Melissa Snow is the Executive Director of Child Sex Trafficking Programs at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). Within this capacity she oversees the Child Sex Trafficking Analytical Team, a team of analysts who provide comprehensive support to all child sex trafficking reports NCMEC receives. Additionally, Melissa spearheaded the Child Sex Trafficking Recovery Services Team. This team provides case-based support to child welfare professionals when children in their care go missing and there are concerns for sex trafficking. Melissa has worked in the anti-trafficking field for over 20 years developing and leading innovative trauma-informed and survivor-informed strategic programs. Her work has included advocating for stronger policies and laws to protect children and hold offenders accountable. Prior to working at NCMEC, Melissa served as the Child Victim Program Coordinator for the FBI. In that capacity she provided guidance and technical assistance to special agents and victim specialists on providing trauma-informed response in complex crimes against children cases. Additionally, she led and advised the FBI Victim Services Rapid Deployment Team on numerous mass casualty responses involving children, including school shootings and the Las Vegas Harvest Festival.

Melissa designed and directed the Anti-Trafficking Program at TurnAround, Inc, a comprehensive community-based program for survivors of sex trafficking in Baltimore, Maryland. She has authored several resources on child sex trafficking including INTERVENE: Identifying and Responding to Child Sex Trafficking, a risk assessment tool and intervention resource. Melissa has served on several state and local task forces including the National Traumatic Stress Network Workgroup on Child Sex Trafficking and operated for seven years as the former Co-Chair of the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, Victim Services Committee.

Andrés Cediel is an Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker, and professor at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Cediel has been a frequent contributor the PBS program FRONTLINE, including serving as a writer, director and producer of "Covid’s Hidden Toll" (2020), "Trafficked in America" (2018), and the Emmy-award winning piece "Kids Caught in the Crackdown" (2019) which was produced in collaboration with the Associated Press. For FRONTLINE, he also produced "Rape in the Fields" (2013) and was a writer and producer of "Rape on the Night Shift"(2015), which investigated the rampant sexual assault of immigrant women at work, and sparked legislative reform in California. The two films, which aired in both English and Spanish, were produced at the Investigative Reporting Program in collaboration with Univisión, the Center for Investigative Reporting and KQED. He also produced The Real CSI (2012) in collaboration with ProPublica, which examined flaws in forensic science. Cediel is currently developing a film with the Jingle Dress Project, which promotes art as healing while raising awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

His work has received two duPont-Columbia Journalism awards, the RFK Grand Prize for Journalism, twice been a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize in Investigative Reporting, and been nominated for a Peabody and multiple Emmys, among other awards.

He received a BA in Anthropology from Brown University, and his Master’s degree in Journalism from UC Berkeley.

Marianne Thomas has a PhD in Behavioral Psychology and an MA in Mental Health Counseling. A survivor of human trafficking, Dr. Thomas used her lived experience and education to provide counseling and mentorship for abused/trafficked youth/women for over 15 years. During that time, she oversaw a women and children’s shelter, a safe home for minor girls, and created, expanded, and ran the largest crisis and long-term, mobile, anti-trafficking program in the state.

Dr. Thomas is the founder of My Name My Voice, a collective of lived experience experts who provide education and ongoing consultation for organizations who want to build a new or grow their existing anti-trafficking programs.

Dr. Katherine C. Gomez currently serves as the Director of Human Trafficking Intervention for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ). She has served Florida since 2006 as a probation officer, senior officer, trainer, data analyst, researcher, and senior administrator. She specializes in working cases involving youth who have experienced human trafficking, youth charged with sexually related offenses, missing and endangered youth, and high-profile multijurisdictional cases. In 2018, she completed the John J. Brunetti Human Trafficking Academy at St. Thomas University School of Law. She is a 2024 graduate of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Senior Leadership Program. She holds a BA from the University of Florida, MA from the University of South Florida, and PhD in Public Affairs – Criminal Justice Policy from the University of Central Florida.

