous awards for his work in the disability field, such as the Robert Stack Award from the Blind Children's Center and the Paul G. Hearne National Leadership Award from AAPD. Mr. Cantos has also worked with national leaders of disability rights organizations and high-ranking officials from the White House and various federal departments to provide a consumer's perspective on policies that affect the disability community. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Mitru Ciarlante
02/27/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Responding to Teen Victims of Dating Violence

Mitru Ciarlante is Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime's Teen Victim Initiative. She works to advance rights and services for young victims and survivors of crime, promotes youth inclusion in social change and advocacy efforts, and supports professionals who work with youth victims. As a victim counselor and advocate, she started a comprehensive children's advocacy program; founded the Children's Advocates' Task Force of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV); and created the Students Together for Outreach and Prevention of Abuse peer education program.

Ms. Ciarlante is the National Chair of the Research and Best Practice Committee of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) Vision of Hope campaign to end sexual violence against children. She also founded Advocacy, Consultation, and Training for Change, a consultation firm through which she has supported the development of multiple programs, including Rallying Youth Organizers Together Against Rape, a PCAR statewide youth activist network. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Kerry Cosgrove
02/13/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Victim Services in Urban High Crime Neighborhoods

Kerry Cosgrove, a Licensed Professional Counselor, is Supervisor of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department's Victim Services Unit (VSU). The VSU was established in 1999 to aid victims and survivors of crime by offering emotional support, practical aid, and advocacy. In 2007, the VSU provided criminal justice support, victims' rights information, and crisis intervention services to 7,053 victims of crime.

In 2002, OVC selected Kansas City, Kansas, as one of six pilot sites for the Urban High Crime Neighborhood Initiative (UHCNI). This initiative supports the creation of collaborative models for grassroots, community service, and victim assistance organizations in high-crime urban settings to work together to improve services to crime victims in their own neighborhoods. Participating in the initiative allowed the VSU to identify gaps in services and develop best practices for meeting the needs of traditionally underserved populations of crime victims within the northeast quadrant of Kansas City, Kansas. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Sharon D'Eusanio
02/21/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Serving Crime Victims With Disabilities

Sharon D'Eusanio is the Assistant Director of the Division of Victim Services and Criminal Justice Programs for the Office of the Florida Attorney General. She has acted as a consultant for the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office on Violence Against Women, and she serves on the Board of Directors for the Coalition for Independent Living Options, Inc., and CrimeStoppers of Broward County, Florida. She has also served in focus groups, on advisory boards, and on various steering and other committees for local, state, and national agencies and organizations.

In May of 1980, Ms. D'Eusanio became the victim of a violent crime, which nearly took her life and left her blind. She then began her transformation from crime victim to community activist, author, professional speaker, trainer, and consultant. Her message of hope, perseverance, and determination is reflected in her presentations and her autobiography, Feel the Laughter. Ms. D'Eusanio has received several local, state, and national awards for her work in the victim assistance field, including the National Crime Victim Service Award presented by President Reagan in 1985. In 2005, the March of Dimes named her one of their “Women of Distinction” in Broward County. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dana DeHart
03/28/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Victim Service Provider Standards and Certification Issues

Dana DeHart, Ph.D., is a consultant for state and federal government programs, health departments, and universities, among others. She specializes in victimology, particularly domestic abuse, trauma responses, and underserved populations. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator developing the Elder Mistreatment Prevention Training program for the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. She was the Project Director for the Office for Victims of Crime's (OVC's) National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium, as well as the Principal Investigator on related projects, including the Ethics in Victim Services CD–ROM draft curriculum developed with OVC and the Victim Assistance Legal Organization (VALOR). Dr. DeHart also served as Project Director for the National Institute of Justice's study, Victimization Experiences of Incarcerated Women, and she is extending that work in her current study, Poly-victimization of Girls Referred to the Justice System.

In addition, Dr. DeHart has served as an evaluator for OVC's Collaborative Response to Crime Victims in Urban Areas initiative, an effort to link faith-based and secular services in five U.S. cities. She has conducted research on battered women's recovery, batterer treatment, psychological abuse, intimate homicide, hate crimes, and service use among ethnic and sexual minorities. Dr. DeHart also is a reviewer for leading psychological journals and publishers, has co-authored several book chapters, and has been published in Violence & Victims and the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Journal of Family Violence, Journal of Death & Dying, and Journal of Sex Research. She received her Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1995. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dan Eddy
11/14/2006 online discussion host
Topic: Crime Victim Compensation and Best Practices

Dan Eddy has been the Executive Director of the National Association of Crime Victim Compensation Boards since 1988. In this role, he implements national training and technical assistance activities for all state victim compensation programs, operates an information and resource center on compensation issues, and represents compensation program interests with the Federal Government. Prior to this position, he was director of the Crime Victims Project for the National Association of Attorneys General. In 2001, Mr. Eddy received the Donald Santarelli Award for Outstanding Public Service from the National Organization for Victim Assistance for his contributions in the public policy arena. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Maryland School of Law.

