About Us - Staff

Valerie Petit Wilson

Dr. Wilson, a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana (B.S., 1970, chemistry/pre-med), earned her Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University in 1976, where she was a Ford Foundation pre-doctoral fellow. After a post-doctoral year in human genetics at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, she joined the National Institutes of Health, where she conducted research at the National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Between 1982 and 1993, Dr. Wilson held a series of increasingly responsible positions in program administration and policy analysis at the NIH and Department of Health and Human Services. In 1993, she moved to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine as director of the Division of Health Sciences Policy in 1993. In 1998, Dr. Wilson was appointed clinical associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and deputy director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane University. In July 2003, Dr. Wilson was appointed as Executive Director of the Leadership Alliance; she also holds an appointment as Clinical Professor of Community Health at Brown University.

Medeva Ghee

Dr. Ghee is Associate Director of the Leadership Alliance. She graduated from North Carolina State University in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in zoology and earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in microbiology in 1997 from New York University School of Medicine. Her postdoctoral research was conducted with a team of CNRS researchers in Paris, France, where she employed biochemical and gene therapy technologies to investigate the impact of protein aggregation in Parkinson's disease.  In 2005, Dr. Ghee joined the William J. Clinton Foundation as a Laboratory Systems Specialist for the HIV/AIDS Initiative. In this capacity, she provided technical assistance and strategic advice on the development of laboratory plans and systems to support national HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs in the Initiative's partner countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Barbara Kahn

Barbara Kahn is the Coordinator for Graduate and Undergraduate Programs for the Leadership Alliance. In this capacity, she coordinates the combined application process for the 21 undergraduate summer research sites and supervises the Alliance summer research program at Brown University. Prior to her appointment with the Leadership Alliance, Ms. Kahn was part of the professional development team at Brown University's Annenberg Institute for School Reform, a center promoting quality education for disadvantaged children, especially in urban communities. She came to Brown University from Chaffee & Partners, a public relations and advertising firm in Providence, R.I. Ms. Kahn holds a B.S. in Education from Boston University.

Maria DoVale

Maria DoVale is the Executive Assistant for the Leadership Alliance. In this capacity, Maria is responsible for providing administrative support for the executive office to ensure the successful implementation of Alliance programs and activities. She comes to us with a wealth of experience in administration, event planning and management augmented with exemplary technical, organizational and customer service skills. Prior to her appointment with the Leadership Alliance, Ms. DoVale worked for 5½ years at the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau helping to promote the state of Rhode Island as well as the city of Providence as a convention destination.  Prior to this appointment, Maria worked for American Express corporate travel for eight years.  Ms. DoVale holds a B.A. in Travel & Tourism Management from Johnson & Wales University.