Detective Joo is a graduate of Penn State University and honorably served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Detective Joo has been a sworn Law Enforcement Officer in the State of Florida for over twenty-two (22) years and has participated in a number of investigations into numerous types of criminal activities including human trafficking, homicide, fraud, theft, dealing in stolen property, narcotics, organized crimes, gangs and Internet crimes against children/child exploitation. These investigations have included the utilization of surveillance techniques, undercover activities, the interviewing of subjects and witnesses, and the planning and execution of search, arrest and seizure warrants. Detective Joo has been assigned to several specialized units to include three (3) Crime Suppression Teams (County-Wide Work Group, City of Tamarac, City of North Lauderdale), two (2) Property Crimes Investigation Units (City of Tamarac, City of North Lauderdale) and two (2) Federal Task Forces (USSS’s Felony Lane Task Force, FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force).

Detective Joo is currently assigned to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Strategic Investigations Division, South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC)/Human Trafficking Task Force where he has been conducting Human Trafficking investigations for over ten (10) years. The Task Force is comprised of law enforcement officers from federal, as well as state and local agencies and is responsible for investigating crimes involving the exploitation of children, specifically those facilitated by the use of the internet and related technology. Detective Joo is also a sworn Special Deputy US Marshal with the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force which allows him to conduct Human Trafficking investigations on the state, local and federal level.

Brenda Mezick received her law degree from Georgetown University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in English. She has been an Assistant State Attorney for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit for twenty-nine years. She has specialized in the prosecution of offenses involving homicide, cyber-crimes, capital sexual battery, human trafficking, and financial crimes against the elderly. She is currently the Chief of the Human Trafficking Unit and is the attorney supervisor of the State Attorney’s Human Trafficking Task Force.

Mezick has participated in the drafting of several successful legislative initiatives to help improve Florida’s legal infrastructure for human trafficking victims and minors. She also serves as co-chair of the Elderly and Vulnerable Adult Work Group. She has taught for the American Bar Association’s Rule of Law Initiative, the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, the National District Attorneys Association, and the Miami-Dade Bar Association. She has presented at numerous law enforcement trainings, conferences, and community events and has served as an adjunct instructor for the Florida International University’s Criminology Department. She is the recipient of the Florida Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Prosecutor of the Year Award, the Women’s Fund Law Enforcement Visionary Award, the National Crime Victims’ Rights Committee Justice for All Award, the CABA Pro Bono Award, the Dade Chiefs of Police ASA Recognition Award, and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Award of Distinction.

Dr. Stacey Cutbush Starseed is a senior social scientist and directs the Violence Prevention and Harm Reduction Program in RTI’s Justice Practice Area. Her primary area of expertise is human trafficking research, evaluation, and training and technical assistance. She served as the principal investigator for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ)-funded Trafficking in Persons grants: Measuring Outcomes in Services to Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking: Instrument Development and Testing, which was responsible for the development and testing of the Outcomes for Human Trafficking Survivors (OHTS) Instrument. Dr. Cutbush currently collaborates with the Texas Center for Child and Family Studies to provide training and technical assistance on the OHTS. She also served as the principal investigator for the NIJ-funded Identify, Respond, Prevent: Addressing Human Trafficking among Juvenile Justice– and Child Welfare–Involved Youth. Dr. Cutbush Starseed currently serves as the project director for the NIJ-funded Trafficking in Persons grant, Evaluation of the California Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Grant Program; and the Office for Victims of Crime-funded Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance project.

She has been invited to advise several federal agencies and congressional caucuses on human trafficking policy, measurement, evaluation, and training and technical assistance—and she has participated in several international panels and national expert working groups on human trafficking research and practice, including as an expert on the jointly funded OVC-OTIP Standards of Care for Anti-Trafficking Service Providers National Technical Working Group. She is committed to the translation of research to practice through the development of freely available, easily digestible, user-friendly products that policymakers and practitioners can understand and use. Dr. Cutbush Starseed has a background in direct service provision as a victim advocate in crisis response, emergency departments, and criminal courts and is an adjunct faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jenny Cachaya serves as the Children’s Services Director in the Migration and Refugee Services department at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Before joining USCCB, Jenny was the Senior Program Manager at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Newcomer Network, where she designed and implemented the provision of holistic services to immigrants. Prior to this role, Jenny worked with Catholic Charities’ Immigration Legal Services Program, where she served as a fully accredited Department of Justice Representative, eligible to represents immigrants before USCIS and the Immigration Court. She was also responsible for the agency’s Legal Orientation Program for Custodians of Unaccompanied Minors and served thousands of immigrant children and their families.