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Carroll Ann Ellis
11/8/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Working with Survivors of Traumatic Events

Carroll Ann Ellis is Director of the Victim Services Division of the Fairfax County Police Department. She has supported the needs of victims for more than 30 years, providing training and technical assistance to national, state, and local agencies; monitoring victim legislation; and working on public policy issues of concern to victims of crime. Ms. Ellis has received countless awards and citations including a 2004 National Crime Victims' Rights Week Service Award and the American Society of Victimology Ed Stout Award. She facilitated the first police-based homicide support group, and was recently appointed to serve on Governor Tim Kaine's Virginia Tech Independent Review Panel.

Ms. Ellis has a master's degree in Psychology and is a graduate of Leadership Fairfax, Inc. She serves on Governor Kaine's Commission on Sexual Assault and is a member of the U.S. Department of Justice's Review Panel on Prison Rape. Ms. Ellis has authored numerous articles, manuals, and textbooks, including the first and second editions of Emergency Forensic Medicine. She also developed the first police shelter designed to immediately house domestic violence victims in need of emergency support. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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John M. Evans
12/15/06 online discussion co-host
Topic: Serving Victims of Impaired Driving

John Evans currently serves as the National Victim Services Training Manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Through MADD, Mr. Evans directly supports victims of crime and the advocates who serve them. He provides oversight for all of MADD's Beginning and Advanced Victim Assistance Training Institutes; Death Notification Seminars for first responders and allied professionals; Victim Impact Panels/Classes Training; and Speaking with Impact Seminars for victim survivors. He also oversees development for MADD's annual national conference workshops and online tributes for drunk driving crash victims, in addition to facilitating "Monday Night Chat," the weekly Web-based victims/survivors support group.

Mr. Evans was trained and certified as a MADD Victim Advocate shortly after his personal victimization by a drunk driver in 1992. He is well known for his expertise in the areas of bereavement and injury survivorship following crime victimization, and he has instructed a wide variety of service providers including law enforcement officers, clergy, chaplains, criminal justice personnel, funeral directors, and mental health and victim services professionals. Mr. Evans has also served as consultant to the Office for Victims of Crime on crime victim services for people with disabilities and is a presenter for OVC's Training and Technical Assistance Center. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dr. David Finkelhor
10/25/2006 online discussion co-host
Topic: Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

David Finkelhor, Ph.D., is Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, Co-Director of the Family Research Laboratory, and a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire. He has been studying the problems of child victimization, child maltreatment, and family violence since 1977. In his recent work, Dr. Finkelhor has tried to unify and integrate knowledge about all the diverse forms of child victimization in a field he has termed "developmental victimology." He is well known for his conceptual and empirical work on the problem of child sexual abuse, reflected in publications such as Sourcebook on Child Sexual Abuse (Sage Publications, 1986) and Nursery Crimes (Sage Publications, 1988). He has also written about child homicide, missing and abducted children, children exposed to domestic and peer violence, and family violence.

Dr. Finkelhor is editor and author of 11 books and more than150 journal articles and book chapters. He has received grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, and the U.S. Department of Justice, among others. He received the Distinguished Child Abuse Professional Award from the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in 1994, and the Significant Achievement Award from the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers in 2004. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Stephanie Frogge
5/29/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Providing Peer Support to Disaster Survivors

Stephanie Frogge is the Director of Survivor Services for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), a peer support organization for those whose loved ones die while serving in the military. She gives lectures on juvenile delinquency, victimology, victim services delivery, domestic violence, and criminology for the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, where she also mentors undergraduate students in the university's Victim Studies program. She has more than 25 years of experience in the areas of victim services administration, victim assistance, and victim activism, having written and lectured extensively on victim assistance issues. She has presented hundreds of workshops, lectures, and keynote presentations around the United States. Ms. Frogge has been involved for a number of years with State and National Victim Assistance Academies funded by OVC. Her roles have included faculty, site coordinator, and curriculum developer.

Ms. Frogge assisted with the development of the National Institute for Victim Studies—which represented the first-ever collaboration between a national victims' rights organization and academia—to study and promote victim-related issues and scholarship. Prior to joining TAPS, she was the National Director of Victim Services at Mothers Against Drunk Driving's (MADD's) national office, overseeing the organization's internationally recognized victim services programs. While with MADD, she helped develop their death notification curricular and the first training program for clergy and funeral directors who work with homicide survivors. She was also editor and primary author for MADDvocate magazine. Ms. Frogge is a Certified Trauma Specialist and holds a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Texas Christian University and a master's degree in Theological Studies from Brite Divinity School. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Mario Gaboury
03/28/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Victim Service Provider Standards and Certification Issues

Mario T. Gaboury, J.D., Ph.D., is Professor and Chair for the Department of Criminal Justice, University of New Haven (UNH), where he also directs the Crime Victim Study Center. In 2007, he was named to a 3-year appointment as the university's first Oskar Schindler Humanities Endowed Professor. In these capacities, he is involved in field research and evaluation, professional training, program development and strategic planning, and legal-policy development initiatives. Dr. Gaboury is currently researching human trafficking issues in South Africa, mental health issues in Vietnam, and victim impact education programs for offenders in California, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia. Prior to joining UNH, he served as Deputy Director of the Office for Victims of Crime, where he helped design victim and witness assistance programs. He has also served as a legislative specialist for the National Organization for Victim Assistance and has practiced private law with an emphasis on representing crime victims' interests and children's legal rights.

