General Session Bios

Keynote Presenters

Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding, MD, MPH, became the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) on July 3, 2002.

Before becoming CDC Director and ATSDR Administrator, Dr. Gerberding was Acting Deputy Director of National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), where she played a major role in leading CDC's response to the anthrax bioterrorism events of 2001. She joined CDC in 1998 as Director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, NCID, where she developed CDC's patient safety initiatives and other programs to prevent infections, antimicrobial resistance, and medical errors in healthcare settings. Prior to coming to CDC, Dr. Gerberding was a University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) faculty member and directed the Prevention Epicenter, a multidisciplinary research, training, and clinical service program that focused on preventing infections in patients and their healthcare providers. Dr. Gerberding is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at Emory University and an Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at UCSF.

She earned a B.A. magna cum laude in chemistry and biology and an M.D. at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Gerberding then completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at UCSF, where she also served as Chief Medical Resident before completing her fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology and Infectious Diseases at UCSF. She earned an M.P.H. degree at the University of California, Berkeley in 1990.

In the past, Dr. Gerberding served as a member of CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases' Board of Scientific Counselors, the CDC HIV Advisory Committee, and the Scientific Program Committee, National Conference on Human Retroviruses. She has also been a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, the American Medical Association, CDC, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National AIDS Commission, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and the World Health Organization.

Dr. Gerberding's editorial activities include appointment to the Editorial Board of the Annals of Internal Medicine. She is also Associate Editor of the American Journal of Medicine, and serves as a peer-reviewer for numerous internal medicine, infectious diseases, and epidemiology journals. Her scientific interests encompass patient safety and prevention of infections and antimicrobial resistance among patients and their healthcare providers. She has authored or co-authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters and contributed to numerous guidelines and policies relevant to HIV prevention, post-exposure prophylaxis, management of infected healthcare personnel, and healthcare-associated infection prevention.

Marilyn Carlson Nelson
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Carlson Companies

Marilyn Carlson Nelson is chairman and chief executive officer of Carlson Companies, a global group of integrated companies providing leisure travel, hotel, restaurant, cruise, and marketing services. With headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., Carlson-owned and franchised operations employ about 190,000 people around the world. In 2004, sales under Carlson brands worldwide (including franchised operations) totaled US$26.1 billion.

The Carlson family of brands and services include: Regent International Hotels®, Radisson Hotels & Resorts®, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson, Park Inn® hotels, Carlson Marketing Group®, Carlson Wagonlit Travel®, Cruise Holidays, All Aboard Travel, Radisson Seven Seas Cruises®, and T.G.I. Friday's® restaurants.
In 2004 and 2005, Forbes magazine selected Marilyn as one of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.” She is a regular on Fortune magazine’s list of the Most Powerful Women in Business and has been ranked by Travel Agent magazine as “The Most Powerful Woman in Travel” annually since 1997.

She serves on the board of the Singapore Tourism Board, and outside her industry is a board member of Exxon-Mobil and the Mayo Clinic Foundation. She recently completed a Presidential appointment as Chair of the National Women’s Business Council, an advisory group to the U.S. President and Congress.

Marilyn is a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum and in 2004 co-chaired the forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. She currently serves on that organization’s Board of Governors for Travel and Tourism. In 2005 she was appointed to serve as vice chair on the U.S. Travel and Tourism Board.