Dr. Rob Carpenter is a #1 best-selling author, novelist, social scientist, public speaker, and filmmaker who has dedicated his life to improving the lives of those around him after miraculously surviving a tragic accident. His works – described by critics as “profoundly empathetic” – have been featured in People Magazine, The New York Times, Business Insider, and a variety of other media. He and his sister are the first in his family to graduate from college.

Academically, Dr. Rob focuses on the field of entertainment education, a cross-disciplinary mass communications subject involving not only all forms of entertainment and education but also incorporating aspects of public policy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and leadership studies. His main research interest is in investigating how mass media influences human perception, behavior, and social outcomes on cultural and political issues, especially issues involving race, public health, and mental and emotional health. His doctoral dissertation at the University of Southern California focused on historical portrayals of people of color in entertainment media and the real-world outcomes these portrayals heavily influenced.

Dr. Rob has studied media and change at the 2x Emmy Award Winning USC Media Institute for Social Change, received research fellowships with The New America Foundation and Jacob’s Foundation, has hosted or participated in panels for South by Southwest EDU and TEDx, and given lectures at Harvard University, among others.

Professionally, Dr. Rob has written  scholarly publications for the Oxford Business Review and Harvard Public Health Review as well as mass market books, including a series of pro-social positive psychology books including The 48 Laws of Happiness and Icons & Legends, and is currently completing a historical thriller novel about the tragic, triumphant, and rocky behind-the-scenes relationship of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Rob has also written, directed, and produced documentary films, public service announcements, and worked on the Hollywood sets of Ballers, Scandal, Lethal Weapon, and others. He is the host of ‘The Great Health Debates,’ has an upcoming podcast called ‘Dear Underdog’ with Emmy winning screenwriter Kayona Ebony Brown, and has several television and theatrical films in development.

On the leadership front, Dr. Rob has been a Leadership LA fellow, California Connections Fellow, and Global Innovation felow. He has served on the Board of Directors of Artist Year, Inner City Arts, Spread the Vote, and Intrinsik Insights. At 23 years old, was named the youngest public commissioner in the history of Los Angeles by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, where he oversaw a $150 million annual budget and $500 million in assets for LADOT.

Dr. Jessica (Jex) Huang is currently working as a consultant with the Health, Climate, Environment, and Disasters (HCED) program at the World Bank, as well as a public health curricula developer and educator with learning institutions across Southeast Asia and the United States. Their area of focus is on the health impacts of climate change (including climate-sensitive diseases, such as vector-borne and water-borne illness), particularly in humanitarian contexts. Previously, Jex served as an instructor on sustainable development with D-Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also co-founded a social enterprise called Zimba Water, which provided affordable water treatment systems to thousands of households in rural communities, informal urban settlements, and refugee settlements. Trained as an environmental engineer specializing in water and sanitation, they obtained a Doctor of Public Health degree at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University as well as a Master’s degree in Learning, Design and Technology with the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. Jex has run educational programs for many diverse institutions, ranging from UNICEF Innovation to the Rhode Island School of Design, and likes to spend their free time volunteering with non-profit organizations, including Rosie’s Place (first women’s shelter in the United States), Partners for Youth with Disabilities, Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Refugee Health Alliance, and Refugee Council USA.

Dr. Circe J. Gray LeCompte (she/her/hers) has served as editor-in-chief/co-editor-in-chief of HPHR since 2015, and was part of the Journal‘s founding board, as Deputy Editor, in 2014. She also is co-CEO of The Boston Congress of Public Health, which publishes HPHR. In addition to these leadership roles, she also serves as Chief Technology Officer and heads BCPH Studio. She is Director of Great Health Debates and co-Producer of The Humor Scientist with Matt Kazam. She also is the creator of the forthcoming Public Health History Mysteries. She is also Senior Director for Impact Marketing and Communications as well as a Research Fellow for the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute. 

Dr. Le Compte holds Master of Science and Doctor of Science degrees from Harvard University, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she majored in social and behavioral sciences theory/research methods, and racial and sexual/gender minority health. Her independent research inquiries have focused on the use of novel interventions, such as soap operas and PhotoVoice, to improve the health outcomes of medically-underserved populations. 

For her doctoral dissertation, she used both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand how lived experience frames the conceptualization of health and sexual harm reduction practices of Black/African-American gay and bisexual men and Transwomen.

Dr. Candice Carpenter is Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of The Boston Congress of Public Health (BCPH) and President of Infinity Ivy Consulting. She is also the Director of both the BCPH Public Health Leadership Summer Institute and Medical Academy. She co-founded BCPH in August 2021. Dr. Carpenter is a neurosurgeon-in-training, bio and social entrepreneur, educator, social justice advocate, and surgical bioethics enthusiast. 

Dr. Carpenter additionally serves as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Strategy and Innovation for The HPHR Journal. She is the Editor for the publications, The Best of HPHR Journal 2014-2021 and PRISM: Mental Health Thru the Lens of Difference. She is also Executive Producer of the Great Health Debates Season 1 through 3, Producer and Host of the BCPH 40 under 40 Public Health Catalyst Awards and Health Innovators to Watch Award Programs. Prolific and visionary, she has produced over 50 courses within the BCPH Academy, and trained over 50 graduates in the Public Health Thought Leadership Fellowship Program.

Dr. Carpenter has received numerous prestigious fellowships from around the world, including from the Congress of Neurological Surgeons Leadership Program, the Oxford’s Women Leadership in Entrepreneurship Programme, Oxford’s Social Impact Program, and Harvard Chan’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Fellowship. She is currently at UCLA Biodesign and Clinical and Translational Institute as a Healthcare Technology Innovation Fellow in Critical Care.

Dr. Carpenter holds an MPH in Public Health Leadership and Health & Social Behavior from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, an M.B.A. from Oxford University Said Business School, an M.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, an Ed.M. in Mind, Brain, Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a B.A. in Psychology from Yale University. She is a licensed physician and has done Neurosurgical Residency at The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center.