Dr. Gaboury is currently chairing the Working Group that is revising the curriculum for the National Victim Assistance Academy (NVAA), where he served previously as a senior faculty member and Academic Coordinator. He is also the Academic Director of the Connecticut Victim Assistance Academy and Institute for Advanced Victim Advocacy. Dr. Gaboury is President of the American Society of Victimology, is an active member of the World Society of Victimology, and serves on the International Victimology/Victim Assistance Course Committee. He served a 5-year term on the Advisory Board to the Connecticut Office of the Victim Advocate, which he chaired for 1 year. He is a former Chair of the Connecticut Bar Association's Victims Committee and Vice Chair of the American Bar Association's Crime Victim Committee. Dr. Gaboury received his Ph.D. in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University and his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Michelle Garcia
01/09/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Assisting Victims of Intimate Partner Stalking

01/24/07 online discussion host
Topic: Serving Victims of Stalking

Michelle Garcia is Director of the Stalking Resource Center at the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC). Prior to joining NCVC, Ms. Garcia was a program specialist at the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. She has more than 15 years of experience working with victims of sexual assault and domestic violence and advocating for victims' rights on the local, state, and national levels.

Formerly, Ms. Garcia was President of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault and President of the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault. She has trained others in the field nationally on various specialized victim issues, including stalking, sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and dismantling oppression. Ms. Garcia received her master's degree in public policy from the University of Chicago. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Daniel Gregory
09/26/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

Dan Gregory is the Community Relations Coordinator at Casa de los Niños in Tucson, Arizona, a crisis shelter for abused and neglected children ages 8 and younger. His department recruits, screens, places, and trains more than 300 volunteers who help care for the children in residence. As an active member of the Southern Arizona Volunteer Management Association in Tucson, he has held several leadership positions. He has presented trainings both locally and nationally on topics such as volunteer management and crisis intervention.

Mr. Gregory is a member of the National Organization for Victim Assistance and serves on the National Crisis Response Team. As such, he reported to Oklahoma City following the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building and to New York City following the terrorist attacks of September 11. Mr. Gregory also is a member of the Arizona Governor's Commission on Service and Volunteerism. For 15 years, he also has been a volunteer advocate with the Pima County Attorney's Victim Witness Program, where he responds with law enforcement to help meet the needs of crime victims in southern Arizona. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Dan Hally
7/12/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Identity Theft in Indian Country

Dan Hally is the Chief Criminal Deputy for the Asotin County Sheriff's Office in Washington State. He has 11 years of experience in law enforcement, which includes serving as captain and chief criminal deputy for both tribal and non-tribal agencies. Prior to his current position, he was the Tribal Victim Assistance Project Director for Unified Solutions Tribal Community Development Group, Inc. Deputy Hally has developed and presented training on fraud and identity theft with an emphasis on elders as targets. He also has had an article on fraud and identity theft published in the Lewiston Morning Tribune of Lewiston, Idaho.

Deputy Hally has worked with victim service programs throughout the country since 1995, focusing on training and the development of working relationships with law enforcement. He holds a bachelor's degree in justice studies from Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Melissa Hook
03/12/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Ethical Practices in Victim Services

Melissa Hook is Executive Director of the District of Columbia Office of Victim Services, and former Executive Director of the Victims' Assistance Legal Organization. She serves on the National Advisory Committee for Violence Against Women, where she chairs the Subcommittee on Teen Dating Violence, and on the Attorney General's Commission on Victims of Crime. She is the author of Ethics in Victim Services, designed to help victim assistance professionals identify, analyze, and resolve the many ethical dilemmas they face in their daily work; and has served as a consulting editor to the Crime Victims Report, a journal for criminal justice professionals, since 1999.