Jenny, who has over 15 years of experience working with vulnerable immigrants, has participated as a panelist at the Maryland Partners for Justice Annual Conference in 2014 and was invited to present at the National Immigration Judges Annual Training in 2021. In 2019, Jenny was selected to participate in the Migration Studies Summer Academy at the Catholic University of Eichstatt-Ingolstad, Germany, where she conducted research on unaccompanied migrating children. Most recently, she spoke at a Congressional Briefing on the intersection of human trafficking and forced migration at the U.S. Capitol. Jenny earned a Master of Social Work degree from The Catholic University of America and is a licensed Social Worker.

Ana Viamonte Ros, M.D., M.P.H, was Florida’s first State Surgeon General and the first woman and Cuban American to serve as head of the Florida Department of Health from 2007-2011. Her primary responsibility was to oversee one of the U.S. most comprehensive, complex public healthcare systems, and Florida’s largest single clinical enterprise. Charged by Florida’s Governor, she acted as the state’s leading advocate for wellness and disease prevention, achieving multiple victories in leading the state to higher levels of awareness and action on women’s health issues.

She is a Full Professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University and most recently served as Assistant Vice President, Chief Well-being Officer and Medical Director of Palliative Care and Bioethics at Baptist Health South Florida. Dr. Viamonte Ros earned her medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine, graduating with several awards and honors including Alpha Omega Alpha and the Dean’s Award. She received her Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health, where she was the recipient of the Gareth Green Award for Excellence in Public Health, the highest student award. Through her professional and community volunteer activities, she is committed to advancing the opportunities for equitable and accessible health care to all. Her passions include mental health equity, safe housing advocacy and revitalizing the healthcare workforce.

She is a dedicated community volunteer, serving on the boards of programs such as the Camillus House Homeless Initiative in Miami, South Florida Hospital and Health Care Association (SFHHA), the International Women’s Forum, the Health through Walls Organization in the Caribbean, the American Heart Association, and the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI). Dr Viamonte Ros has lectured and published extensively and has received honorary doctorate degrees from Nova Southeastern University, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Universidad Espíritu Santo (UEES).

Dr. Gihan Omar is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who has been in practice for approximately 20 years. She completed her doctoral training at the Florida Institute for Technology, internship at the University of Houston and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Yale University School of Medicine where she remained as an Associate Research Scientist before joining Citrus Health Network (CHN). During her time at CHN, Dr. Omar has supervised and coordinated various program that provide services to children and adolescents with mental health problems including Juvenile Evaluation Treatment Services (JETS), a program serving adolescents under intensive juvenile probation and Center for Adolescent Treatment Services (CATS), a residential treatment facility for adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral disorders and the Children's Crisis Response Team (CCRT) an intensive in-home Community Services Team that provides treatment to youth with severe emotional and behavioral difficulties as well as victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

Dr. Omar is currently the Clinical Coordinator for the Foster Care and Citrus Helping Adolescents Negatively impacted by Commercial Exploitation (CHANCE). Dr. Omar has presented regularly at local, state and national conferences on topics related to adolescents, mental health and human trafficking. Dr. Omar also has been a part time faculty at NOVA Southeastern University since 2007.

Marina Anderson has had an extensive and impactful career in the Department of Children and Families (DCF) in Florida. She began her journey in 2002 and spent fourteen years as a Child Protective Investigator (CPI) and Field Support Supervisor in Duval County, specializing in child sexual abuse and human trafficking. In 2015, she transitioned to the Office of Community Services, where she focused on combating human trafficking at the state level.

