Virginia Barbour MB BChir PhD
Hematologist. A founding editor of PLoS Medicine, where she became chief editor in 2008. Dr Barbour began her publishing career at The Lancet, and is currently secretary of the Committee on Publication Ethics and member of the World Association of Medical Editors’ Ethics Committee. Dr Barbour has participated in discussions on revisions to the CONSORT and QUOROM statements, and was involved in the first meetings of the EQUATOR initiative.

Fran Baum PhD
Professor of public health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. Ms Baum is a leading Australian researcher on social and economic determinants of health, and served as a Commissioner on the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health from 2005 to 2008. She is Foundation Director of the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, and the South Australian Community Health Research Unit, and past president of the Public Health Association of Australia. She is an active member of the People’s Health Movement and Co-Chair of its Global Steering Council.

Susan Jupp MS
Linguist, editor and communicator. Ms Jupp’s extensive experience in academic publishing includes 10 years with the World Economic Forum and later with the International Save the Children Alliance. From 1999 to 2010, she was head of information and communication, then head of external relations, at the Global Forum for Health Research, where she created the essay competition “Young Voices in Research for Health” in collaboration with The Lancet.

Juan José Llibre Rodríguez MD MPH PhD
Internist. Dr Llibre is a full professor of medicine at the Medical University of Havana and head of the Internal Medicine Department at the Finlay-Albarrán Medical School in the same university. He is president of the Cuban Alzheimer’s Association and board member of Alzheimer’s Disease International and its 10/66 Dementia Research Group. Dr Llibre’s research concentrates on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in Cuba and internationally.

José M. Miyar Barrueco MD
Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment, Cuba. Dr Miyar began his career as the first director of Cuba’s Rural Medical Service in 1960. He has held several leadership positions in the Cuban government and public health sector, including secretary of the Council of State from 1980 to 2009. He has played a key role in development of Cuban biotechnology, creation of the Latin American Medical School and the International School of Sports and Physical Education, and organization of Cuba’s first international medical cooperation programs in Africa. Dr Miyar is distinguished professor of the Medical University of Havana and the Medical University of Santiago de Cuba.

Tirso W. Sáenz Sánchez DrSc
Chemical engineer specializing in science, technology and innovation policy studies. Dr Saenz is associate researcher at the Center for Sustainable Development of the University of Brasilia, Brazil. He is former Vice Minister for Technology Development in the Cuban Ministry of Industries, Vice President of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, President of the Cuban Atomic Energy Commission, and the Cuban Commission for Environmental Protection. In Brazil, he served as specialist in biotechnology in the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Environment. His current research includes projects on South-South collaboration in health biotechnology and policies regarding convergent technologies at the nanoscale.

Alicia Vargas Batista MS
Clinical pharmacist. Assistant clinical investigator in the Clinical Trials Department of the National Coordinating Center of Clinical Trials, Havana. Ms Vargas has participated in more than a dozen clinical trials of recombinant Cuban products, including recombinant human Interferon alfa-2b, recombinant streptokinase, biomoduline T, and recombinant human erythropoietin. She is currently involved in phase IV studies of ior-EPOCIM® in CKD patients, and a phase III study of ior-EPOCIM® in prevention or treatment of anemia in premature infants.

Emma Veitch PhD
Biologist. Senior editor, PLoS Medicine. Dr Veitch joined PLoS in 2005 to work on an initiative relating to clinical trial publication, and later became associate editor at PLoS Medicine. She also now serves as consulting editor for clinical research at PLoS ONE. Her experience in publishing includes working at another open-access publisher, BioMed Central, and as editor for FIRSTConsult, an online clinical decision support tool developed by Elsevier.