Ms. Hook is lead consultant for the Filmmakers' Forum, a resource created by filmmakers and victim advocates to facilitate the discussion of legal and ethical issues that arise from the use of real crime stories in film. She has written about victim-related topics for the Office for Victims of Crime, the National Center for Victims of Crime, the American Probation and Parole Association, and the American Prosecutors Research Institute. She has been involved with several national campaigns that addressed public policy implementation, adult and juvenile reentry, and restorative justice issues. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Susan Smith Howley
09/12/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Public Policy in Victim Services

Susan Smith Howley has worked with the National Center for Victims of Crime since 1991, serving as its Director of Public Policy since 1999. From 2002 through 2005, she was also Director of Victim Services. As one of the nation's leading authorities on legislation relating to crime victims, she analyzes victims' rights laws, provides technical assistance to federal and state lawmakers and advocates, and drafts model legislation. She has testified before state legislatures for bills designed to strengthen the rights of crime victims, and conducted numerous trainings at the national and local levels. Ms. Howley currently serves on the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women. She is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Penelope Hughes
04/16/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Using Online Communications to Assist Crime Victims

Penelope Hughes is Vice President of Online Services at the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), where she supervised the initial development and implementation of the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline—a free, confidential, secure service that provides immediate assistance over the RAINN Web site. Specifically, the hotline provides crisis intervention and support services to victims of sexual assault; referrals to victim assistance resources; explanations of the prosecution process, the criminal justice system, and what to expect when reporting a crime to the police; and information for family and friends of victims.

Ms. Hughes previously served as a trained rape crisis hotline volunteer at the Dekalb County Rape Crisis Center in Decatur, Georgia, for more than 7 years and coordinated fair housing investigations at the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity. She has also worked as legal counsel for the startup technology company XBond. Ms. Hughes has a juris doctorate from the Georgia State University College of Law and a bachelor of arts degree from Davidson College in North Carolina.

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Dr. Linda Ledray
04/26/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Sexual Assault Response Teams

Dr. Linda E. Ledray is the Founder and Director of the Minneapolis-based Sexual Assault Resource Service (SARS) in Minnesota, one of the first Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs in the country, which she developed in 1977. Today, SARS provides forensic-medical services to sexual assault survivors at seven hospital sites in Hennepin County. Dr. Ledray also has helped develop and implement SANE programs across the United States and in numerous other countries. She convened the first SANE meeting in Minneapolis in 1992, which resulted in the founding of the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN). She is a member of IAFN's certification board and its editorial board for the Journal of Forensic Nursing.

Dr. Ledray also has acted as editor for the SANE section of the Journal of Emergency Nursing, has served for 12 years on the editorial review board of Health Care for Women International, and has authored many articles and books, including Recovering from Rape and the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Development and Operation Guide. Her articles have appeared in the American Journal of Nursing, the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, and the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, among other professional texts. She has appeared on CNN, Arthur Frommer's Almanac, and CBS This Morning.

Dr. Ledray received a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in community and mental health nursing, both from the University of Washington. She also earned a master's degree in psychology and a doctorate in clinical psychology and personality research from the University of Minnesota. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Bob Lowery, Jr.
5/23/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Addressing Cases With Missing or Unidentified Victims

Bob Lowery, Jr. City Administrator for O'Fallon, Missouri, is a 25-year law enforcement veteran. Previously, he served as the Assistant Chief for the City of Florissant Police Department, an internationally accredited agency located in the northern suburbs of St. Louis. He is on the Child Abduction Analysis Team for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and the Team Adam Board of Advisors for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Mr. Lowery also is an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Lindenwood University and frequently lectures at other universities and training schools regarding basic and advanced homicide, crime scene, and cold case investigation; interview and interrogation; and multijurisdictional case management.

For most of his career, Mr. Lowery was a detective in the Crimes Against Persons Unit, where he supervised officers and investigated homicides, serious assaults, and sex crimes. Mr. Lowery also was Commander of the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad. One of the oldest and the largest multijurisdictional homicide task forces in the United States, it comprises more than 500 detectives and supervisors who represent 105 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. As Commander, he oversaw homicide investigations in the 10-county St. Louis metropolitan region, including some of its most high-profile investigations of murder-for-hire, sexually motivated homicides (including those of children), narcotics and gang related cases, and armed robbery/murder.

Mr. Lowery holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree in business and human resource management from Lindenwood University. He is also a graduate of many advanced training schools on police management, including the FBI National Academy. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Greg Luft
01/30/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Cultivating Relationships Between Victim Service Providers and the Media

Greg Luft is a Professor and Chair of Colorado State University's Department of Journalism and Technical Communication. Mr. Luft is also an independent producer of documentaries and educational programs with more than 10 years' experience reporting on the justice system. He produced and directed the OVC -funded video, The News Media's Coverage of Crime and Victimization, and has produced programs in conjunction with the Victims' Assistance Legal Organization and the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. His work examines the relationship between reporters, crime victims, and law enforcement, and aims to educate the public about victim issues and the impact of the media on crime victims and criminal justice.