Marina's expertise and her dedication to protecting vulnerable children earned her recognition as a STAR Child Protective Investigator by Governor Rick Scott. She is a certified investigator and trainer in human trafficking, as well as a subject matter expert in critical injury, domestic violence, physical/sexual abuse, and human trafficking. Her work not only showcases her commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of children but also highlights her leadership and expertise in addressing complex issues such as human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Judge Robert Lung provides presentations nationally and internationally on issues such as human trafficking, childhood trauma and resiliency to an exceptionally diverse audience base including the military, the medical field, the educational field (including the U.S. Department of Education and the Colorado Department of Education), various judiciaries in the U.S. and internationally, faith-based organizations, first-responders, mental health professionals and law enforcement.  In 2016 he was appointed by then Colorado Chief Justice Nancy Rice to serve on the Colorado Human Trafficking Council on which he served as Vice-Chair from 2018 to 2020.  In 2017 he was Presidentially appointed to the National Advisory Council on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States on which he served from 2017 to 2022.  He was also Presidentially appointed to the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking from 2018 to 2020 and was elected the Chair in 2020.  In 2021 he served as an Adjunct Professor at St. Thomas University College of Law and taught Human Rights Lawyering. In 2023 he had the honor of testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability regarding the passage of Federal anti-trafficking law. He also serves as a consultant with Office for Victims of Crime under the U.S. Department of Justice, the Office on Trafficking in Persons under the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons under the U.S. State Department, the Blue Campaign under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). In his “free time” he works on writing his first book, a biography about hope and resiliency, and he endeavors to keep up with his two adopted sons in hiking and downhill mountain biking.

Dr. Lisa Schelbe serves as the interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and an Associate Professor at Florida State University, College of Social Work. She is a faculty affiliate at the Florida Institute for Child Welfare and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. Her primary research interest focuses broadly on child welfare, child maltreatment prevention, and child well-being. Specifically, her research examines the experiences of young people “aging out” of foster care. She is interested in research dissemination and the formation of research-policy-practice partnerships.

Dr. Schelbe is a qualitative methodologist with experience working on interdisciplinary teams. She has an extensive publication record including more than 50 referred journal articles. She is co-author of The Handbook on Child Welfare Practice and Intergenerational Transmission of Child Maltreatment. Her most recent book, Some Type of Way, is an ethnography that follows five young people aging out of foster care.

M. Elizabeth Bowman, PhD, LICSW, LCSW-C, is an Assistant Professor at Gallaudet University in the Department of Social Work. Dr. Bowman earned her doctoral degree from Catholic University in 2020 and her Master of Social Work Degree from Gallaudet University in 2009. She holds clinical social work licensure in 4 states and is fluent in American Sign Language which is utilized for direct clinical practice. She is also a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) and utilizes expressive arts in a holistic approach to well-being and mental health.

Dr. Bowman has a specialization in trauma-informed care and earned her Advanced Clinical Trauma Certification in 2021. She is a survivor of both CSEC and DMST, and founded a nonprofit in the Washington, D.C. area to support survivors of sex trafficking, the Restoring Ivy Collective.

Dr. Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman is a licensed clinical psychologist and a behavioral neurologist at UCLA Health, where he treats patients with various types of dementia and brain injuries. He is also an accredited fellow by the United Council for Neurological Subspecialty (UCNS) fellowship program, a prestigious credential that demonstrates his expertise and commitment to the field of neuropsychiatry.

As a survivor of child sexual exploitation and trafficking, Dr. Piraino-Guzman has dedicated his career to advancing human rights and mental health for at-risk communities. He is an adjunct professor of Psychology and Humanities at USC Gould School of Law, a Presidential Appointee to the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, and the chair of the Board of Trustees for the United Nations Fund for Contemporary Forms of Slavery. He is a recognized subject matter expert and a public speaker on human trafficking, gender-based violence, trauma-informed care, and innovative behavioral health. He speaks multiple languages and has a diversity and inclusion certificate from Cornell University.