Mr. Luft's programs are used extensively in journalism courses at the university level and as training materials for law enforcement officers and victim service providers. He has earned numerous awards for reporting, documentary production, instructional television, and commercial production. His professional experience includes examining reporters' reactions as they deal with victims of crime and news coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Betsy McAlister Groves
10/25/2006 online discussion co-host
Topic: Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

Betsy McAlister Groves is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in the State of Massachusetts, is the Founding Director of the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center, and is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine. She has served as a consultant with the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence and the Safe Start Initiative. Ms. Groves currently is on the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Domestic Violence and is a consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, the Massachusetts Judicial Institute, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

Ms. Groves has published a book on children exposed to violence, Children Who See Too Much: Lessons from the Child Witness to Violence Project, and a number of articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Pediatrics, Harvard Mental Health Letter, and Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. She holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from the College of William and Mary, and a master's degree in social work from Boston University. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Rev. Theresa Mercer
06/27/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Collaborations on Faith-Based Initiatives

Rev. Theresa Mercer has 19 years of experience in program and community development working with faith-based, grassroots, and professional organizations throughout the country. She recently worked on the Maryland Faith Partnership Initiative as a project specialist for the Cabinet Council on Criminal and Juvenile Justice through the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention. In this capacity, she partnered with faith-based organizations and state agencies to facilitate training and technical assistance to more than 500 community leaders throughout Maryland. Prior to this position, Rev. Mercer was the visiting fellow to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office in Washington, D.C. There she developed the Value-Based Initiative, a project that partners law enforcement agencies with faith-based organizations and other community groups.

In 2003, Rev. codirected the Baltimore chapter of the Spirituality and Victim Services Initiative with Elaine Witman, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime. She has also worked with other professionals to design conference agendas and curricula that address the nuances of the faith-based, nonprofit community. In addition, Rev. Mercer has served as the Director of Chaplaincy for the Baltimore City Police Department, the Maryland Police Corps, and the Liberty Medical Center for Baltimore. She holds a master's degree in counseling from the Family Bible College and Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio, and a certification in clinical pastoral education through Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Baltimore. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Joan Meunier-Sham
04/23/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Implementing Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Programs

Joan Meunier-Sham, R.N., M.S., is Associate Director of the Massachusetts Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program, where she coordinates Pediatric SANE services for six Massachusetts Children's Advocacy Centers, and collaborates with the Massachusetts Children's Alliance to increase capacity for onsite medical exams at these centers. In 2003, as the Massachusetts Pediatric SANE Training Coordinator, Ms. Meunier-Sham consulted with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to develop the Massachusetts Pediatric SANE Protocols, and the Massachusetts Pediatric Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit. She also coordinated the development of the Pediatric SANE Curriculum, and in 2004, facilitated the first pediatric SANE training in Massachusetts. Ms. Meunier-Sham has since presented the Massachusetts Pediatric SANE Program and the evidence collection kit to groups nationally and internationally.

Ms. Meunier-Sham previously served as chair of the Pediatric SANE Subcommittee of the Child and Adolescent Committee of the Governor's Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence, and has 10 years of experience as a pediatric clinical nurse specialist in the emergency department of Boston Medical Center. During her tenure at the Boston Medical Center, she worked with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to develop a Pediatric Sexual Assault Program through her membership on the Pediatric SANE Advisory Group. She received her bachelor of science degree from Southeastern Massachusetts University in 1979 and her master of science in parent/child nursing from Boston University in 1985. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Linda Miller
02/13/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Victim Services in Urban High Crime Neighborhoods

Linda Miller is Executive Director and Founder of Civil Society, a nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota, which empowers disadvantaged communities to become safe and secure and provides comprehensive services to victims of human trafficking and exploitation. She previously served as project director of the St. Paul, Minnesota pilot site of the Urban High Crime Neighborhood Initiative (UHCNI), which supports the creation of collaborative models for grassroots, community service, and victim assistance organizations in high-crime urban settings to work together to improve services to crime victims in their own neighborhoods. She has more than 30 years of experience as an attorney dealing with underserved and frequently victimized populations, specializing in civil rights and discrimination law.

In 2001, Ms. Miller was appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety to the Minnesota Victim and Witness Advisory Council, and in 2002 she received a certificate of appreciation from the U.S. Department of Justice after developing best practices for reaching out to immigrant crime victims. She previously served as executive board co-chair of Frogtown Weed and Seed, and co-chair of the Thomas/Dale Block Club Crime Committee; and was a member of the Pacific Americans-Asian Pacific Policy Task Force. Ms. Miller is the author of “Victimization of the Acculturating Immigrant,” which was published in the International Journal of Victimology in 2007, and she speaks internationally on the topic of providing services to victims of human trafficking. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Lori Moriarty
11/28/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Working with Drug Endangered Children

Commander Lori Moriarty is Director of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children Resource Center; Executive Director of the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children; and President of the Colorado Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. As Director of the resource center, Commander Moriarty is establishing a national network of experts and professionals to assist in developing and providing training and technical assistance. One current priority of the resource center is to assist states in creating alliances regarding drug endangered children. The use of teams or alliances encourages law enforcement and social service providers to provide a multidisciplinary, coordinated response when working with drug endangered children. Commander Moriarty has taught thousands of professionals about home-based methamphetamine labs and the dangers they pose for children living in or visiting them.

In 2001, Commander Moriarty was recognized by the Office of National Drug Control Policy as the Drug Commander of the Year. In 2002, the Adams County Bar Association ( Colorado ) named her Peace Officer of the Year, and in 2004, she received the Friend of Children award from Colorado Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children. Commander Moriarty has appeared on ABC News, 20/20, Fox National News, MSNBC, national and Colorado Public Radio, and Public Broadcasting Stations to teach citizens about the hazards present at methamphetamine labs and their effects on children. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Donald Priddy
08/01/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Community Partnerships for Victim Assistance

Lt. Donald Priddy, Night Watch Patrol Commander with the City of Carbondale, Illinois, Police Department (CPD), has extensive experience in community policing. He has coordinated a number of community events, including National Night Out and Project KidCare, and has been involved in local school programs such as Adopt-a-School and Police and Children Together (PACT) Camp. Prior to his current position, Lieutenant Priddy served as a patrol officer, community resource officer, drug task force investigator, patrol supervisor, and supervisor of CPD's Community Services Unit.

Lieutenant Priddy authored and served as project coordinator for CPD's grant program, Promising Practices in Serving Crime Victims With Disabilities, through SafePlace, a Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Survival Center in Austin, Texas. Through the program, CPD developed initiatives designed to increase the level of service provided to persons with disabilities, including training for all patrol officers. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Barri Rosenbluth
02/27/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Responding to Teen Victims of Dating Violence

Barri Rosenbluth is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and School-Based Services Director of SafePlace in Austin, Texas. In this capacity, she directs SafePlace's Expect Respect Program, a dating violence prevention program through which she trains and consults with school personnel on dating violence, sexual harassment, and bullying. Expect Respect is a comprehensive program that provides counseling, support groups, and educational programs for youth and adults. The program was designated as a promising practice by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and featured in Because Things Happen Every Day, an educational video produced by the National Center for Victims of Crime.

Ms. Rosenbluth helped the Austin Independent School District establish the first school policies in Texas regarding dating violence, which later served as a model for statewide legislation. She also contributed to the development of Choose Respect, a national primary prevention initiative created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to promote safe and healthy dating relationships among youth. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Barbara Rubel
03/14/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Best Practices for Coping With Vicarious Trauma

Barbara Rubel, Executive Director of the Griefwork Center, Inc., in Kendall Park, New Jersey, is a nationally known bereavement specialist. She is a board certified expert in traumatic stress and a diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. As a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office for Victims of Crime, she offers keynote speeches and training programs for professionals on issues related to sudden loss and compassion fatigue. As a consultant in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Ms. Rubel helped the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and University Behavioral Health Care of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to support individuals suffering from the impact of that day's events. She has taught several death and dying courses at Brooklyn College and was a bereavement coordinator for Hospice of New Jersey.

Ms. Rubel authored the book But I Didn't Say Goodbye: For Parents and Professionals Helping Child Suicide Survivors and the 30-hour course book for nurses entitled Death, Dying, and Bereavement: Providing Compassion During a Time of Need. She also created The Palette of Grief ® Program and is writing a DOJ training manual entitled Compassion Fatigue: Secondary Trauma. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology and her master's degree in community health, both from Brooklyn College, part of the City University of New York. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Delilah Rumburg
10/17/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Serving Sexual Assault Victims in the Military

Delilah Rumburg is Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. As a national advocate against sexual violence, she has helped shape national policy on violence against women for more than 26 years. In September 2007, she was sworn in as a member of the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services. Previously, she served as co-chair on the Department of Defense Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies to which she was appointed by former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. In this capacity, Ms. Rumburg assessed the U.S. military academies regarding sexual violence and made recommendations for their response to it.

Ms. Rumburg is a gubernatorial appointee to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and Chair of the Victim Services Advisory Council. She has been Executive Director of PCAR for 12 years—a time during which the coalition has seen tremendous growth, with funding for Pennsylvania's 52 rape crisis centers increasing from $3.5 million to more than $13 million. She has also served on the Governor's Partnership for Safe Children and is a 2006 National Crime Victim Service Award recipient. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Anne Seymour
01/30/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Cultivating Relationships Between Victim Service Providers and the Media

2/08/06 online discussion host
Topic: NCVRW Awareness Campaign

Anne Seymour is Cofounder and Senior Advisor of Justice Solutions, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that specializes in criminal and juvenile justice, crime victims' rights and services, and community safety. She has nearly 25 years of experience as a national and international advocate for crime victims' rights. Ms. Seymour has authored or contributed to more than 30 OVC manuals and texts including 20 National Crime Victims' Rights Week Resource Guides and the National Victim Assistance Academy training video The News Media's Coverage of Crime and Victimization, and has written several publications for nonprofit victim service organizations.

Ms. Seymour served as project manager for OVC's Oral History Project and National Public Awareness Campaign Project. She is a founding member of the National Victim Assistance Academy, senior consultant to the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center, and principal consultant to the Center for Sex Offender Management. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Victims' Constitutional Amendment Network and the Board of Directors of the American Probation and Parole Association Victim Issues Committee, as well as secretary/treasurer of the International Association of Reentry. She also is on the faculty of the National Judicial College and the National College of District Attorneys.

Ms. Seymour has received numerous honors for her work, including the 2007 Ed Stout Memorial Award for Outstanding Victim Advocacy from the U.S. Congressional Victims' Rights Caucus, and the1992 Outstanding Service to Crime Victims Award from President Bush. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Steve Twist
10/10/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Crime Victims' Rights Act

8/31/05 online discussion host 
Topic: Victims' Rights

Steve Twist has worked to promote victims' rights for more than 30 years, providing assistance to Congress, state legislatures, tribal governments, and local organizations in drafting, passing, and implementing victims' rights statutes and amendments. He currently serves as Vice President and General Counsel for Services Group of America, Inc. in Scottsdale, Arizona; Counsel to National Victims Constitutional Amendment Project; President (and founder) of Arizona Voice for Crime Victims; Vice President for Public Policy for the National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA), and a 2003 recipient of the National Crime Victims Service Award. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University College of Law, where he is a founder of the school's Crime Victims Legal Assistance Project—a project providing free legal representation to crime victims seeking to protect their legal rights.

Mr. Twist serves on the national boards of NOVA and the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children. He has extensive experience litigating cases to enforce victims' rights, has testified before Congress on the need for a federal crime victims' rights amendment, and has spoken extensively on drafting, lobbying, and enforcing victims' rights laws. Mr. Twist is a principal author of the Scott Campbell, Stephanie Roper, Wendy Preston, Louarna Gillis, Nila Lynn Crime Victims Rights Act (HR 5107, Title 1) and author of the Arizona constitutional amendment for victims' rights and the Arizona Victims' Rights Implementation Act. His testimony and other selected writings are available at www.nvcap.org. Mr. Twist earned both his bachelor of arts in political science and his juris doctor from Arizona State University. Along with Federal District Court Judge Paul Cassell and Prof. Douglas Beloof, he is the co-author of Victims in Criminal Procedure (Carolina Academic Press, 2006), a textbook in crime victim's rights law. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Elise Turner
04/26/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Sexual Assault Response Teams

Elise Turner is both a certified Nurse-Midwife and a certified Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE), and she provides SANE training in Mississippi. With more than 25 years of experience in nursing and women's health, she is the Education Coordinator for the Mississippi Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and she works with law enforcement, prosecutors, advocates, and others who serve victims of sexual assault. She is a faculty member of the Emory University Regional Training Center, and she conducts sexual assault training workshops for the Jackson Police Academy, Jackson State University School of Public Health, and Navy, Air Force, and Army bases. Working with the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Turner recently taught courses to judges, prosecutors, physicians, and advocates on the forensic and medical aspects of sex crimes in Kosovo and Macedonia.

Active in the International Association of Forensic Nurses, Ms. Turner chairs its Ethics Committee and serves on its SANE–A Education Standards Committee. She also is on the SANE Coordinators' National Conference Steering Committee. Ms. Turner is experienced in grant writing and administration and continues to contribute to health systems development in areas of women's health, perinatal care, and forensic nursing. She has participated in distance-learning products such as video Web casts and has helped communities form sexual assault response teams. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Victor Vieth
03/26/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Preparing Victim Service Providers and Children for Court

Victor Vieth is the Director of the National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University, which provides training and technical assistance on dependency, neglect, and termination of parental rights in child abuse cases, and which merged with the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children (NAPSAC) in 2007. Previously, Mr. Vieth was the Director of Child Abuse Programs at the National District Attorneys Association. He is also the author of “Unto the Third Generation: A Call to End Child Abuse in the United States Within 120 Years,” which was published in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma in 2005, as well as numerous articles related to the investigation, prosecution, and prevention of child abuse and neglect. He has trained professionals from all 50 states, 2 U.S. territories, and 17 countries on these topics.

In 1998, Mr. Vieth launched “Finding Words: Interviewing Children and Preparing for Court,” a course he designed to teach the CornerHouse Interagency Child Abuse Evaluation and Training Center's RATAC protocol ( rapport, anatomy identification, touch inquiry, abuse scenario, and closure). The overwhelming response to the course led to the creation of “Half-A-Nation by 2010,” an effort to establish Finding Words programs in half the U.S. states by 2010. As of December 2007, courses have been established in 19 states, under the guidance of CornerHouse and the National District Attorneys Association. A newsletter by the same name is also published for the program.

Mr. Vieth has received distinguished alumnus awards from Minnesota's Hamline University School of Law in Saint Paul and Winona State University in Winona, and has been named one of “21 Young Lawyers Leading Us Into the 21 st Century” by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. He has also been listed on the American Bar Association's President's Honor Roll for its Young Lawyers Division. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Debbie Weir
12/15/06 online discussion co-host
Topic: Serving Victims of Impaired Driving

In June 2002, Debbie Weir joined Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) as the National Director of Victim Services. In this position, she directs the daily operation of the Victim Services Department of MADD's national office, which provides support and guidance to the field and those victimized by impaired-driving crashes in areas that are not served by individual MADD chapters. Ms. Weir recently developed and wrote a standardized training curriculum for MADD's Beginning Victim Assistance Training Institutes. She is currently working on the Strategic Plan for Victim Services, which focuses on high-quality, standardized training for all MADD victim advocates and developed plans to reach more victims of drunk driving crashes.

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Helga West
5/29/2007 online discussion host
Topic: Providing Peer Support to Disaster Survivors

Helga West is Co-founder and President of Witness Justice, a national grassroots organization that provides assistance and advocacy for victims of violence in healing from trauma and in navigating the criminal justice process. The organization was founded by survivors for survivors, with peer support at the core of the organizational culture. After falling victim to a brutal, random attempted murder in 1993, Ms. West became an impassioned activist and has told her story on Larry King Live, Prime Time Live, and Good Morning America. She serves on the Peer Support/Response Committee for the After the Crisis initiative, a coalition funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Mental Health Services, focused on healing from trauma after disasters.

Ms. West has authored a number of white papers and Witness Justice assembled a research-based paper called "Trauma—The Common Denominator" that outlines the nature and impact of trauma. She has presented on topics related to gaps in and barriers to victim service, where peer support has often come up as a means to overcome boundaries to foster healing. With more than 15 years of communications and marketing experience, garnering numerous awards for her work, she continues to serve as a consultant and trainer to victim service providers throughout the country. Ms. West is a certified private investigator and has earned certification in women's self-defense. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Elaine Witman
06/27/2007 online discussion co-host
Topic: Collaborations on Faith-Based Initiatives

Elaine R. Witman is Director of Partnership and Program Development at the Sidran Institute, a nonprofit organization that educates people about traumatic stress and advocates for those who suffer from it. She joined the institute in 2003 to codirect the Baltimore chapter of the Spirituality and Victim Services Initiative with Rev. Theresa Mercer, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime. Before joining the Sidran staff, Ms. Witman served on the staff of the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention, where she secured federal OVC funding to design and develop a Maryland State Victim Assistance Academy. Ms. Witman has more than 20 years of experience in organizational development and capacity building; program design and implementation; community organizing; training, technical assistance, and community education; and systems integration.

Ms. Witman is currently serving as the Director of the Shofar Coalition, under the auspices of the Sidran Institute, a collaborative response to childhood trauma in the Baltimore Jewish Community. Her past accomplishments include cofounding the Maryland Alliance Against Family Violence and helping to build and manage several nonprofit organizations, including Communities In Schools of Maryland, Parents Anonymous of Maryland, and Head Start of Central Virginia. She has received the Public Citizen of the Year Award from the Maryland State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and the Commissioner's Award for Outstanding Contributions in Maryland in the Prevention of Child Abuse from the Administration for Children, Youth and Families. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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Jim Wright
02/07/07 online discussion host
Topic: Identity Theft Prevention and Best Practices

Jim Wright is the Managing Director of Programs at the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC). He oversees NCPC's Identity Theft Prevention initiative, educating consumers on the importance of protecting sensitive information and preventing identity theft. He also conducts workshops on the subject for audiences around the country. Wright joined NCPC in 2005 as Director of the Seniors and Crime Prevention Initiative, a post he was well prepared for after 35 years in law enforcement, 25 of which he spent with the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C.

After retiring with the rank of captain in 1994, Mr. Wright provided oversight to various federal grant programs at the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriffs' Association. He has also provided training and technical assistance on issues such as methamphetamine labs and traffic safety, and on preparing for incidents involving weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Wright holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from American University.

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Lucia Zuniga
04/23/2008 online discussion host
Topic: Implementing Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Programs

Lucia Zuniga, R.N., S.A.N.E., is Director of the Massachusetts' Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program and in this capacity she oversees the program's statewide operations, protocols, trainings, certifications, and credentialing standards, with the support of a dedicated staff. Ms. Zuniga is the Cochair of the SANE Council of the International Association of Forensic Nurses and the Cochair of the Health Care Working Group of the Governor's Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence. As an expert in caring for victims of sexual assault, she has trained countless nurses, physicians, social workers, police officers, district attorneys, rape crisis center staff, judges, and others in the holistic approach to caring for victims after the trauma of sexual assault and how best to collect and preserve the forensic evidence of such attacks.

Ms. Zuniga has more than 18 years of emergency nursing experience and was one of the first nurses in Massachusetts to be certified as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE). In fact, it was while working in the emergency department that she developed her special interest in caring for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. She also is a founding board member of the Children's Alliance in Massachusetts, a member of the Massachusetts Emergency Contraception Network, a legislative committee member of the Governor's Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence, and Chair of the SANE and Pediatric SANE Advisory Board. In addition, Ms. Zuniga has worked with other pediatric advisors toward the development of a standardized Pediatric Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit with a “Do No Harm” protocol. She is currently overseeing pediatric SANE operations in addition to adult and adolescent services.

Ms. Zuniga graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1987. View this Guest Host's photograph.

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